Keeping It Real: The TRUE Cost Of Decorating A Room
I get amazed whenever I hear people say they want to decorate their entire room for $2000 or less. Actually, it makes me turn my head to the side and say, "really?, you have no clue on the true cost of decorating a room, do you? You really need to stop watching HGTV girl!"
Now I get it.
I also love HGTV, but you have to be realistic with yourself (more on my thoughts on lies HGTV tells you here) that a $2k budget for an entire room isn't doable unless you're willing to shop from mainly estate sales, garage sales or IKEA, but if you don't have the time to research estate sales/garage sales or are looking for quality furniture pieces (ie: real wood pieces not compressed wood that breaks when screw in too tight) that will stand the test of time, $2k just isn't going to cut it. (click here for how shopping at estate sales can save you money). Sorry to break it to you, but it just isn't.
Furniture isn't something that you ever want to skimp on. Ever.
Think about it.
Furniture is what you'll be using the most in the room such as a sofa, bed, chair, table, pretty much your big ticket items-they are what get the most wear and tear in a room.
I'm here to keep it 100% real with you. So sorry, but not really sorry, that this dose of reality may hurt a bit.
Here's the breakdown for you on the true cost of decorating a room (I'm going to give you three scenarios: low budget, moderate budget and high-end budget).
Oh and keep in mind that these numbers DO NOT include tax/delivery fees or hiring things out like painters or an electrician to mount your new chandelier.
Low Budget Room: $1,000 - 2,000
These are numbers that I got from sourcing items on IKEA and yeah I'm sure that I could've gone under two grand, but that's if I would've chosen things from their LACK collection, which is super cheap in quality or chosen from other budget stores like: Target, H&M or gone to yard/estate sales or done some DIY projects. Doable for an entire room? Yes. Recommended? No.
With this budget, you'll end up buying anyone of these items all over again in 1-2 years of your purchase. Why? Because they won't stand the test of time. Add in kids or pets and you better cut that time in half!
Moderate Budget Room: $7,000 - 10,000+
When you up the quality of the pieces for your room, your budget increases of course, but to me, it's all worth it. I'm the type to shell out the cash for a quality piece, use coupons or wait until the item goes on sale because in the back of my mind, I know that the piece will last me a few years. So I'm okay with that and like I said before, skimping on furniture is not the way to go.
Onto the breakdown:
Before I forget, some stores that fall into this budget are: West Elm, Grand In Road, ZGallerie, BirchLane and many more. (Check out some of my go to affordable home decor stores here)
High-End Budget Room: $37,000+
As I'm typing this, I realized that I should've really titled this budget, "moderate high end" because a true high-end room can cost you triple this number and beyond. The reason being that with a high-end room, you're mainly dealing with custom pieces or antiques and very expensive textures (translation = expensive as shit), but here's my breakdown for you anyways:
Oh, and some stores that fall within this budget are: Kathy Kuomo Home, Jonathan Adler, Horchow, Barneys
Now these are all estimates of course, but they are realistic estimates whether you want to take it in or not.
Depending on your budget, I always say to mix it up when it comes to how much you're willing to spend on pieces. Go cheapy, cheapy with your accessories and with the money saved, splurge on furniture, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to save money. A few ways to do this is to keep an eye out for sales, sign up to the email lists for these stores to receive coupons or stalk their clearance section.
You can also buy things in piece meal. There's no reason for you to buy everything all at once (unless you got it like that). It would be smart to buy big ticket items that go on sale or are placed on clearance (most likely they'll be gone fast, so I say jump on the deal before it's gone).
Okay, now I'm done!
This was a long one, but I really enjoyed it!
If you’re still feeling stuck with decorating your space & need one on one help, then hit me up here girl.