Budget-Friendly Home Decor: Stylish & Affordable Ideas

Estate sales and garage sales are both great opportunities to find second-hand treasures, but they are quite different in terms of scope, items sold, and purpose. If you love thrifting or finding unique items, knowing the difference between estate sale vs. garage sale can help you score the best deals.

Scalloped edges may be having a moment but this design feature is timeless. Check out these scalloped edge design ideas to incorporate this whimsical element into your home today.

The budget-friendly drapes I ordered from Two Pages Curtains completely exceeded my expectations! These curtains completely elevate the look of the room and now I want to add them into every space in our home.

This year, the checkered pattern has become a popular home design trend and I love it! Incorporating a checkered pattern into your home decor is a great way to add a modern element to the design. I am joining the checkered trend bandwagon with this easy DIY checkered frame project!

Looking to give your kitchen a fresh new look without spending a fortune? A DIY backsplash can be a great way to add some personality and style to your space.

From peel-and-stick tiles to unique stencils, there are plenty of affordable and creative options to choose from. Check out these DIY backsplash ideas for inspiration.

When it comes to making a bold statement with paint, few colors pack as much punch as a deep, moody green. Dark green walls can create a sense of drama, elegance, and even coziness, depending on how you style the room.
When I want a timeless paint color for my home, I always check out the historic collections at our local paint store. Dark green paint colors add a richness to any design and there are so many great options!

Here are a few of my top picks for our home.

The second-floor bathroom at our Toledo flip house was in dire need of a makeover! Because the bathroom ceiling is slanted, the shower/tub, toilet, and vanity were all squished onto one wall. It felt small and cramped and I was excited to improve the layout of this space.

Choosing the right paint color for your home can be a daunting task, but Eider White by Sherwin Williams is a popular choice for many homeowners. After using this paint color in multiple rooms of our homes, I definitely have first-hand knowledge of using Eider White in your home.

In this review, we’ll take a closer look at this paint color, including its undertones, versatility, and how it looks in different lighting situations.

Whether you’re considering Eider White for your walls, trim, or cabinets, we’ve got you covered.

A major trend in the kitchen this year is incorporating a mushroom cabinet color into the design. While it is “on trend”, mushroom-colored cabinets have been a popular color for kitchen cabinets for years. It is a fantastic option for a timeless kitchen design with neutral colors.

After living in our home for almost four years, I am finally dedicating some attention to our large foyer. You can check out the full tour of our house the day we got the keys in an earlier blog post. The entryway in our house was one of the big selling points with its cathedral ceilings, curved staircase, and decorative wainscot trim. This traditional space is screaming for a stylish skirted table to drop your keys and place a cozy lamp.

I fell in love with the entryway of our house from the moment we stepped through the door. The architecture of our front entryway speaks for itself, but I am ready to give it some personality and add some function. I have compiled functional and stylish entryway ideas to reference as I plan our foyer updates.

Sherwin Williams Alabaster (SW 7008) is one of my favorite neutral white paint colors. Alabaster is the perfect off-white that feels bright and fresh while also having that warm and cozy element to the paint color. In fact, I have it painted all throughout my house! With so many rooms in our current home painted in Alabaster, I decided to do a full review on this popular paint color!

We are so close to wrapping up this basement project and I can’t wait to share it with all of you! Creating beautiful and functional areas in a basement is one of my favorite ways to add value to our homes.

Creating a functional living space in an unfinished basement is an incredible way to add square footage to your home! Today I am excited to share affordable ideas to create a beautiful unfinished basement on a budget. These DIY projects made all of the difference in our basement and it’s now a space that we use every single day.

Bathrooms built in the mid-century were bold and homeowners were definitely not afraid of color. While many of these retro bathrooms have been replaced over the years, many homeowners are beginning to appreciate the bold bathroom styles from 50+ years ago. Homeowners who are determined to preserve their vintage tile bathrooms without giving up modern amenities in bathrooms built today.

