Comments on: Why We Won’t be Spending a Lot to Decorate The New House

By: Military Personal Finance Roundup: January 21-25 | Veterans United Network

Military Personal Finance Roundup: January 21-25 | Veterans United Network — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 15:13:32 +0000

[…] If you’ve recently bought a home with a VA loan or plan to, don’t overspend on decorations. […]

By: Crystal @ Prairie Ecothrifter

Crystal @ Prairie Ecothrifter — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:52:29 +0000

Your reasoning kicks butt. 🙂 We moved into our new house last October and have spent a ton of money, but not mainly for decorating. T

The big expenses were getting blinds on all of the windows ($1350) and having the back yard sodded ($600). We also spent $1650 on getting a projector and 100 inch screen as well as surround sound in the media room. We spent $75 re-staining our breakfast nook table and $500 on 6 new chairs and 4 counter stools. We already owned all of our other furniture except the dining room set that my in-laws then gave us and the $220 7 foot memory foam beanbag chair I just purchased for the media room using Amazon gift cards from Christmas (so it cost us $50).

So yep, tons of money spent, but we’re actually done for now and very little of the stuff we spent on was just for looks. Every chair, stool, and sitting spot have been used multiple times since we have 10-20 friends over every week or two. Decorating was not as high on our list as just having the basic stuff we wanted to make our place useable for guests, lol.

Congrats on the new place and good luck on all of your goals!

By: Sarah Park

Sarah Park — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 04:52:18 +0000

Decorating a new house shouldn’t really be expensive. With the economic recession we continuously have, there are a lot of ways to save. We just have to be patient enough to do DIY stuff and resourceful as well.

By: Julie @ Freedom 48

Julie @ Freedom 48 — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 03:26:59 +0000

Good for you for keeping the decorating to a minimum! We too hate clutter and nick nacks. Although we’ve done a ton of renovating and updating in our house (mostly painting and modernizing), we have spent very little on “decor”. In fact, the “artwork” we have over our sofa in the living room is a $15 canvas I purchased, then painted with leftover kitchen paint, and stuck a $20 tree/bird decal on it. It works for us =)

By: DC @ Young Adult Money

DC @ Young Adult Money — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:22:14 +0000

My wife was an interior design major her freshman year before switching to psychology. Needless to say, one of the things she was most excited about was decorating the house. That’s not to say we’ve spent a ton of money. We plan on painting every room and she did pick a color palette for each room, but it’s more an over-time thing for us. The paint makes a HUGE difference and was relatively inexpensive. Blinds cost almost nothing, curtains a little more expensive (we bought a few but will be installing in a month or so). New light fixtures can be as cheap or expensive as you want, and I personally cared more about swapping out the old light switches and outlets than anything, which also is relatively inexpensive to DIY.

All in all, we wont’ be spending much on decorating but still have and will be able to make lots of changes.

By: Cat Alford (@BudgetBlonde)

Cat Alford (@BudgetBlonde) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:28:04 +0000

You can definitely have such a cute house without spending a ton of money. Investing and saving are definitely more important than decorating. I love to make my house cute though and that’s where thrift stores, hand me downs, and refinishing a few things for a few bucks comes in. If you have IKEA, they have such inexpensive curtains, etc. Overall though, you’re def on the right track and the SMART track. Plus, you’ll definitely definitely definitely get a ton of stuff for your wedding! That is for sure! 🙂

By: Lili@creativesavv

Lili@creativesavv — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:49:49 +0000

I think it helps to just live in a space for a while first, before you make decisions on how you want it to look. Then you can see which rooms have cool light, which ones warm light, and choose paint colors accordingly. With time, you grow into a space and can see how you really use it, not just how you think you will use it at the beginning of living there.

We were in our house for a few years before even painting the walls. Of course, we had 3 small kids at the time, 2 of which were newborn twins. I was just plain too busy to think about decorating.

Enjoy your new place!

By: KK @ Student Debt Survivor

KK @ Student Debt Survivor — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 04:21:31 +0000

I’m glad to hear that you won’t be giving into the pressure of others who think that’s it’s normal to spend thousands of dollars decorating and buying new furniture etc. When we moved in to our new condo we bought blinds (I don’t like people watching me) and paint (it’s amazing how much a fresh coat can change the look of the room). We still have our old furniture and have bought a few new pieces second hand for cheap.

By: Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy

Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:35:55 +0000

That is wonderful that so many are generously offering to help, Daisy. The financial burden of decor really is astounding. I told the boy to whisk me away to a remote monastery somewhere with a bare room. A comfy mattress and a writing desk would be nice, however. Other than that, I will be content to live with total blissful austerity. ;P

By: Country Girl

Country Girl — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 01:27:01 +0000

Good for you. I didn’t spend much on decorating my place after I bought it too. My furniture is all hand-me-down, and the rest would probably make Martha Stewart weep, but whatever. It’s a starter home, I have my whole life to gather furniture so why rush it now?

Although, I do loathe the parquet floor in my bedroom. That stuff will be covered up sometime soon.