DIY on a budget No.4 | Cheap and cheerful ways to decorate your bedroom

In this series of blogposts I’m looking at ways to decorate your house on a budget.  I’ve combed the web for ways to brighten up your home without lightening your purse.

We’ve already looked at cheap ways to revive your living room, revamp your kids’ room, and brighten up your kitchen. Now I’m setting my sights on your bedroom. That sounded creepier than I meant it to.

As someone who lives in a rented house, I’m always on the look-out for ways to make it more my own. When I moved in, the only personality my bedroom had was where the landlord had shoddily covered up splodges on the magnolia walls with white paint! As I could lose my deposit if I make any alterations to the property, such as drilling stuff into walls, anything I do to personalise my bedroom has to be temporary.

This blogpost is full of ideas for small changes you can make to your bedroom, which cause minimal destruction and make your room feel more homely too!

Headboard

What are headboards for? The fact that I don’t know the answer to this question is probably one of the reasons I’ve never had one. They’re also pretty expensive for something that doesn’t really do that much, but they do make a bed look more grand!

Apparently you can get the regal look without spending a small fortune by making your own out of some old boxes and a bit of material – and it actually looks decent! Head over to the Stars for Streetlights blog for more pictures and the instructions.

Wall hanging

Brightening up your room can be a nightmare if you rent and you’re not allowed to give it a lick of paint. But there are other ways to add some colour that can be cheaper and a lot quicker too.

Wall hangings are a great temporary way to make your room more cheerful, and you don’t need to be particularly artistic to make your own. All you need is a cloth or old bedsheet, some paint and something to stamp. It’s a bit like when you did potato printing as a kid – it’s meant to be a bit smudgy and imperfect, so no one can tell you you’ve done it wrong!

Maxwell at Design Sponge tells you how to make it.

Easy shelf

If you’re allowed to hammer and drill stuff into your walls, floating shelves can be a great way to make a small-ish room feel bigger, especially if they make use of otherwise dead space like corners. But I noticed on a recent trip to a no-names-mentioned Swedish furniture store that floating shelves aren’t all that cheap.

With a bit of imagination and some basic DIY skills, you can make your own for a fraction of the price. This shelf is made using a wooden magazine holder and a few screws, and would work perfectly as a little bedside table, phone stand or make-up shelf. Find out how to make your own over at Design Sponge.

Cheap drawer dividers

It’s not all about decorating. Making sure your stuff’s all kept neat and tidy can transform your bedroom and make it feel like new. To be honest I still have a ‘the floor’s my wardrobe’ approach to life, so this is still new to me, but it does help to make your bedroom a more relaxing place.

Drawer dividers aren’t something you need to spend money on either – a few old cereal boxes and wrapping paper will do the trick just fine. Take a look at the I Heart Organising blog to find out how.

DIY pillows

 

Chucking a few pillows on your bed can instantly transform a plain room into a much more luxurious space! You don’t need to shell out on fancy pillows or any of this Egyptian cotton pillowcase nonsense – small pillows and plain pillowcases can be bought for a few pounds online or at homeware shops, and you can easily customise them to suit your own tastes.

I love this low-key pompom pillow idea – you can even make your own pompoms from a bit of wool! I wasn’t convinced at first, but you can find the instructions and an easy-to-follow video tutorial over on the Creature Comforts blog (EDIT: Blog no longer available). They also have some other cool ideas about how to jazz up plain pillows using felt and paint!

Washi tape picture frames

If you read my blog about reviving your living room on a budget, you might remember I’m a shameless Washi tape convert.

Washi tape is like colourful duct tape and originally comes from Japan. It’s fab for arts and crafts, and can be used to brighten up walls and furniture without pulling off chunks of paint and plaster! It might sound a bit specialist, but it’s everywhere and pretty inexpensive – I even saw some on sale in my local pound shop the other day.

If you have some nice photos or cards that are too nice to be in a drawer, stick them to your wall, give them a Washi tape frame and let them get the attention they deserve! The best thing about this is that when you’re a bit tired of looking at one picture, it’s easy to swap it out for another. Find out more on the Design Sponge blog.

Do you have any other cheap and cheerful decorating tips? Let us know in the comments!

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