Every year, the biggest paint brands choose a color of the year that they predict will be a popular hue that will dominate design in the new year. This muted hue is the perfect neutral paint color to try in your home. When applied to the walls of a room, this beautiful earth tone creates a cozy and inviting atmosphere.

Adding decorative wall trim is a great way to add architectural interest to your home. It is important, however, to choose a wall trim that is appropriate to the architectural style of the home. Decorative wall trim and molding help bring a room to life as well as serve more practical functions like hiding the seams of the floor and wall.

As a lover of traditional style and designs, I have always been drawn to blue and white decor. It is no surprise then that I am attracted to blue and white Christmas decor! There are so many different ways to incorporate blue and white into the holidays and the history of this combo instantly creates a classic and traditional feeling.

Red and gold are classic Christmas colors that have been used for years around the holidays. For me, traditional red and gold Christmas decor creates a feeling of nostalgia and joy.

Red and gold Christmas trees feel timeless and look beautiful in any home. For inspiration with creating this look in your own home, check out the beautiful designs below that I love. These decorations are either easy to recreate on your own or are images that I recently saved on Instagram or Pinterest.

Large, blank walls continue to intimidate me when it comes to choosing artwork. Whatever fills the walls has to be substantial and large artwork usually comes with a large price tag. The solution in the guest bedroom/office is a gallery wall and I am so pleased with how it turned out!

Welcome back to week 6 of the One Room Challenge! There are two weeks left in this challenge and I really need to get my butt in gear. There are …

Welcome back to week 4 of the One Room Challenge! This week I am focusing on the guest bedroom lighting throughout the space. The guest bedroom is large and because the space is so large, I need to include multiple lighting sources to properly light the room.

Welcome back to week 3 of the One Room Challenge! This week I continued to focus on the bed and nightstands, which are the main focal point of the room. To hide the old platform bed, I purchased a mattelasse bedskirt and it completely changed the look of the bed. I also purchased a white quilt so the green headboard would get all of the attention.

Welcome back to week 2 of the One Room Challenge! This week I am focusing on the design of the guest bedroom / office focal point which will determine the choices for the rest of the room – the bed! For this makeover, I am pushing myself creatively and trying to make choices that are a little less safe. I will take you through my entire thought process below!

I am excited to be participating in my 6th One Room Challenge this fall to makeover our guest bedroom / office!

By the end of the summer, I am ready for fall and all of the fun traditions the season brings. The leaves on the trees are changing, farms are harvesting their crops, and using elements in nature is an easy way to decorate for fall on a budget.

Creating a functional laundry room doesn’t have to be complicated or costly. With the right organization, storage solutions, and tools, you can maximize your space and make laundry day much easier. Read on for practical tips and clever ideas to turn your laundry room into a functional and efficient home hub.

Going to estate sales is one of my favorite weekend activities! I love the thrill of the hunt for beautiful, unique home decor and furniture to fill my home. It’s also a great place to check out great architecture and stunning properties around your city. Estate sales are an incredible place to find high-quality pieces at a discounted price, but you have to be quick to snag them before someone else does first! You can find a list of local estate sales through the app estatesales.net.

Creating a welcoming space that feels unique to my family is always on my mind when decorating a room. Our current home is pretty large, so I have to get creative when finding one-of-a-kind art that is also budget-friendly! I absolutely love when our guests ask about a piece of artwork hung on the walls. I

My budget-friendly laundry room makeover is finally complete! A few months ago I shared my laundry room inspiration and I can’t wait to show you how I brought that vision to life.

The guest bathroom on the main floor of our house is the only bathroom that has had any updates since it was built in the late 1960s. The shower was updated, the countertop was replaced with marble and new wallpaper was installed.

My husband’s family has always had beautifully wrapped gifts with bows of ribbon adorning each package under the Christmas tree.  A festive ribbon wrapped around both sides of the present and a simple bow on top is my favorite look. With this type of gift bow, the recipient can easily unravel the ribbon with a tug of one tail. I asked my mother-in-law for a tutorial on how to make these gift bows and I have been making them ever since! 

