Soho Flat

A Bedroom Makeover on a Budget

If you are selective and creative about the changes you make, you can update your bedroom without spending a lot of money.

First of all, decide on the total budget for your makeover. Then, select a new theme or colour scheme for your bedroom. After that, choose aspects of the room that you would like to change.

Estimate the cost of each alteration and see if the total is below or above your budget. If you exceed your budget, you will need to determine which changes you can live without and/or find creative ways to spend less on the makeover.

Here are some ways of updating various parts of your bedroom without spending large sums of money.

Walls

If you have neutral bedroom walls, it may be best to leave them as they are, because they will not conflict with a new colour scheme in the rest of your bedroom.

If you wish to change the colour of your walls, painting them in a different colour is less expensive than wallpapering. If you have seen wallpaper in a design that you love, consider wallpapering just one accent wall in your bedroom to keep costs down.

An alternative to wallpapering is to place self-adhesive designs on the wall. These can add interest to a plain wall without breaking the budget and you can easily move them if you realize that they don’t look good in a particular position. Another advantage is that they can be removed without marking the wall, if you become bored with them or if they no longer fit in with your bedroom decor.

An inexpensive way of brightening up your bedroom walls is to buy a blank canvas and paint an original piece of art. You don’t have to be an artist to do this. You could paint the canvas in just one color or you could paint stripes. Another idea is to make a framed collage of photographs and hang it on your wall.

A mirror is a useful addition to a bedroom, reflecting light to make the room seem brighter. Look for an inexpensive mirror that will tone in with your decor.

Floors

If you have a small budget for your bedroom makeover, it is unlikely that you will be able to afford to replace the carpet. You could, however, add rugs in areas where the carpet is less than perfect. If you have a neutral coloured carpet, rugs will give the floor splashes of colour. If you have hardwood floors, you could replace your existing rugs to fit in with your new bedroom colour scheme.

Furniture

It is unlikely that you will be able to afford new furniture on your budget, so you can either adapt existing furniture or transform inexpensive second-hand furniture.

To give your bedroom a Scandinavian look, you could paint your existing furniture white.

Look for inexpensive chests of drawers, bedside tables, dressing tables, chairs and other bedroom furniture at auctions and carboot sales, or browse around your local second-hand shop. Look on the Internet or in magazines for ideas on how you could transform old pieces of furniture into original and useable additions to your bedroom.

Bed Linen and Soft Furnishings

If you would like to change your bedroom curtains or drapes but cannot afford to buy new ones, take down and dye your current curtains in a colour that matches your new colour scheme.

A new quilt cover can be expensive, so search for quilt covers at reduced prices in sales, especially clearance sales. You might be fortunate enough to find a new quilt cover still in its original packaging for sale at a much lower price than in a department store.

Alternatively, you could make a new quilt cover yourself by sewing together two sheets and fixing poppers to the bottom edge. You could also make pillowcases and cushion covers in coordinating colours from fabric remnants sold by your local fabric shop. All of these projects are possible even if you have only basic sewing skills. You can find free step-by-step instructions on the Internet.

Lighting

New table lamps or a new light fitting can alter the atmosphere of your bedroom. Look for inexpensive second-hand lamps and light fittings that will fit in with your new bedroom decor.

Wall-mounted reading lamps are an excellent idea if you enjoy reading in bed. They can be bought inexpensively from such stores as IKEA and you should be able to fix them to the wall yourself.

You can transform your bedroom without spending a lot of money if you plan carefully, look around for bargains, and make or update some items yourself.