Friday 21 March 2014

Miscellaneous Friday: Bohemian Decorating on a Budget

The bohemian style, whether it be fashion or decor, is very unique. In the early 2000s it was at its height of popularity, but since then bohemian decorating has slowly wormed its way out of the spotlight. This is a good thing and a bad thing; good because you'll be able to find rarer, more individual and unique pieces for your room; bad because some things suddenly become freaking impossible to find. 

Decorating a room in the bohemian style can be the cheapest, but also the most expensive way of decorating. Most things you buy should hopefully be pretty cheap, but there's always that gorgeous piece of antique furniture that would look so awesome in your room… but it's too expensive. That's okay! This Miscellaneous Friday is all about bohemian decorating on a budget.

☆Know where to look☆
No matter what your budget, you'll always be able to design a lovely bohemian room if you know where to look. Go to second hand or op shops, they're a godsend. A lot of the furniture and decorative pieces are there because they are out of style, or because they just look too old. That's fantastic for bohemian decorating, because old looking furniture is something that really enhances the room, rather then make it look gross. A dressing table from the 1940s, a desk that looks like it belongs in Jane Eyre, a Tiffany lamp, a cheap 70s mirror. You name it, if you go to the right op shop, you'll most likely find it.

The difficulty with op shopping is that it can be kinda disheartening when you don't find something. The whole point of going to a shop like that is to discover untold treasures of bohemian decor, so you've got to look really hard. You might go to Salvos one week and the next week you'll see a cute ornament that is exactly what you're looking for.


☆Go with what you've got☆
There might be some things you see online that look perfect for your room, but are too expensive. But if it's a decorative piece like a lantern, throw, or something homemade on Etsy - can you make it yourself? Sure, it might not look as awesome as something you buy, but cheap homemade things are a huge part of bohemian decorating. It personalises your room. 

You should also take a good look around your house, another family member's house or a friend's house to see if they've got anything worth taking. Of course, make sure they don't need it first. Or steal it in the dead of night and murder someone who catches you, whatever. But seriously, try going to your grandparent's house because you never know what you'll find. Maybe look through your old things from when you were little. You never know!

A big part of going with what you've got is painting your walls. If you're on a budget, you probably aren't able to paint the walls. I wasn't, but I just have a lot of my art on the walls and that works fine. To fix the problem of painting walls, just hang sheer curtains around the walls or scarves. Things like desks and dressing tables that can't be chucked out can be covered with scarves and ornaments!


☆Get clever, get crafty☆
What I mean by this is that if you have, for example, a throw that you love but don't really want on your bed, why not hang it up on a wall? If there's some cute wind chimes just lying around, hang them from your ceiling. An awesome idea is to put things like saris all around the room; the ceiling, your bed, hanging on your door. It looks awesome!

Getting crafty is all about turning one thing into another. Maybe there's an old crate or chest or box that can be turned into a small table in your room? The possibilities are endless, it just depends on your style. Don't put a piece of furniture in your room just because. You've got to give this room love, wink wink. 


☆Shop carefully & responsibly☆
It's finally time to go out and shop, but you've got to be careful. Sure, you might have picked up a few odd things from random stores for the room you're decorating - but that doesn't mean you can just buy whatever. If you're on a budget, like I was when I redecorated my bedroom, it's like saying goodbye to fun shopping and hello to crying because I couldn't afford something. You've got to really love something to buy it, otherwise you might not like it in month and it wouldn't have been worth it. By worth it, I don't mean whether it will work in the room because nothing has to match in a bohemian room, but just be responsible. Places like Hot Dollar & The Reject shop are brilliant.

The reason I didn't have fun when shopping in malls for my room is because I was so damn picky, I still am. I'm very particular about what I put in my room, and I was also very scared about spending too much money on my room. But in all honesty, you don't have to worry about that stuff too much. Just make sure that everything you buy for your room is well loved by you.


☆Be random☆
I don't know why I put this in, but I felt like I had to. Being random in how you decorate is a really important part of bohemian decorating. Nothing has to match, it can be however you like! If you want to glue 3D flowers and butterflies to your ceiling, go for it (I did this, no joke). You can display makeup or treasures from holidays in jars, basically anything cute can go in a jar and it'll get heaps of repins on Pinterest. Use different fabrics and textures on your bed, hunt around for patterned and unique bedspreads and cushions. If you want to hang your necklaces from cute doorknobs on your wall, why not? 


I love the bohemian style, because it can be whatever you want it to be. One person's idea of bohemian is probably not another person's idea of it, and that's my favourite thing. Everything is unique and different.

~Au Revoir!~

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