Today I am sharing 6 ways to create less waste during the holidays. These simple changes helped me to use less and not sacrifice all of the beautiful decor that comes with the holidays.

Welcome back to week 7 of the One Room Challenge! Incorporating vintage artwork into a design is a great way to create a one-of-a-kind space and save money. One of my favorite items to find at estate sales is artwork and included quite a few second-hand items in Evelyn’s bedroom makeover.

Welcome back to another exciting One Room Challenge! This exciting design event was created by Linda Weinstein back in 2011 with the goal of cheering on and supporting online friends to complete a finished room in their homes.

e in a home that gives them energy every day and brings them joy. This book has helped me to understand how simple design choices can brighten our moods.

This IKEA hack transformation may be my favorite one yet! I decided to give our current IKEA Hemnes dresser an update when I was putting together the design plans for our master bedroom makeover.

Welcome to Week 7 of the One Room Challenge! I gotta be honest, I have struggled with my time management on this project and am a little bummed that I missed writing my weekly post last week

Filling the walls in a large room can be a little challenging for me. My goal is always to hang unique artwork that is interesting and doesn’t break the bank. Whatever I hang on our walls, I want it to feel like our family. For week 4 of the One Room Challenge, I am going to share some of the artwork I will be hanging in our living room and where I find them.

If this first time stopping by, welcome, and thanks for visiting! A few years ago I decided to quit my corporate job in Denver and my family moved back to …

Welcome back to Week 2 of the One Room Challenge! Our living room has great bones and the first improvement we made to the room was installing new floors and painting the walls. Check out all of the living room design plans in the Week 1 post.

Who’s ready for the Spring One Room Challenge?! This time around we will be working on our living room and I can’t wait to pull it all together! For the last two years, this room was set up with furniture we purchased 10 years ago after we were married.

Last Fall I finished our master bedroom makeover and I am finally getting around to writing the closet organization post. Just in time for Spring cleaning! Our home has incredible storage with large closets in every bedroom and even more spacious closets in the hallway.

Christmas decor can be expensive to buy all at once and personally, I enjoy collecting meaningful decor throughout the years. I have compiled a list of easy and inexpensive decorations for the holidays while the collection grows.

Have you ever tried one of the popular IKEA hacks found on Pinterest? There are so many incredible DIY projects using IKEA furniture and I am always completely blown away by the transformations! I have tried out a few of my own and am so pleased with the results. I have pulled together some of the best IKEA furniture hacks to try at home.

For week 5 of the Better Homes & Gardens One Room Challenge, I focused on the design details. I have all of the furniture purchased and in place and I was excited to add our personality to the space. After living in our home for just over a year, we had identified the key areas that lacked function in our room.

Is it just me or does it feel like we just wrapped up the Spring One Room Challenge? Either way, my home is never lacking a space that needs a …

Looking for a reason to decorate with vintage items in your home? Along with the thrill of the hunt, there many benefits to purchasing gently used furniture and vintage decor items for your home.

If you own a home built in the 50s or 60s, there is a good chance you have at least one retro bathroom.

Our home was built in the late ’60s and we have 3 original bathrooms! This month I am excited to tackle a budget-friendly makeover to our master bathroom! My goal is to highlight the charming aspects of our bathroom while adding more function for our family’s needs today. After living with this bathroom for the last year, I have identified a handful of quick fixes that will modernize the space and add efficiency.

Week 7 of the One Room Challenge and I am looking forward to wrapping up this project. There are definitely some challenges that come along with renovating a child’s bedroom …

We are in the final weeks of the One Room Challenge and I am FEELING it! Last week was heavy and to be honest, the Challenge felt a little trivial. …

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved a good DIY project, especially when I can upcycle an old item. I found an old lamp at a local thrift store and decided to give it a modern look with an easy DIY by adding plaster to the lamp base.

