40 Cheap Decor Ideas to Improve Your Home for Under $100
You know what’s crazy? A box of cereal costs roughly the equivalent of an hour’s wage nowadays. What is that about?!
I don’t have to be the one to tell you that when funds get tight with groceries and utilities, the home decorating budget is usually the first thing to go.
I mean, the birth of DIY blogs directly correlates with the housing bubble burst of 2008. That’s not a coincidence. That’s just proof that when times get financially tough, homeowners find ways to achieve the homes of their dreams. It just might take a little more creativity than usual.
How to Keep Home Decorating Affordable
It seems like a good time for me to dive into my favorite ways to improve a home for under $100. Because even when finances get tight, it is especially important to lean into creating a peaceful environment at home.
Life is stressful! So you need a place that relieves your stress, right?!
Reselling
The first few years of this blog literally started because Robert and I were newlyweds barely scraping by to pay our bills. I had to refinish and sell thrifted furniture to help us make it paycheck to paycheck.
Related: How to Find the Best Deals and Sell on Facebook Marketplace
Repurposing
I looked at what we had and would brainstorm every way possible to reuse items in some new way.
I would move items to new rooms, find ways to reuse leftover paint or scrap wood, and I would scour Facebook Marketplace for free items to give them new life.
Focusing on Order
I would get so stressed out asking myself, “Are we going to make it?” My solution was usually to set a timer for 20 minutes to clean and tidy as much as possible in my path. I called it my “rage cleaning” sessions.
Related: How to Declutter Your Home Quickly with These Organizer Secrets
And do you know what happened? I fell in love with the process of making big changes in our home for as little money as possible!
Not only did the creative process help me with mental burnout, but the end result of a peaceful home helped me emotionally too. It doesn’t have to cost much to make that happen.
If you’ve been feeling stressed lately but you crave a peaceful haven for your family, the list in this blog post is for you.
I hope it helps you find peace and excitement and even more appreciation for the home you have.
1. Paint a piece of furniture
Get the full beginner’s guide to painting furniture with all of my best recs. I swear it’s not as scary as you think it is. Walk around your house and see what furniture you already have that could benefit from a facelift.
Budget Tip: If you’re short on supplies, check with your neighbors to see if you can borrow them or if they’re willing to do a supply swap.
2. Clean out your closet
This printable closet clean-out flow chart makes it a lot easier to guide you in purging the clothes you really don’t need anymore. Sometimes it’s hard to get started, but this guide asks the ultimate questions you need to get you motivated.
Budget Tip: Resell your gently used clothing on Facebook or in nearby clothing consignment shops for a little extra pocket money.
3. Rearrange your furniture layout
It takes less than an hour and costs $0. And you can always move it back if you hate it. 😉
4. Spray paint a light fixture to update the look
If the color doesn’t look great, you can always spray paint it again. Paint color is an easy fix.
Related: The Best Gold Spray Paints: Ranked
5. Build window boxes to add curb appeal
Bonus: use any scrap wood you might have lying around already. Check Facebook Marketplace for wood palettes. Scrap fence boards work well too.
Tutorial: DIY Window Box from Repurposed Scrap Wood
6. Declutter & organize your kitchen cabinets
Decluttering does wonders for improving mood and lessening anxiety, which is just a big bonus for making life run a little smoother in your kitchen every day.
Budget Tip: Make an inventory of what ingredients you already have that you might have forgotten about hidden in your pantry. See what meals you can make using what you already have. (A packet of Ramen noodles is easy to jazz up with a soft boiled egg and condiments you probably have in your fridge.)
7. DIY some large wall art
Find a pretty poster you like, use this method to mount art on scrap plywood with a skinny DIY frame, and you’re done. It’s way cheaper than buying wall decor from Target.
Related: 28 Creative DIY Wall Decor Ideas for Your Blank Walls
8. Paint a room
A couple of gallons of paint can ring in at just under $100 and definitely can make the biggest impact.
Budget Tip: Visit the “oops” section of the paint aisle to see what colors they have that you can use at a deep discount (just make sure you’ll have enough to cover the entire room).
