Updating a Living & Dining Room for $10,000 (ish!)
We recently had the pleasure of decorating a living room, dining room, & entryway for a lovely local client. She had moved in recently and needed furniture, décor, window coverings, paint, and anything else we could think of to update the main living area for around $10,000. Furniture can be quite expensive, so this was no easy feat! We wanted to give you an idea of what we were able to accomplish with this budget, and share some tips and tricks that you can incorporate into your space (or things you can hire us to do for you!).
When working with a tight budget, it’s always important to work with features of the home that are already nice and do what you can to accentuate them! This home had some great beadboard paneling near the front entry and on the back of the kitchen island. All of the finishes in the kitchen were white, and so to add more character, colour, and dimension, we chose a pretty light blue colour to paint the beadboard paneling on the island. This was a super inexpensive way to customize the space and add more of the modern coastal style we were going for. The kitchen already had nice countertops and newly painted cabinetry, so we updated the hardware and the lighting, and those changes made a huge impact on the space! The images below show the before & after of the island.
We also used paint in other areas to add a couple feature walls, which created more depth and dimension in the space for not a huge cost. The front entry had some paintable wallpaper that we chose to paint dark blue (another existing feature that we accentuated), and we then carried that dark blue into the dining room as well, which provided good flow from room to room. The main wall colour was also refreshed. Unfortunately we don’t have a photo of the entryway, but below is a picture of the beautiful dining room. The dining room light fixture was also an existing piece, so we used it as a base to inspire the other light fixture styles and metal colours.
To save a few thousand dollars, the client decided to keep her existing sofa, and get new furniture for everything else. The home already had lovely hardwood floors, so we made sure to select wood tones that worked well with those floors. We wanted to make it a very cozy space, so we added a corner fireplace, as well as a large round nesting chair. Toss cushions, throw blankets, and an area rug added texture, colour, pattern, and coziness to the space too! Lighting was also an important factor in making this home more functional and comfortable, so we added two lamps in the living room. Task lighting like lamps add a warm glow and provide more functionality, as well as being more budget-friendly than adding ceiling fixtures!
We did most of our accessory shopping at HomeSense and Bouclair, which are great places for inexpensive décor. We also incorporated a few items that the client already had, such as some cute plants! We also enjoyed having some custom art prints made for her of her dogs and family! The prints were ordered from Etsy, which is a great place for art prints and custom artwork. We hung them in a gallery wall fashion above the sofa.
I hope you enjoyed reading about this lovely home and learning about some ideas to keep in mind when refreshing an open concept space like this. We love projects like this, and are so happy to help our clients achieve beautiful, feel-good homes!