Decorating on a budget

[SiioCal]

Would ideally like my whole 2 bed flat painted over the summer (including all doors/skirting etc) and maybe all new blinds/curtains and accessories . Anyone have any tips to really spruce the place up without spending a bucketload ? TIA

Dulux trade white paint is your friend. Good value but good quality. Then let your pictures and nick-nacks add the interest. We did our whole house this way because at the time we needed to economise, but I love the way plain white makes everything feel fresh and light, so now I wouldn't choose anything else.

homebase own brand paint is good quality and cheaper than dulux/crown

when painting it's all about the prep, you can use the most expensive paint in the world but if the surface isn't prepared it will look horrible so spend the time doing it properly

it's coming up to sales time so shop around for your accessories

Agree about the paint. I have just decorated a house using crown, the big tubs are £15 in B&Q.

I have just discovered some cheap blinds that are quite nice. Argos value blinds. I have put them up in my rental house untill it is let and was very surprised that they look really nice and are of a fair qualtiy. Much sturdier than I was expecting for the price.

The house I have just finished has white walls and white blinds and it looks really nice and clean and fresh. A very good starting point, and you would be able to use your existing ornaments/cushions/pictures for colour, untill you can afford to change them all (if thats what you want to do).

Definitely look in wilkinsons... Very reasonable DIY materials and furnishings in there.

I think making curtains and cushions is very economical. You can probably buy really really cheap things for less (pound stores etc) but mostly it works out cheapest.
If you are doing multiple rooms or curtains and cushions etc. you'll also save by using one material in bulk with less waste.
Dunelm Mill is 50% crap and 50% surprisingly decent for home stuff. I got some good material from there. www.dunelm-mill.com/
My favourite brand for material (which Dunelm Mill sell some of) is Clarke and Clarke. They have Laura Ashley/Cath Kidston looking materials for around £8 a metre. Lots of local fabric stores stock them too. www.clarke-clarke.co.uk/

Wrapping paper in ikea frames! You can get some great vintage looking wrapping paper from John lewis or paper chase and it fits perfectly in ikea frames 'art' for about £20!

If you are good with a sewing machine then go for the making the curtains definitely. I have mad some for my living room etc. For bedrooms, kitchen's etc it sometimes doesn't pay you to make them yourself. You can easily turn plain shop bought ones into something special by adding your own trims or a colourful tie back. If you can use the machine how about buying a plain colour and adding a panel of fabric across the top. Scroll down a few pics on this blogpost and you will see a plain ikea pair that have been done like this curtains
Cover canvas in fabric or even wallpaper instead of buying them.

I have found tab top curtains can be very cheap, and my favourite curtains are a set of linen lined tab tops that I got from IKEA and then cut off the tabs and put pencil pleat headings on - they had tie backs too and were £9