The Better Homes & Gardens Spring One Room Challenge is here and I am so excited to participate again! Over the next 8 weeks, I will be transforming my boy’s …

Steve and Jan wanted a home that functioned for their family today while also fitting in with the period when the home was built in 1875. Unfortunately, because the roof had been removed for 6 years, there wasn’t much to salvage in terms of original materials.

 I am so excited to take you through my favorite project of our third house, the master bathroom renovation! Our previous house had an amazing master closet and master bathroom, so when we moved into our new house, the outdated and small master bath and closet were NOT ideal.  

As I slowly furnish our living room in our new home, I am on the hunt for a round table under $500. I would like to put a table in the bay window nook to serve as a place to do puzzles or play games.

Today I am sharing 10 simple ways to make your bathroom more eco-friendly! Bathroom renovations have been on my mind because the bathrooms in our new home are original to when the house was built in the 1970s. This means that they are very colorful and not very efficient.

Today I am sharing my 10 simple home staging tips to sell your house fast!  As a licensed real estate agent and investor, I absolutely LOVE this part of selling a home! With these tips, I know you will maximize the value of your home and stand out from the competition.

When you buy a fixer-upper, it is imperative that you prioritize and plan your home renovation projects! Renovating a home can be overwhelming and I have learned quite a bit living through renovations these last 10 years. Today I am sharing my tips for how Chris and I plan our home renovation projects and prioritize each one.

If you are looking to sell your home, one of the easiest ways to maximize its value is to create a blank slate with neutral paint colors on your walls.

Home renovation costs can add up quickly! Today I am sharing my top 5 money saving tips for your next big home project. After flipping four houses and renovating our current home, Chris and I have learned lots of ways to save money with each project we take on.

The first big project in 2020 will be my laundry room! I am excited to take you through my laundry room design plans today and give you a tour of the current space. The plan is to incorporate big design into this space on a little budget! I am looking forward to this project because I love to get thrifty and creative in with home renovation projects. My goal is to spend under $300 for this entire makeover.

Laundry rooms are one of my favorite DIY projects because they are often overlooked and left as boring and uninspiring spaces. My first big project of 2020 is to tackle our dated laundry room. I have gathered a few of my favorite laundry room design ideas that are inspiring me for this budget-friendly project.

It is so refreshing to do a not-so-fun task like laundry in a beautiful space. While kitchens and bathrooms often sell the home, I believe that beautiful laundry rooms seal the deal.

Let’s get started!

LED light bulbs are the easiest and quickest way to make your home more energy-efficient. If you haven’t made the switch to LEDs yet, add this to your 2020 New Year’s resolution list right now! LED light bulbs have become much more affordable than they used to be and there are numerous benefits to making the switch from old CFL bulbs.

Modern families today want that open concept design in their homes. The kitchen is the most common place where homeowners want that open-concept feel. It is the heart of the home where everyone wants to gather.

Today I am sharing my favorite functional kitchen ideas to maximize efficiency and organization! When a kitchen is organized well, valuable time is given back to the homeowner. In the last 10 years, I have moved 8 times and have learned a thing or two about efficiently organizing my kitchen.

The DIY picture ledge in our dining room has been a huge hit!

I have had so many positive responses to this piece, someone even asked if it was from Pottery Barn! How’s that for a compliment?! Building this ledge is super easy, it only takes a few hours, costs less than $30 and I am going to show YOU how to build it.

For the final week of this challenge, I am sharing the reveal of the dining room transformation AND a festive table setting designed for the holidays.

We are so close to the finish line for the One Room Challenge! This week we are getting art and decor up on the walls in our dining room.

Week 3 of the One Room Challenge brought on the biggest transformation yet. I say this all the time and I will say it again…PAINT IS SO TRANSFORMATIVE!

Week 2 of the One Room Challenge is all about dining room prep! This week is all about prepping the room – making it ugly so it can look so beautiful at the end of this 6 week challenge! Specifically, I am focusing on removing wallpaper, moving the chandelier & repairing chipped paint.

