Re-Designing Your Living / Family Room For Less

by Sheila Ferguson
(Brighton, U.K.)

Re-designing or rearranging your living room or family room is a relatively easy task. All you need is a reasonably artistic and stylish eye to be able to create a great design that not only you, but others, will love because the living room area is usually the first area seen as you enter the home.

The money involved in redecorating your living room is also a major factor to consider. Furniture and decor of good quality are not cheap, especially if you are considering hiring an interior designer to do the job for you.

What if you are on a tight budget? How can you have the
nice stylish living room or family room that you want?. There are actually several ways this can be done.

* Make use of the existing furniture and/or fixtures if you are thinking of creating a new design for your existing living room. You may just need to clean them a bit to make them look new before placing them in their new location. Older furniture that you’ve had for quite some time may require repairs to make sure they are still sturdy.

* Before you start moving things around, you must visualize how you want your living room to appear. Try browsing through some home improvement magazines for a style that appeals to you; you need not have all the decor and furniture seen in the magazine for your room to look nearly the same. Just let your mind work and your creative instincts do the job!.

* Some old things that you thought you would never use again might just find their perfect place in your “new” living room. Make sure that it does not look cluttered or too heavy. Try to make everything as light as possible so that your room appears comfortable and relaxing as well as pleasing to the eyes.

* By changing the lighting of the room you can create a totally different effect. There are several options available for quality lights and lamps that are not terribly expensive.

* If you are designing a living room in your new home from scratch, you may want to do some homework first. Borrow some home improvement or interior design magazines and browse to find decorating ideas that appeal to you. You need not hire an interior designer to do the work for you.

* You can do the design yourself by just being imaginative and creative; with the help of a guide, it will be a breeze for you to do. Ask for help from a friend you know who is experienced in decorating for advice and/or help.

* The first thing to determine when decorating a living room is how you want the walls to look. Using wallpaper may be stylish but it is costly; and if you think long term, most wallpaper does not last for more than a few years. It can be easily torn or marred especially if there are children or pets in the household around so it might be to your advantage to use paint.

* To save money, it is advisable to have similar colors
throughout the house, not just in the living room. Besides the money saved, it is pleasing to the eyes to see consistency in color. That does not mean, however, that if you are accustomed to a monochromatic look, go ahead and dare to be different by adding bold colors!