Related: How to Choose Paint Colors for Your Home Interior Like a Pro
9. Change your shower curtain
That one piece of fabric can make a big statement in your bathroom. And it’ll only cost you about $20-30 to change.
Budget Tip: If you have a tablecloth or window curtain you like, repurpose it as a shower curtain instead. Or keep an eye out in the linen section of thrift stores.
10. Swap rugs from another room
Play musical rugs! (Okay, music is optional but you have to admit, that’s fun.) Swap your living room and dining room rug. Or swap your master bedroom rug with your guest bedroom rug. You might love it!
This rug that used to be in our living room is now in our home office.
Related: 25 Best Places to Buy Rugs Affordably Online
11. Swap out a light fixture
I see inexpensive light fixtures and chandeliers at the Habitat for Humanity Restore all the time! Some of my favorite light fixtures around our home were ones I found for a steal on Facebook Marketplace.
If you find one you love but the color isn’t right, spray paint can fix that right up.
Related: Best Boob Light Replacement Fixtures for All Budgets
12. Change your bathroom mirror
Take down the big builder grade jalopy. (You know you want to.) I found a vintage mirror for our powder room on Facebook Marketplace for way less than I could have paid new.
Related: Affordable Vintage Bathroom Mirrors + How to Upgrade a Builder Grade Mirror
13. Shop your house and rotate decor items from room to room
The perk of sticking to timeless, neutral decor with lots of great textures is it can be mixed and matched pretty much anywhere.
Related: Classic Interior Design Trends That Never Go Out of Style
14. Add a Mural or Wallpaper Focal Wall or
You can get wallpaper that is removable peel-and-stick so you don’t have to commit long-term. I used wallpaper in the wall behind my daughter’s bed only inside of the molding to make a big impact without a major cost.
15. Change your window curtains
Curtain panels are magical because they draw the eye upward to make rooms feel larger and ceilings taller. Be sure to hang them “high and wide”.
If you want to jazz up curtains you already have, sew some curtain ribbon trim on the edge as a little grandmillennial embellishment.
Related: Best Luxury for Less Amazon Curtains & Window Shades
16. Refresh your grout
I had my doubts about this grout pen, but it does a great job! I used it on our discolored bathroom tile grout several years ago, but I’ve been planning to use it again because I was so impressed.
Tutorial: Painted Tile Grout Refresh
17. Organize your linen closet
See what baskets you already have not being used to their full potential that you can repurpose for linen storage.
Related: Bathroom Linen Closet Organization Ideas That Totally Work
18. Utilize free printable art on the public domain
There are all kinds of free downloadable art files ripe for the picking on public domain archives! I’ve framed so many free art files around our home (using thrifted or dollar store frames of course) to fill up our walls.
Budget Tip: You can start an Etsy shop or Shopify site selling printable art using free images on public domain archives! If you’re tech-savvy, it’s a great side gig to make a little extra money.
Related: The Secret to Find Free Printable Wall Art Online
19. Re-organize your bathroom
Even if it isn’t “pretty”, you’ll feel better and the day-to-day function of your bathroom will improve.
Budget Tip: Keep an eye out for lidded jars at thrift stores and repurpose them as elevated bathroom storage. It’s amazing how much nicer cotton balls and Q-tips look in a jar rather than their store packaging.
Related: Simple Spa Bathroom Ideas to Create Luxury for Less at Home
20. Paint your interior doors
It’s amazing how elevated a room can feel just by changing the doors from standard white to a pop of color.
Related: How to Paint Doors and Best Ways to Make Them Durable
21. Paint your shower, tub, tile, sink, or bathroom countertop
Word of caution: This project is fumey. But MAN it’s worth it! And it holds up beautifully!
We painted the beige shower, rub, sink, and countertop in our bathroom several years ago before we could afford to renovate it. I was absolutely amazed how well it held up!
Related: DIY Painted Bathroom Sink, Countertop, Shower and Tub
22. Organize your laundry room
The prettier you make a laundry room look, the more you’re motivated to keep it that way.
