Decorating a home can get expensive fast, especially if you hire an interior decorator. An interior decorator charges an average of $22.66 per hour, with most projects costing a minimum of $5,000. You also have to pay for the cost of furniture, too, which can end up getting pricey. If you don’t have that kind of cash, you’re not alone. Luckily, you can do a lot more than you think on your own. There’s no need to hire a professional, especially not in an age where you can browse the web and find decor inspiration through various sites. Here are ways to find home decor that will look elegant without costing a fortune.
Find unique art sources
If you’re like most homeowners, you want a few pieces of art to hang on the walls. You should be careful about going down to a local or national gallery in search of landscapes or portraits. You’ll no doubt find what you want, but it’s going to be rather expensive. Art galleries have a lot of power when it comes to setting prices for art, and they do not hesitate to use that power.
Most of us don’t have a cool thousand dollars (or several thousands of dollars) to drop on a single piece of part. But you can support local artists on the come up, sometimes for less than a hundred dollars a piece. Check out local restaurants, coffee shops, and even malls. These should be locally owned rather than chain restaurants, as chain restaurants aren’t as invested in supporting local creators. But many mom-and-pop shops will display local art and offer it for sale. In fact, the artist’s name and price of the piece will often be posted right on the wall. There’s no need to guess; you can just look at something you like and decide if it’s worth paying the listed price.
Make your own art
You’ve got a few local art pieces purchased and ready to hang, which is great. But you also feel like your home needs a little more and you’re not sure how to achieve that. Look no further than the photos you keep on your phone or computer.
You can create unique wall art for your home using memories you’ve made with friends and family members. It’s nice to look at photos of your engagement party on your phone, but it would be even nicer to turn a couple of those photos into cheap canvas prints you can hang in your hallway. The pictures can be serious, comedic, or a mix of the two. Maybe you’ll even want to print a bunch of them and group them by theme. It’s your house, so it’s up to you how far you want to go.
If you’re worried about the quality of these photos, there are plenty of sites that can take your photos and transfer them to canvas or another medium of your choice without sacrificing quality. If you like Instagram or Facebook photos, you can even print directly from those sites. If pop art is your thing, then you can turn you and new husband into a couple of comic book characters. It may look like you paid a bunch. In fact, you can even let your guests think that you spent a fortune on the customized photos that decorate your home. But you and your bank account will know the truth.
Next time you take on a decorating project, keep these tips in mind to get the best deals while saving money.