Five living room updates for under $100

The Creative Home Podcast | Episode #193

This episode is brought to you by The Staging Toolkit. Looking for some easy to follow diagrams on how to set up your home with staging accessories? Download my Staging Toolkit to get started and get your house sold faster.

Our living room. We either hate em or love em. We have spent a lot of time lately in our living room binge watching Netflix movies especially during the pandemic. Some of us have even spent more time on the couch since March 2020! A study was done on the most time spent in a room and found that most people spend time in the kitchen, followed by time in the living room (or the room with the TV) and the bedroom. It makes sense. We need to eat, relax and sleep, right?

But if you can’t relax because your living room doesn’t feel comfy, then you start to think, well what can I do to make it more me? And that’s what I want to talk to you about. Give you five living room updates you can easily do under $100.

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Five living room updates under $100

Now living rooms are supposed to reflect our personalities. Maybe you had some hand me downs or second hand pieces. Maybe you were trying out things. If you are not happy with how the living room makes you feel, you can easily update it for under $100.

Now you can do this for when you are currently living in your home or to help you stage your living room. And I am talking about the accessories not the furniture. Your furniture pieces can be enhanced by the accessories in the room. Accessories are what reflect your style (or appeal to buyers) and complete the look in the room.

Starting with the furniture arrangement, you need to make sure you only have items in the living room that actually go in the living room. An exercise bike or kids play area are normally not part of this room. I know, some of you are thinking well I can’t put those things anywhere else. This is something that may be causing you stress and making you feel like the living room is not up to snuff. You want the room to be used and not feel like a museum. Baby toys can be hidden in ottomans with lids or baskets in a bookshelf. You can minimize the baby look and kick it up a notch to be more of an adult living room with hiding those items. And if you need help arranging the furniture, you can check out my living room layouts digital products on my website. I have all sorts of layouts in there if you have an open concept, square living room or rectangular living room.

Once you have the living room furniture set up, you can work on the accessories around the room. Decide on what colors you want to use in the room to help you accessorize. If you are more modern or contemporary, you may have more white with green and wood accents. If you are boho chic, you will have more colors to work with.

1| Living room throw pillows

The first living room update under $100 is to change out your throw pillows. Throw pillows help add color, texture and warmth into a living room and you only need 2 per couch. Each pillow can run about $15-25 each depending on the style. Pillow covers are an option here too if you want to keep the existing ones but want to change out the color or texture. Throw pillows are a great accessory to help stage a home as well.

2| Throw blanket

Next, add a throw blanket. A throw blanket is another way to introduce color into a living room and can change out with each season. In the winter you can have a gray or green blanket, in the spring it can change to yellow or green, remove it for the summer and have a green or orange one for fall. It depends on the color of the couch. If the couch is a neutral color like brown, gray or beige, find some throw blankets that stand out against the neutral color. A throw blanket can start around $25 and can go up from there.

3| Living Room Artwork

Third, change out the artwork in the room. In my case, I have an open concept room meaning there is very little wall space. I only have space for 2 large pictures. Canvas art pieces are an inexpensive way to add color to your living room. Framed pieces can cost a lot more but if you have them then consider moving them to another room if they just don’t give you the vibe you are going after. No one said that one art piece has to go in the living room. I had a large military drawing my husband bought to remember his time after 9/11 and his deployments. It was beautifully framed and we ended up hanging it on the staircase landing. I like canvas artwork because they are light, easy to hang and are less expensive than other pieces. You can find them easier depending on the size starting at $60-80.

4| Lamps

The fourth item to help you update your living room are your lamps. Do you have any? Sometimes just adding light to the room is enough to make it feel more inviting. Lamps come in so many shapes and sizes to bring in the look you want in your living room. I tend to stay with more neutral beige lamp shades but the body is what helps reflect your style. Is it tall and industrial looking, or traditional and more ceramic? Lamps can start around $25-50 depending on the style you are looking for.

5| Paint your living room

And finally the last thing you can do to update the room is painting the walls. Wall color is a personal choice and some of you LOVE beige, while others swear by white or gray. Paint can go a long way towards updating the look of a room. Even painting built in bookcases in the living room can help brighten it up. A home we bought in Virginia had wood paneling in one particular room I’ll call a den. It was a nice big long room and the home sellers wisely painted the wood paneling a light beige color. You would not know that it was wood paneling until you got closer to it! But we lived with that wood paneling and would have left it up had we not decided to do some construction in the room. So paint can go a long way towards updating the look in a room whether you are doing for yourself or staging your home to sell. Paint can run from $25 a gallon or more and it depends on how many walls you have to paint.

In the end, by changing out a few accessories like pillows, blankets, artwork, lamps and paint, you can give your living room a whole new look. If you want some more ideas on using accessories in your home and how to arrange a mantel or bookcase, I also provide a Living Room Staging Bundle on my website to help you stage your living room with accessories.

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