The Better Homes & Gardens Fall One Room Challenge is here and I am so excited to be a guest participant! For the next 6 weeks, I will be transforming our dining room just in time for the holidays. Every Wednesday I will be posting updates on my progress and you can check out all of the behind-the-scenes fun over on Instagram.

In the last 10 years, Chris and I have moved 6 times and consider ourselves experts when moving and into a new house. We have learned lots of tips and tricks when we organize and unpack our new home and I am excited to share our top 5 tips today. These organizational tips are sure to turn your new house into a home.

It was extremely important to nail the kitchen layout at the Drummond Flip House. The kitchen is the heart of the home and can make or break the sale of …

Today I am sharing our phase 1 kitchen renovation plans at Flip 3! When we first moved into this house, I was amazed by the size of the kitchen! It …

Our second house had a tiny, closed-off kitchen. By removing half a wall in the kitchen and installing a breakfast bar, we added value to our home and achieved an …

Drum roll please! My tiny, dingy, dated half bath has had a major makeover! We extended the challenge by a week to complete the finishing touches and it was well …

Phase 2 of our kitchen renovation at Flip 3 is complete just in time for Friendsgiving! I don’t know about you, but hosting an event always gives me that push …

Our office needed a little love but we weren’t going to break the bank fixing it up. Today I am going to share with you our affordable office updates we …

Today I am excited to share styling tips to sell your house fast from local interior decorator, Debbie Jacoby! Debbie is selling her beautiful house in NW Ohio and these clever styling tips are sure to bring in multiple buyers!

I am lucky to call her my aunt and am always inspired by her designs and budget-friendly solutions to create a high-end look.

Are you ready for this super simple tutorial for how to wallpaper your staircase?! I am excited to share this fun wallpaper project with you and the best part is that it took less than 3 hours to install!

Today I am sharing how to create a custom homeowner’s manual to sell your home fast! This manual is an open house cheat sheet and it allows you to share the great features of your home that may go unnoticed at an open house. What home renovations did you complete while living in the home? What upgrades are included that may not be visible to potential home buyers?

I am excited to take you on a tour of the Drummond Flip house before our renovations begin. This is our fourth flip house and our first investment in Toledo, …

After renovating four homes (while living there), Chris and I have a few tips for renovating a home with young kids. Over those 10 years, we both had full-time jobs and were raising two rambunctious kiddos and still survived living through construction zones.

Thanks for tuning in to episode 12 of From the Nest Podcast! On today’s episode, Chris and I are discussing the kitchen design at the Drummond Flip House. Designing the …

Today Chris and I are discussing 8 easy and affordable ways to make your home more energy efficient. With Earth Day coming up this month, we thought this topic would …

hoosing the type of flooring for your home is a BIG decision! It has to hold up to the wear and tear of your family, and not all flooring is created equally. I am breaking down my top tips for choosing the best flooring material for your family and home.

Today I am sharing all of the before and after makeovers from our second home in Denver, CO! We made some major improvements to this house that paid off big when we sold it after 2 years.

In our third flip house, we turned what was once the formal living room into the adult family room. I am a firm believer that you should design your house to fit the way you use it every day.

The basement renovation was a game-changer at our first flip house because we added living space to our small bungalow. Our house in the Highlands neighborhood was about 1,200 square feet and having that finished area in the basement made a huge difference.

Our master bedroom makeover at our third home was an important project that I wanted to tackle before the birth of our daughter, Evelyn. We moved into this home when I was 5 months pregnant, so the pressure was on to turn our master bedroom into a calming retreat!

Bathroom renovations can be costly, so I was very excited to save some money by framing our bathroom mirror with this easy DIY!

This is a quick and easy project that we knocked out in a weekend and spent less than $50. The design for our new master bathroom included pale green walls with gray accents for a spa-like feel. I chose distressed wood to build the mirror frame and it was the perfect rustic touch!

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