Design on a Dime: Guest Post

  |   Author:   |   11 Responses

You’re in for a treat today as Amelia @ Creative Chic* is guest posting for us!  They have lots of fun tips, recipes, DIY ideas, and know how to have a good time.  You’ll have to check them out!  I’ll let Amelia take it away:

Thank you so much to the girl’s @ Saving Money Living Life for letting us guest post!

I recently moved into a condo and thereby was” forced” to decorate. Don’t get me wrong, I love decorating, but it can be stressful-am I right?? And to top it all off I am in no way a trained interior designer (I wish!) So, in order to decorate you have to buy things. Things are expensive (or can be.) My mission was to scour all the home stores to find the best deals, and the best décor. Easy enough! 

My fiancé and I needed a new couch and loveseat (ouch) so we explored every furniture store out there. You name it, we went. Luckily, a lot of the stores were having their big summer blowout sales. So, if you are in the market for furniture wait until they go on sale! We got this couch and loveseat set for $800.00, $500.00 off the original price at Ashley Furniture.







After the couch and love-seat were purchased I knew exactly where I was headed: HomeGoods (owned by TJ Maxx and Marshall’s basically a “home good” superstore) is the most incredible store EVER. I don’t care if you don’t need anything; if you walk in, you will walk out with something! Buyer beware!  This store is my drug. Everything I’m featuring came from here. There are a few essentials in my book to décor:

Essential #1 Decorative pillows. NEVER underestimate the power of a pillow. Sounds cheesy…but pillows can completely transform a room within seconds of placement. They are the added pop of color and icing on the cake! The 2 purple/ colorful pillows on the couch were originally $45 each, and they were both on sale for $20. The slate blue oblong pillow was originally $35 marked down to $12! The crème pillow on the loveseat was originally $25 marked down to $10, and the purple was originally $20 marked to $15. HomeGoods already has great prices, BUT I found ALL of these pillows in their clearance section marked down even more!





Essential #2 Lamps! Not just any lamps, either. Lamps with personality. Don’t go with a traditional lamp–step out of the box! These beauties caught my eye. A traditional gourd style lamp with a modern twist of color! I found these @ Homegoods for $39.99 each.




Essential #3 Centerpieces. I needed some sort of centerpiece for my coffee table, but wanted to keep it simple & clean looking. I found this beautiful purple stained glass vase/jar/container and instantly wanted it. #1 because it was purple, #2 because it was pretty, and #3 because it was only $7.99! I did not know what I was going to put in it but I had to have it! When I brought it home I brainstormed as to what I could even do with it and voila! A candle….genius right? This candle was sitting in a box and needed a nice home. They look great together! So this is just one example that you could do with an empty vase—or whatever you would call this. Another would be to fill it with potpourri, or even just use it for flowers. Creativity never ends.






Another item I HAD to have it this dark pink stained glass item (Again, what would I call this??) At $7.99, I knew I could 
find somewhere to put it. It has lovely detail. The top is cork based, so this item would also go well with bar-type décor.

The final product:



Essential #4 Drapes. Drapes really tie a whole room together. I chose this shade of dark brown because it seemed to go with everything and kept a little more sun from blinding me. And @ 17.99 they were a steal! (sorry it’s so dark, taken with iPhone)



There are many more rooms to decorate in my condo, but the living room came first. Decorating on a budget is possible. Be creative and keep it fun!

Thanks for checking us out! 
Creative Chic* Amelia http://creativechicaldacs.blogspot.com

Leave a Comment