Cheap and Chic

From Top Left: Yellow, Red and Blue by Wassily Kadinsky, Allposters; Linden pendant chandelier, Beacon Lighting; Ivonne wooden hurricane lantern, Dusk; Replica Phillipe Stark mademoiselle chair, Matt Blatt; Tradig bowl, Ikea; Beaufort and Postcard cushions, Freedom; Wingback Lorne button back chair, Early Settler; Varlikt vase, Ikea

I was at a lunch recently and was asked where my favourite place to shop for interiors was and the first question I shot back was, "Is the budget unlimited?".  The truth behind the matter is that we are not all mulit-millionaires with unlimited bugets.  The reality is that we only have a certain amout of funds to spend on making our interiors look a million dollars.  So how do you create a champagne look on a beer budget?  Lucky for you, I'm an expert on this! 

The most important thing to do is to take your cues from the items that you like, but can't spend the money on.  Look at the colours, lines and design style of the expensive items and replicate this with your budget items.  Be warned, you may have to comprimise on quality.  Usually an expensive price tag correlates to hand made, custom designed, quality materials and exculsivity so when you are buying the cheaper version, you will get machine made, mass marketed and lower quality materials.  Personally, I'm ok with this as I like to change up my interiors and the fact that I have not spent a fortune on decorating means that this is easy to do.  It also means that I'm not precious about things when my kids inadvertantly break something.

A trick that a lot of designers use when working with a low budget is to buy something generic and to customise it to suit their scheme, thus achieving a custom look without the price tag.  An example of this may be buying ready to hang curtains and adding a band of beautiful material to the bottom.  You still get the look of the expensive material, at a fraction of the cost of getting the whole curtains custom made in this fabric.

I'm really good at treasure hunting and if you want those bargains, you will have to be too.  This means riffling through those sale bins.  I can see a lot of you turning up your noses, thinking that sale bins are not for you, but even the top designers in this world have done this at one time or another.  It's amazing what you can find.  You will have to have imagination and foresight as these items are not conveniently displayed with a whole scheme set out for you but that's where the fun is.  I recently bought two light fixtures for my boys rooms from Laura Ashley.  They were discounted from $120 to $20 each as they are an indigo blue colour and I imagine they are old stock, from a time when that colour was in season for a lounge room, but they were perfect for a kids room.

Another budget decorating trick is to repurpose what you already have.  It's amazing what a can of paint can achieve.  If you are sick of your walnut brown entertaining unit, instead of throwing it away and looking for a new one, just give it a new lease of life with some paint.

My last tip for you concerns artwork.  I feel that artwork can make or break an interior scheme.  It can be pricey so if you need some artwork on a budget, then consider getting prints and framing them.  If you are feeling creative, why not pick up a cheap blank canvas and some paints and create something for yourself?  If you don't feel like channeling your inner Picasso, then consider framing anything you love from a beautiful fabric to stunning stationery, treasured items or the obvious, a fabulous photo.

However you choose to find your bargains, remember to have fun and be true to yourself and what you like.