Your guide on where to save money on home decor vs. where to invest.

This article contains affiliate links.

When creating a budget and design plan for our homes, it can be pretty easy to figure out where to splurge. But how do you make room in your budget for that solid wood coffee table or hand-knotted rug? When the budget is tight, what home decor items do interior designers actually buy cheap, without making the space feel cheap?

“Smart interior design isn’t about spending the most money—it’s about spending money wisely.”

— Emily Duncan Designs

Smart spending starts by separating your furniture and decor into two categories: foundation and fillers. Your foundations are your showstoppers, pieces with personality, tactile surfaces and high-touch items. They’re the furniture you sit on, the lamp you turn on and off throughout the day, and the first thing someone notices when they walk in a room. Your fillers are background characters. You’re not touching them often, but they’re furniture and decor that serves a purpose either through function or through design. A side table tucked next to a sofa, or a vase perched high on a shelf, would fall into the filler category.

With these two categories established, here’s where to save on the low-touch fillers so you can spend on the high-touch foundations.

Articles You May Like

The Essential Home Decor Save List

Curtains

Curtains are really nice when they’re custom made in a quality fabric, no doubt about it. But because basic curtains fade into the background, they’re also a really great place to save. Absolutely nobody is going to notice that you spent $30 per panel instead of $300.

Designer Tip: How you hang your curtains is far more important than how expensive they are. The High and Wide Rule is a sure way to up the style factor of affordable curtains. Read about it HERE.

Side Tables

Luxury vs budget side tables: can you tell the difference? Up close, yes. But that’s why these tables are such a great chance to save and allocate more money somewhere else. While a coffee table is the center of your seating area, and probably the first thing you see when you enter the room, a side table is set to the side, completely unnoticed.

These tables are most likely hidden by the arms of a sofa and table lamps. They serve their purpose, but they will never be a focal point of any living room. Instead of spending $600 on a side table, spend $200 and add the $400 to your coffee table fund, or maybe use it for a high-touch splurge on the designer lamp of your dreams? Sounds good to me!

Decorative Accessories

A $200 vase versus a $20 vase from Target may be pretty obvious when you pick them up and feel their weight, but you’re hardly ever picking up your vases. Your built-ins will look just as beautiful styled with budget decor as it will with high-end pieces. From vases to bowls, these items are an impactful way to bring in color and texture without breaking the bank.

Artwork

To be clear, I absolutely think original art is worth splurging on, but you don’t have to. While I don’t usually recommend generic wall art from big box stores (a sure way to make your home look like everyone else’s), there are some great options out there for art that simply feels expensive. One of my favorite decor budget hacks is downloadable artwork. The best museums in the world allow downloads of centuries old oil paintings, wallpaper patterns, and sketches, but if you'd rather have a more curated selection, there are many shops on Etsy that’ve done the digging for you. You can have a print mailed to you, or simply download the work and have it printed on quality, textured paper for an antique vibe.

In the end, how you spend your money is really about priorities. This list of designer-approved affordable decor and furniture will help you decide where to use funds in places where they make the most impact: the pieces you use most often and your design stars.

The High-Low Secret: What Designers Actually Buy on a Budget