How to Decorate a Living Room for Cheap HGTV

When updating a room in your home, there's no need to spend a bunch of money. With just $500, you can give your rooms a refreshed, new look. It's simple, easy, and it yields big results. This living room definitely needs some help. The space is being dominated by this red sofa, and it's hogging the spotlight for the whole room. Which might be a good thing, because the rest of this space is blank, boring, and bland. Certainly not the vibe most people intend for the most high traffic room in the house. Our first goal is to address how to correctly use color in the space. I love the color red, but choosing a red sofa is a big commitment. And as a designer, I just wouldn't recommend it for this large space. Instead, invest in neutrals for key pieces of furniture, like the living room sofa. Neutrals can be tans, taupes, blues, greens, and even grays. Think of it like your wardrobe staples. Colors that work well with anything in your closet translates to design, too. We found this dark gray sofa in the basement and decided it was a much better fit for the living room. Shopping in your own home is one of the best budget-saving tips that we could ever share. Using interesting coffee table or cocktail tables doesn't mean you need to spend a lot of money on custom furniture. These electrical spools, often found on construction sites, are the perfect height and width for coffee tables. Plus, the weathered and worn look of them adds a layer of detail that's hard to find when buying something off the shelf. We found these on Craigslist for next to nothing. We're painting the middle of the tables white to give them a more finished look. Entertainment centers are a necessity in most modern homes. But why did the look of these have to be so tragic? Ditch the college-looking TV stand and retrofit a cool dresser instead. We picked up this great-looking dresser at a thrift store for a bargain, and we're simply drilling holes in the back to accommodate the TV cables. Some new hardware helps give this dresser that last little bit of polish it needs. Artwork can be so intimidating. It feels like the decision of a lifetime. Right? It could be the expense of a lifetime as well. How about this simple idea instead? Take a shipping pallet and use some leftover project paint to make something completely custom. You don't have to be Picasso. You just have to make something that you like. This living room has been completely transformed. We swapped out the sofa for something more neutral, which helped the rest of the room easily fall into place, created upcycled coffee tables for next to nothing, reworked a dresser into a great-looking entertainment center, and made personal artwork to anchor the entire space. So much change for so little money. Our grand total is just under $500.