When Corey and I first purchased our new home, Corey was 4 months out of college and I was just starting my third year of dental school, so needless to say budgets were (and are) tight. We knew we wanted and needed to make a few renovations to our new home and that would be pretty expensive, but it was also important to us to fill our home with pieces that made it feel "home-y" and special but also didn't break the bank.
Both Corey and I like traditional decor with some coastal touches thrown in. We like muted colors (mostly whites, grays, and blues) and are both pretty minimalistic (we both HATE having appliances out on the counters and clutter drives us both nuts)! It was super helpful that we both have a similar taste rather than trying to blend two very different styles (although Corey could go for faaaaar less blue and white china and he lets me know it at every possible opportunity, haha).
It also came in SUPER handy that Corey is great with power tools, so he actually built most of our master bedroom furniture (both end tables and the headboard), a mirror for our hallway, and all of the tables in our living room. This helped cut down on a lot of larger costs!
When it came to purchasing furniture, we both acknowledged that this is not our forever home and that we needed to be price conscious, but also we wanted to collect nicer pieces slowly when we could afford them. I didn't just want to fill our home with cheap furniture just to have it look full, but wanted most pieces to have some sort of meaning behind them.
I hunted high and low for the best prices for home decor pieces that would make our house feel like ours. We have bunches of hand-me-downs and items we've collected since college, but the items below were some of what we purchased new for our home. (You can click on the pictures to go to the item's link!)
Furniture: We shopped at Ashley Furniture, Wayfair, World Market, and Hayneedle. (Wait until World Market puts their furniture at 30% off and stock up!) We also purchased a lot of our furniture from Facebook Marketplace, and I cannot recommend this enough! If you consistently check that page, you're guaranteed to find a good deal on something you need. It's the best way I've found to get quality furniture for like a fourth of the price!
Rugs: We mostly shopped at Target and Overstock and waited for them to go on sale!
Curtains: We purchased like 8 sets of white linen Ikea curtains! They look much more expensive than what they cost and they make each room feel more complete!
Pillows: I purchased pretty much every pillow cover from H&M Home (these washed linen ones are the softest!!!) and bought inserts from Celadon Home (a local Charleston shop)!
Picture Frames: Target, Michaels, H&M Home, and Amazon have the best prices I've found!
Other Decor: I shopped at HomeGoods, Hobby Lobby, Target, TJ Maxx, and Amazon!
One of my other favorite items to decorate with are coffee table books and I've had so much fun adding to my collection. Come back tomorrow for a list of my very favorites!
Comments