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9 Living Room Ideas on a Budget

You don’t have to spend big to live in real style. Follow our living room ideas on a budget tips for a living space that’s cool, stylish, comfortable and affordable. We hope you’ll feel inspired to create a beautiful living room to enjoy with family and friends – without breaking the bank.

1. Choose multi-functional living room furniture

Here’s a great idea for a budget living room, and an undeniably true fact: If you buy living room furniture pieces that perform more than one function, then your living room budget will stretch that little bit further.

A great place to start is with the sofa, or rather the sofa bed. Rest assured, the days when the typical sofa bed was neither a stylish sofa nor a comfortable bed have long gone. Sofa beds today are beautifully designed and wonderfully well made, and often offer a choice of mattress – memory foam or pocket springs – while also incorporating useful built in storage space for pillows and bedding.

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A storage footstool is another key piece for anyone furnishing their living room on a budget. It’s a footstool, it’s an extra seat, it’s an impromptu coffee table, and it’s a great place to keep living room clutter under control. Seriously, is there no end to the list of tasks the storage footstool can perform?

And finally, when you’re thinking about a dining table and chairs set, find one with upholstered dining chairs that can double as extra guest seating in your living room.

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2. Invest in an impactful rug

Filling a living room with wall art and framed prints can leave room for little else in a living room budget. A large rug with a bold design, however, can deliver a similar style impact and at a fraction of the cost.

Think of a rug as art for your floor. Pick one that really resonates with your inner designer by choosing a distinctive look like a retro-style shaggy rug or a modern geometric rug. A rug is also a great way to establish a living room design theme – bold and contemporary or defiantly traditional – or to bring in a new accent colour.

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3. Use cushions to give your sofa a whole new look

A new sofa is a major purchase, and may not be part of your budget living room. So instead of changing your sofa, give it a new look by refreshing some key decorative accessories.

A set of scatter cushions – and be sure to pick a new colour theme or go for patterned instead of plain – can breathe new life into an old sofa. Red cushions look fabulous on a neutral-coloured sofa, or try teal cushions on a leather sofa.

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A mixture of colourful Furniture Village cushions.

Aubergine wall with modern Farren Nickel lamp.

4. Paint a wall (or four)

Refresh your living room– without buying any new furniture at all. This living room idea on a budget is a designer favourite and relies on the undeniably transformative power of a pot of paint. You can afford to be bold too – this is definitely the time to go for that chartreuse green or magenta pink or Aegean Sea blue you’ve always yearned for. Because the great thing about paint is that it can always be painted over (without breaking the bank).

5. Rearrange your living room furniture

This has to be perhaps the easiest idea for a budget living room, but you may be surprised at how a simple change of furniture arrangement can make your living room feel like a whole new space. Sketch a few new layouts on a piece of paper first, and get a friend to help you with the heavy lifting. A second opinion is always great to have, too.

And along with rearranging, don’t be afraid to start removing too. Eliminating duplicate or unused pieces – you may love a nest of tables but do you really need three sets? – can be very liberating. Plus you’ll find that you’ve created something incredibly useful: extra space. This can make a smaller room feel lighter and more airy, as well as feeling more inviting whenever you have family or friends over.

6. Introduce eye-catching living room accessories

A statement floor lamp, an oversized woolly throw, a single piece of art on a feature wall – just one or two eye-catching living room accessories can give your space a brand new look.

This living room idea on a budget – the perfect finishing touch – is one of the most effective. It’s often the thing that your visitors will notice first, and cleverly diverts attention from your existing furniture giving the whole room a certain je ne sais quoi. Go for oversized pieces for maximum impact, or use this approach to introduce a bold new colour into an otherwise neutral room.

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Jewels coloured quilted fabric footstools.

7. Mix and match vintage furniture with investment pieces

Our advice for anyone looking for ideas for a budget living room is to learn to love eclectic style. A designer favourite, this is an on trend blend of different interior looks, styles, designs and even colours.

What it does mean is that instead of spending money on creating a sleeker more unified living room look, you can save up for the pieces that you really want – that beautiful oak coffee table, a gorgeous leather armchair – and fill the gaps with a more affordable eclectic mix of second hand pieces. Or, shop vintage stores for furniture that you can transform into something unique. The upcycling movement is huge, and you’ll find plenty of online resources to help you refinish or refurbish bookcases, TV cabinets, dressers and more.

8. Change the way you see your living room

And finally, if you have no budget at all, no list of living room ideas on a budget is going to help you change your living space. Instead, you may need to change the way you look at it.

For example – that weathered coffee table and rustic bookcase you’ve lived with for years aren’t really old and worn. They’re actually early – and rather charming – examples of industrial style furniture. This very on trend furniture style uses natural wood, often reclaimed or salvaged, paired with metal accents to create pieces that are edgy, cool and perfect for loft-style living.

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Earth coffee table with Chesterfield sofa.

9. Learn to love the living room you have

And our final piece of advice for anyone looking for great living room ideas on a budget? It’s actually the most simple. Gratitude.

Learn to appreciate your furniture for what it gives you now, like comfort, relaxation and a feeling of being at home, and for what its given you in the past – years of faithful service, perhaps. It may be more shabby than chic, it may be old and a little rough around the edges, but it’s more than enough while you save for the beautiful living room furniture that you really want.

9 Living Room Ideas on a Budget

1. Choose multi-functional living room furniture

2. Invest in an impactful rug

3. Use cushions to give your sofa a whole new look

4. Paint a wall (or four)

5. Rearrange your living room furniture

6. Introduce eye-catching living room accessories

7. Mix and match vintage furniture with investment pieces

8. Change the way you see your living room

9. Learn to love the living room you have

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9 Living Room Ideas on a Budget

1. Choose multi-functional living room furniture

2. Invest in an impactful rug

3. Use cushions to give your sofa a whole new look

4. Paint a wall (or four)

5. Rearrange your living room furniture

6. Introduce eye-catching living room accessories

7. Mix and match vintage furniture with investment pieces

8. Change the way you see your living room

9. Learn to love the living room you have

Living

Colour Schemes for Modern Living Rooms

7 Grey and Brown Living Room Ideas

9 Long and Narrow Living Room Ideas

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More reasons to shop at Furniture Village

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