Furnish your home for less!

1. Spend some time on Pinterest looking at the most up to date room styles. Create a board for each room and pin away! Alternatively, if you are an Insta-king/queen – check out all the home décor Instagram accounts and store any inspiration to your favourites list. This will really help you to decide on the look and colour schemes for each room. It is important to remember that our Simple Life home décor have to remain white and clean, however this is a perfect blank canvas for you to have some fun with splashes of colour throughout the furnishing and dressing. Plus, if you fancy a change throughout the year it can be quick and easy by mixing up your colours, cushions, throws and furniture!

2. Once you have selected your favourite furnishing pieces, colours and wall art, shop around! The internet is your oyster so make the most of shopping around and finding similar look-a-like pieces to match your ideal room. There is nothing worse than impulse buying- falling in love with an item but then suffering from weeks of guilt and minimal bank balance! Make it your goal to be savvy and enjoy the challenge of finding a bargain!

3. Before you purchase any new furniture (or throw any old furniture away), be prepared to up-cycle! We really recommend chalk paints which can be found at any major DIY stores – whites, light and dark greys are really popular at the minute and they can very quickly and easily transform anything from a chest of drawers, a head board, a kitchen table or a mirror surround!

4. Plan your space! One of the most common mistakes made when purchasing new furniture, is buying something far too small or big for the room! It is a very easy mistake to make. Things like sofas and wardrobes never look very big when visiting a large salesroom, but when they are in your lovely living room, they can be completely dominating and actually make the room feel much smaller! Take the time to measure up and carefully plan where each item is going to sit. The use of large mirrors can also really help to give a feeling of more space! Even the smallest of rooms can be made to feel bright and spacious if they are furnished in the right way.

5. Be practical. Although we all love the fun bit spending hours looking through glossy inspirational magazines, we still need to make sure we have our real-world hats on. Ask yourself some practical questions: It’s lovely and modern, but is it comfortable? The colour is light and contemporary but will the material be good enough to fight against the kiddies mucky fingers? The unit will fit perfectly in my dining room, but will it have the space to magically hide away all the knick-knacks when we have guests?

6. It’s in the detail. Sometimes we can get so carried away with the larger items, we forget about the detail. A lovely bunch of flowers can help to add a nice pop of colour to a room; some nice scented candles can help a home immediately feel warm and inviting after a long day at work; family photos can help to add a touch of personalisation and homely rugs and cushions can give you that cosy, relaxing atmosphere.

If you would like to share any of your lovely completed rooms with the wider Simple Life community, we would love to see how you have transformed your rooms. Feel free to share your photos with us on Facebook or Instagram using #MySimpleLifeHome. Happy home making!