10 Fabulous Home Decorating Ideas on a Budget

There are many small but important things you can do to get that special atmosphere you are looking for when you decorate a home or a room. It's not just about having the right furniture, the latest colour and such things. It's the small details in home decoration that will give your home a personal and fabulous look! The small decorating details are often overlooked when we start a home decoration project and we seem to focus so much, and sometimes only, on the big picture like; wallpaper, color, rugs, furniture and such things. The basic items are important in a home and should come first, but after all that are on the right place you need to add the decoration details. I always have a picture in my head or a vision of how the result is going to look when I start a home decoration project, and usually with big enthusiasms. But sometimes I have been a little disappointed looking at the finished project when it didn't look the way I planned. During the years and with much trial and error I have learned that it is the smaller things, the details that are missing! I will give you 10 fabulous home decoration ideas that I use myself!

Add lights to you fabulous home decoration! You need many lights and also many different types of lights. First you need a lamp that give good centre light, preferably from the ceiling. The centre light can be placed in other places as well but the main thing is that you can see the whole room when you light the lamp. To give the room a more cosy atmosphere you need to add other lights as well depending on what you are going to use the room for. It can be lights for the working place, or one light for reading in the favorite chair and you also need some light just for decoration, on tables and in the windows etc. But apart from that you also need:

Corner lamps

A great way to make a room look more welcoming and warm is to add lamps and lights in the corners. Nothing can steel a cosy atmosphere like a dark corner. Many people thinks this is a bigger problem in small rooms but I think it is a problem also in big rooms. In a small room a dark corner makes the room seem even smaller but in a big room the dark corner creates an empty feeling. You know the dark corner is there, and it seems like the corner is much bigger than it is because you can not see the wall! So, I like to have something in every corner and preferably I make sure to light up the corners or at least two of them in a room. If you settle with two, choose the corners furthest away from the door from where you mostly enter the room. It makes the room seem much more welcoming and you want to get in there!

Other type of lamps

You can let the lamp be all the decoration needed in that corner by choosing a big lamp or you can create something fabulous by your self.

I found a great decoration in a furniture shop that was intended to be just for decoration; a number of sticks painted in white colour assembled with wires to squares! They look great as they are a fills up the otherwise dull corner. But in the evenings they weren't visible at all. I then got the idea to attach a lamp in the bottom of the sticks and directed the lights upwards. I used small point lights in this case. Now I have an even more fabulous décor during the evenings in that corner and the lights creates fantastic patterns in the ceiling!

I also use small lamps and white Christmas lights in many different ways. Only your imagination sets the limits! I am sure you can come up with many more creative ideas for fabulous decoration ideas with lights and lamps!

I now mean storage in small scales because I think you have already solved the big need for storage with furniture. I have several ideas for you storage need for small items. You can use old shoe-boxes and decorate them with some stylish paper or fabric that will match your design, use big or small cans, stylish vases or such.

Personally I am totally in love with jars with lids or hatboxes. They are so useful and come in many different types and sizes. You can use them everywhere and they will make a great fabulous decoration idea wherever you put them in you home!

No sofa or bed can be complete without pillows and cushions! Choose them in many different colours if you have a more or less one coloured room and want to add a little sparkling colour. Or let the pillows take up one or two of the rooms accent colours if you want to expose them a little more. Arrange your cushions after taste, and remember to have many of them! You can transform the atmosphere just by adding cushions or pillows!

Curtains can also transform a room depending on which colour and fabric you choose. Usually thicker fabrics and darker colours of red, brown, green or orange creates a warm and cosy feeling in a room. If you want some dramatic look you should choose black colour and if you look for a bright and more light feeling choose a thin fabric that bring in the day light and use preferably lighter colours like pink, yellow, light blue or purple.

Flower will give your home and a room the feeling of health and life. You can choose between green or flowering potted plants depending on what you want to achieve. Flowering potted plants will give you a more romantic design and green plants will give you a more strict atmosphere. But flowers and plants have their given place in any room!

I use blankets or plaids in almost every room, even in the kitchen! I love the feeling and the sight of a cosy blanket laying casually over a chair, a sofa or a bed. It looks welcoming and inviting. I use them indoors all year around and out doors during summer for chilly summer nights.

Blankets are also very useful if you want to take a nap or just feel a bit cold. I have a base layer with white blankets that goes well with every colour, but I also have some blankets in other colours that I use to match my decoration if it is needed.

Plaids can be used where you want to ”smooth” a surface that are interpreted as hard or when you want to add a cosy feeling. I use them on desk chairs or on any chair and sofas.

I prefer single shelvs instead of large book cases. And I love shelvs that seems to be hanging out from the wall, with no visible hanging devices. It looks clean and smooth and I think they are useful everywhere in the home. Only our imagination sets the limits to how to use them.

I like books and many of them are so beautiful and it is a shame not having them visible! You can use them as decoration laying on a shelf with the book cover visible, you can stack several books and use them both for adding colour or you can use them just for their beautiful front cover. I use a shelf intended for pictures to display my favourite books, my most beautiful books ore just the books that inspires me for the moment. I change my decoration books quite often and I have noticed that I also reed the books more when I see them standing there.

I also like to use photographs as decoration and there are so many ways to do it! You can collect photos you like and assemble them in a photo frame. Or you can put single photos in photo frames and arrange them on the wall. You can choose picture from many different preferences, for example your latest vacation, your wedding or your family. You can use your pets, your garden or just pictures of things you like or pictures that say something about you or pictures that means something to you. Use the things you like and encourage and help your children to do the same.

Other things I use for decoration is lanterns or candles! Not only do they look great wherever you put them, they are also so useful! I have either a lantern or a candle of some kind in every room in the house also in the bathroom and I use them on ordinary evenings as well as when we have guests! In fact, it is especially useful in a bathroom and creates a warm and welcoming atmosphere for everyone entering the door. Your guests will thank you for your concern when they enter a bathroom where there is light from candles or lanterns to guide them. How many times haven't we fumbled in the dark, used our hand on the walls, searching for the light switcher in an unknown bathroom? Also the hall will benefit from soft candlelight since it creates a great welcome for everyone.

The bedroom is another place where candles or lanterns do wonder. I love to enter a room where there is candlelight and the bedroom is no exception! But be aware of the fire risk and choose both candles, candle holders and lanterns with caution. Always put safety first!