Decorating on a tight budget
You’re about to close on your brand-new house, but you feel like all of your furniture seems old or dated. Some of it may have even been featured in your apartment; other items may have come in 200-piece sets with 40-page instruction manuals printed in eight languages.
Time for shopping? Maybe. Naturally, however, if you’re planning to close on a new house just after the holiday season, you may be feeling a little shy with your cash. But with the right amount of planning and creativity, you may not need to purchase expensive new pieces quite yet.
Builders say there are ways to get around the
challenge of decorating on a tight budget so that your new home can feel as beautiful as you want it to, at least for the time being.
“A lot of people keep their old furniture and put new blankets and pillows on it from Wayfair to give a room a fresh, contemporary look,” said Sonja Jarvis, community sales manager for Alamo-based Kiper Homes, which is selling two communities at The Lakes in Discovery Bay. “Sometimes all you need to do is paint a wall a bright accent color to draw the eye around the room.”
Peg Bruemmer, design consultant with The New Home Company, expounded on this idea. “The least expensive and most effective thing you can do is to paint,” she said. Color can lead people from one room to another and help spaces to feel very customized.
“One of the best things about moving into a new space is that you now have a blank canvas,” Bruemmer added. Painting an accent wall at the end of a hallway can create movement from the front of the home through to the living areas. “And painting a powder bathroom that all of your
guests will use can look impressive.”
The New Home Company’s Northern California communities include Tidewater at River Islands in Lathrop, where three models are always open. Other communities are The Landing West in Fremont, Ellison Park in Milpitas and Brighton Landing in Vacaville, plus several greater Sacramentoarea communities. At Tidewater at River Islands in Lathrop, the design showroom and Bruemmer are right on-site, which provides buyers great ease in visualizing design options while exploring model homes.
Bruemmer suggested waiting to furnish each area of the house, or decorating slowly. Doing so can give a new homeowner the assurance that they’re making the right design decisions without spending too much too soon.
“Bring in one piece at a time,” said Bruemmer. “The sofa, for example: Start with the largest piece you have and figure out what feels like the most comfortable spot for it.” She suggested sitting on the sofa, spending time thinking about the next piece you would like to move into the space, perhaps a painting, a mirror,
a side table. “Then see how that feels. You don’t have to get overwhelmed and feel like you have to put all of your old things in your new space.”
It could be, in fact, that a small space might benefit from a freshly painted table or that the lamps could use new shades. “You could consider painting a piece of furniture or mirror frame that you already have.”
Along that line of thinking, Jarvis of Kiper Homes joked that she ought to personally be sponsored by the likes of Wayfair and Houzz, for all the tips she provides new-home buyers. “You can snap a
picture of your room and put it up on one of those sites to get recommendations on how to make it look its best.”
Each of the experts on this topic also added that, before closing on your new home, consider applying for a low-interest home equity line of credit. Doing so might buy you time and future spending power for designing. No builder wants you to buy so much house that you can’t enjoy your new life or the fun of playing house in your new space. Ask your mortgage professional or consult with your builder’s preferred lenders to learn more.