By Ana Blaze
Jan 4, 2013
Q: How do I decorate a home for sale when working from a limited budget?
A: In a small space and a starting salary, sometimes the answer is as simple as using what you have. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
Making hand-me-down pieces work is a great strategy for furnishing a house on a budget.
When your childhood dresser or your grandmother’s desk is not your taste, paint it.
Choose a white, semi-gloss to unify any mismatched furniture and give it a “new” feeling.
To stretch the budget further, use slipcovers and accessorize with pillows of your liking. There is no need to re-upholster or have a custom slipcover made to cover that 1960s flower couch.
Also, make pieces movable.
Find furniture that performs multiple functions.
Rather than waste space on a dining room suite, opt for a drop leaf table and movable seating that you can pull out when needed.
In a bedroom, a desk can double as a night stand and a home office.
Finally, think of baskets as cabinets on the go. They do the obvious and corral loose stuff, but they also make it easy to tote magazines to the living room or board games to the patio.
— Ana Blaze, Kelly Associate Real Estate, 917-415-3231 or ana_blaze@hotmail.com