Budget Tip: If you don’t have any cabinets or storage space, utilize pegboard for laundry room wall storage instead.
23. Lime wash your fireplace
I was so intimidated to limewash our brick fireplace, but it turned out to be so much fun! It’s the perfect afternoon project.
Tutorial: DIY Lime Washed Brick Fireplace – Easy Tutorial
24. Paint your bathroom vanity
I use this faux weathered wood look using paint on basically everything.
Tutorial: Weathered Gray Wood Look Vanity Makeover
Would you like to save this?
25. DIY Pressed “Tin” Backsplash
No power tools required! If you have a tile backsplash you hate but no funds to replace it, cover it with faux pressed tin paneling or beadboard for an inexpensive, easy fix.
Tutorial: DIY Pressed Tin Kitchen Backsplash
26. DIY Faux Brick Backsplash
We installed faux brick paneling over our boring builder grade backsplash years ago too.
Related: DIY Whitewashed Faux Brick Backsplash
27. Paint your upholstery
Yep! You can paint upholstery. It’s been a long time since I’ve done this project, but it does work! If you have an upholstered bench or headboard that you can’t recover with fabric, paint can fix it right up.
Tutorial: Beginner’s Guide to Painting Upholstery
28. Add board and batten to a plain, boring space
I especially love it in dark hallways to brighten it up and add character.
Tutorial: Cheapest and Easiest DIY Board and Batten Guide
Here is what this nursery look like before:
29. Beef up your crown molding
This little trick is so simple and quick to do if you already have skinny crown molding or baseboards.
Tutorial: How to Quickly Beef Up Crown Molding and Baseboards
30. Repurpose tea towels into cafe curtains
This project is so easy and cheap! I love the charm these DIY cafe curtains added to our kitchen window.
Tutorial: How to Make Easy No Sew DIY Cafe Curtains
31. Clean up your wood furniture
If you have wood furniture that needs a little love, this method makes it look good as new! The best part is this doesn’t require any messy furniture stripping.
Budget Tip: Keep an eye out for wood furniture on Facebook Marketplace or at thrift stores that you can clean up and resell.
Tutorial: How to Clean Wood Furniture to Make It Look New
32. Make a wreath for your front door
A DIY wreath is the perfect way to reuse any faux greenery you already have in your stash.
Tutorial: DIY Blush and Sage Wreath
33. Trim out your windows with chunky molding
We ended up trimming all of our windows using this method at our old house. It completely transformed the rooms! And the best part was it required no tricky angled miter cuts.
Tutorial: DIY Window Trim Molding – Easy How To Without Miter Cuts
34. Make an industrial shower door
This project takes a day or two, but the results are worth it. I loved how this DIY shower door facelift turned out in our old house!
Tutorial: DIY Industrial Factory Window Shower Door
35. Add fringe to your sofa
If you’re a fan of grandmillennial style, adding fringe is so easy and inexpensive to change up the look.
Tutorial: How to Add DIY Fringe Trim to Sofas and Chairs
37. Add potted plants to your porch
Adding plants is the cheapest curb appeal ever. I love getting planter pots at Walmart for around $10-20 each.
Budget Tip: Try to multiply your greenery for free by learning how to propogate plants.
38. Clean and polish your floors
If you’re like me, chances are it’s been a long time since your hardwood floors had a deep cleaning and polishing. But it really does make the entire room look so much better.
39. Hang mosquito net curtains in outdoor spaces
These add such an airy quality to a porch and also help keep the bugs out. They’re only $5 per pair at IKEA!
Tutorial: DIY Outdoor Curtains and Screened Porch for Under $100
40. Declutter & redecorate your kitchen countertops
Always with the #1 rule: Kitchen countertop decor needs to be pretty and functional.
Tutorial: Simplified Decorating: How to Decorate Kitchen Countertops
Do you have any other cheap decorating ideas under $100 that you would add to the list? Let me know in the comments so we can keep this post going as a helpful resource!
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