To ask your (affordable) interior design loves?

[brinker]

I’ve noticed in the many interior design hates discussions that most of the ‘hated’ decor is sadly what I’d deem less costly, accessible (eg can get what you need from Dunelm, home bargains or IKEA) and could be done in my small new-ish house. A lot of the discussions about what people love are the other way and often include things like original Victorian tiled floors, features you’d find in an Edwardian or old home (emphasis on things like panelling but ONLY in an old property) proper solid antique furniture, quality wooden floor etc

So I thought to get ideas I would ask… what decor/interior design do you LOVE but is also pretty affordable?

For some reason the first thing that came to mind was radiator covers 😂 I love mine - the room just looks so much better without them showing.

Also rugs and pick a colour from it for curtains (with a pattern), cushions, large clock.

Duck egg - everything duck egg or turquoise.

Good antique furniture is really underpriced at the moment. Good Georgian pieces on Ebay that are actually cheaper than Ikea.
Nothing wrong with Ikea, though. I used to have a very grand interior decorator friend - the sort who charged £300,000 for curtains alone for a French chateau - who used to say 'But everyone shops at Ikea, Dahling. Why wouldn't one?'
It's how you use it.

Wallpaper! Obviously you need to be selective, but I like doing feature walls. I recommend good quality ones, but if you're only doing a small area, it's still very affordable.

Shutters on sash windows. Nice art work.

Warm lighting - I love a salt lamp for its light

Some of the things that people insult in those threads are things I have and love. Just because they don't like them doesn't mean they're bad. Faux panelling, for instance. I don't own a period home and never will, but I like painted panelling, so we added it to a few rooms in our house. I think it looks nice, and DH likes it, so who cares what random people on MN think? Who cares what professional interior designers think, for that matter?

That said, here are my contributions:

A mix and match approach to furniture, rather than a full matching suite with everything in the room bought at the same time and place.

Meaningful decor, so your own or your family's or friends' artwork, crafts, or sentimental belongings displayed as art.

Large vessels: ceramic, glass, woven, etc.

Facebook marketplace is your friend, if you're willing to be patient and have an eye for mixing and matching pieces. I bought a swoon sideboard (paid 100, cost 800 new) for its retro design, original 1970s prints ( paid a tenner, goes at auction for 100), an original starburst wall clock (paid a tenner and auctions at 150+), a g plan long John coffee table (£5, but sells at 100+) and build the room around them with elements of boho wicker and plants, lots and lots of plants...talking of plants I do love a hanging macrame planter, so I have those too hanging from the ceiling. Vintage/ second hand is not for everyone but if you're on a budget it's great for creating style without having to have a fat wallet.

A nice paint job on the walls & trim. Installing trim, like cornices and proper skirtings.

Plants.
Still love them even though they have been done to death.
Another one who likes wallpaper. I think it can be a really quick way to change a room (only usually do a wall or half a room or I have 2 different ones in a room). Cheaper and quicker and less messy than paint IMHO

Lots of pictures. Almost all mine are from op shops, a local second-hand market (retro and antique things, mostly), online, or simply things I printed from the internet and put up in frames from The Reject Shop. I have a painting of two cats that cost 55 cents from an op shop!

Go to a museum shop for prints and posters and buy a frame from IKEA or see if the charity shop has any.

EBay or second-hand furniture shops. The British Heart Foundation can have some decent furniture.

Quite a number of homes featured in interior design magazines have IKEA kitchens.
I had fantastic curtains once made up from IKEA fabric that was less than £5/m. I had it bordered with black which elevated it.
My favourite feature in my current home is the extension which I covered in brick slips (affordable) and Crittall style steel/glass back wall (not so affordable). Adds so much character. I have loads of artwork too.

Plants will always be beautiful. Why would they be done to death?! If something isn't heavily promoted on SM, it doesn't mean it's not worth having. That's an insane point of view.

The minimalistic style! I love it as it creates the more airy atmosphere and makes the palce look spacious.
My personal finding was a 3d design software that also posts a ton of ideas for a small home decoration on their website. I love me some small apartement but then again, I want it to look big 😄

Metallic/brass accents.
Well placed mirrors.
Tropical plants.
Colourful cushions.

Oh and soft yellow lighting. Hate white lights.

We live in renovated 1970s house and I like midcentury objects in my space, have couple of chairs, lamp shade and big glass vases from the 60s (Czech art glass, from Chribska factory). All from eBay, in the range of 30-50 pounds.

Everything has to be big enough. It’s something you see people getting wrong all the time; rugs are too small, a few tiny pictures on a wall, curtains that are too short or skimpy.

A living room rug should be big enough that your sofas and armchairs have their front feet sitting on it. It shouldn’t float around in the middle of the furniture; that will make your space look smaller and disjointed.

A couple of small pictures will look lost and unmoored on a large wall. One really big print or painting is much better, and if you can’t find an affordable one that you like then a gallery wall of prints or paintings looks more coherent.

Curtains should touch the floor and be full enough to gather properly.

Getting basic proportions like these right can make a huge difference to the overall appearance of a room. Even expensive rugs, artwork and curtains will look bad if they’re the wrong dimensions for a space.

Agree with PP on floor length curtains - anything else tends to look as if you are just putting a random pair up until you can afford to get some proper ones made.

Little details like changing the knobs on cupboard doors/handles on chests of drawers. I have a great 9 drawer chest which I bought as a nasty piece of orange pine in B&Q because it was the size and shape I wanted. I painted it with navy gloss and changed the handles to pewter cup handles and it looks amazing and stores a huge amount of home office crap in the sitting room.

As someone mentioned above - storage and plenty of it. Whether it be old blanket boxes to store the bed linen, sideboard for the debris of clutter, ottomans to store the junk. Everything needs a specific home. I like quirky vintage pieces to do these jobs which will double up as show pieces and surfaces I can display interesting art/ objects on.

I like the look of home that has evolved over years. So a mix of furniture which is loved and looked after and reupholstered or re-purposed and things which have a story.

Agree that antique furniture is incredibly affordable, especially at auction. I recently bought a beautiful glazed Victorian cabinet for £100 and a mahogany demi lune table for £60. Cheaper than Ikea, beautifully made and full of character. They blend really well with more contemporary pieces and styling. Worth checking out Auctionet.

Done to death as a 'trend' rather than something more understated IYSWIM, obviously I don't think that's a consideration, I love house plants and I think they make a home feel welcoming as well as being aesthetically pleasing. They are also a very quick easy (mostly) cheap of adding interest and character to a room.

I love stuff from Hay. It’s colourful and not planet-killing crap from China, but also not prohibitively expensive. Small design brands like Tom Dixon and Norman Copenhagen and Ferm Living can also be affordable at a stretch.

I still don't get it, but I would never follow anyone who thinks plants are a "trend."