As economic times are still hard on people today, it is important to be able to treat your home AND save money while you’re doing it.
You never know, there may be one or two ideas that pay for themselves, so in collaboration with OakFurnitureUK, we’ve put together a few hints and tips to help get you on your way.
Invest in quality furniture
If you have a little bit of extra spare cash floating around, you can of course purchase furniture that will help make an investment for the long run.
With quality, solid oak furniture you can often find that pieces will last decades if looked after properly, and if at any time you need to sell, they will have barely depreciated in price.
Give your current furniture a shabby chic makeover
If you can’t quite afford new furniture, fear not! With a little bit of elbow grease, you can turn any modern piece of wooden furniture into a rustic dream.
By creating shabby chic furniture, not only will you be saving the pounds, but you’ll also be recycling old furniture, which of course, is just great for the environment.
Try a bit of lighting that can pay for itself
Though LED lights tend to be a little bit more expensive in the shop, within around six months they will have paid for themselves.
As LED lights run at 80-93% efficiency (compared to 20% of an incandescent bulb), they use far less electricity to produce the same amount of light, and they can also last for up to 50,000 hours; meaning that you’ll only have to replace them every five years.
What’s more, is the fact that they’re delectably fashionable and will look great in any home that is looking for more of a modern edge.
Create your own art
If you have an eye for something that looks great and you want to try your hand at something new, then one of the great ‘in’ things at the moment is driftwood art.
Costing relatively nothing (or very nearly free if you happen to live by the coast), you can carve out and create beautiful pieces of furniture and ornaments for next to nothing.
All you need to do is make sure that that you clean the wood using special bleach or soapy water, give it at least three days in the sun to dry out (or five without), and you can get carving.
If you need a few ideas about just what you can make. Here are a few from Instagram. If you really get good at it, you could soon find yourself making a little money on the side.
What could be better than that?
