Are you on a tight budget but yet want a nice design for your home?
I was in the same boat as you when I was planning out the design for my home.
I had a limited amount of money for my renovation and did not want to exceed my budget (If i did i would become broke and would not have money for anything else). I really did not want to compromise on the “Japandi with a touch of mid-century modern” vibe I wanted for my home.
However, the reality of being on a budget but yet still wanting a certain look is that there are compromises that have to be made.
You have to be okay with not going full in to achieve that desired look.
Not all is lost though – you just need to get a little bit creative when it comes to your design choices. You will need to find substitutes for expensive add-ons like the perfect type of wooden planks for your floors or some cove lighting built into the ceiling to achieve a certain moody feel. As a person on a budget, I wanted the effect that these expensive add-ons could achieve, but on a budget. Therefore, I needed to get creative and substitute these wants with alternative options that are WAY cheaper.
What’s my budget?
For my renovation, I had a hard limit of $40,000. As for everything else, my hard limit was $30,000. Thankfully I share the cost of this with my spouse so it did not feel THAT painful to fork out this amount of money for the ideal vibe I wanted for my home. I am pleased to say that I was able to achieve the design and vibe I wanted for my home, all within my budget!
In this article, I will share with you 9 tips on how I got the design and vibe I wanted for my home, while on a budget. I hope that you find them useful!
1. Purchased hardware that match existing hardware
It was tempting to get hardware that is all gold or all brass or all black for my toilets. However, this means that I need to spend money removing the existing stainless steel shower faucet and tap on my toilet bowl and also spend money purchasing their replacements that are in the material of my desire. I felt that this was unnecessary money to spend and I personally was okay with my toilets having all stainless steel hardware. Stainless steel looks sleek and is completely easy to maintain. It is also evergreen and will not run out of style. Hence, I decided to stick with the stainless steel hardware that was already in the bathroom, and to purchase hardware that is mainly stainless steel.
On a side note, my bathroom’s glass sliding door has a black frame, which matches the black surface of the shower faucet. Not only that, I feel that this glass sliding door helps to tone down on the amount of stainless steel hardware there is in the bathroom.
2. Purchase bulk items from Taobao
Taobao is a happy place on the web for people who are on a budget. If you get tired from needing to constantly translate all that chinese text, here is a guide that guides you how to use Taobao as an English Speaking Individual.
3. Did not change things that look perfectly fine
It can be tempting to get hardwood or engineered wood flooring for that levelled up, expensive look and more stylish finishes for the walls like micro-cement or some sort of trendy tiles. However, as a person on a budget, I decided to just stick with the floor tiles and wall finishes that already came with the unit.
To give the interior facade a bit of an oomph, I decided to clad the entire front of my living room in a moody dark grey hue and wooden laminates. Doing so helped me achieve the stylish woody and moody Japandi facade look that I wanted without having to overspend on changing the entire flooring or refinishing up the walls with some expensive material or tile.
Pro tip: Using paint instead of laminate is a great way to jazz your facade up on a budget.
4. Loose furniture
To save on the money spent on carpentry, you can use more loose furniture instead. For me, I decided to use loose furniture for some of my spaces.
Initially I wanted my tv console cabinets to fill up the entire 5metre wall. However, the quote I received for this was way too costly. Therefore, I decided to only fill up around half of my 5 metre wall with tv console cabinets and to use loose furniture for the other half instead. I am thankful that I made this decision as breaking up the living room into two sides meant that I could convert the side that is not filled with TV console cabinets into a reading nook area. Instead of placing a fixed cabinet there, I placed in a bookshelf from Ikea and a cute armchair from Castlery. I really love the look of my reading nook and I am glad that I made the decision to cut down on the cost spent on the carpentry for the TV Console cabinets.
5. Did not install any cove lighting or recessed lighting
I love the look of cove lighting and recessed lighting as I find these sorts of lighting to be quite sleek and also cozy for the home. However, If I were to install cove lighting or recessed lighting, it would set me back by at least a few hundred dollars. I did not want to fork out this amount of money but I still wanted the recessed lighting to look for some parts of my home.
For recessed lighting, instead of drilling a hole into a wall, I bought a few of this very plain looking downlight from AliExpress and asked my carpenter to install it in. It was such a breeze for him to install the down lights.
As for cove lighting, to achieve that delightful warm indirect light effect that it gives, my Carpenter helped me to place led lights under various cabinets (such as my TV console) that have an opening below them. I especially love watching movies with just the led light under my TV console turned on. When the led light under my TV console is turned on and every other light is turned off, to me, it definitely gives the same warm and cosy ambience that a cove ceiling light would have given.
6. Did not hack down any walls
Did you know that if hacking down or removing ANY fixed item in your home with the help of a professional requires extra cost? Like it or not, cost will definitely be incurred simply because it takes time to do all these things. Hence, if you want to save even more money, do not hack any walls that are not necessary to hack.
I LOVE my privacy and walls and hence I did not hack any wall in my home. I did build up a wall next to my kitchen though, because I definitely needed this additional wall for more privacy.
7. Only did what I needed
By only doing what I needed, I definitely felt that my money was well spent and that I was not wasting my money at all. Even if you are on a budget, THINK HARD about what you REALLY need and if you feel like you REALLY need it, go ahead and do it! It helps if you think things through around 6 months in advance so you can save up for the money required to spend on what you need for your home. Money spent on what you NEED is definitely Money well spent.
8. Keep carpentry simple with some pops of uniqueness here and there
By keeping the carpentry simple, I know that I will not get bored of it eventually. In addition to this, I can also add on pops of uniqueness such as coloured cushions, wall paintings, rugs, souvenirs here and there to make the home stylish and uniquely mine. Here is what I added on to my home (without breaking the bank) to give it a little more personality.
9. Logged down all my expenses in a tracker so I won’t side track and buy rubbish
A great way to keep track of all your expenses is to have a tracker. I placed all my expenses in a google sheet/excel tracker and it has definitely helped me keep my expenses in check! You can get your very own simple and easy to use Reno expenses here.