Low-cost and no-cost options can be used to decorate a bedroom.
If you're on a strict budget, exploring low-cost and no-cost options for furniture with which to decorate your bedroom is an excellent way to be frugal. Not having a lot of money to spend doesn't mean you can't have a well-appointed space; it just means you have to be creative.
Woodwork
If you are carpentry-inclined, you can make your own furniture. Step-by-step guides are readily available online for any piece of furniture desired: dressers, vanities, chests, bureaus, beds, desks, chairs, benches and wardrobes. To help keep costs low, go to home improvement stores and lumber yards to collect unused scrap wood. The project could be completed in a weekend.
Benefits
Making your own furniture allows you the freedom to customize, making the pieces as large or small, monochromatic or colorful, or as basic or taste-specific as you want. Visit furniture showrooms to get a feel for what kind of furniture is your style, and then modify as you see fit. Another bonus is that items you make yourself have sentimental value: In addition to building furniture, you may create an heirloom.
Recycle and Reuse
If you're not the handy type, check with friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members to see if they have furniture they want to get rid of. Estate sales offer furniture at vastly lowered prices, and free furniture can be found in the give-away sections of newspapers and online. At garage sales, prices often can be haggled down on already discounted pieces. Also, if anyone needs help moving, offer your assistance; people give away a lot of odds and ends when they move.
Flaws
Getting secondhand furniture means that it may have minor damage and be mismatched, but remedies are available. Scratches can be sanded out and finish redone on wooden furniture. A discolored tabletop can be covered with a tablecloth and braces installed to reinforce rickety chair and table legs. To coordinate mismatched pieces, use matching slipcovers to pair bedroom sofas with love seats, paint all wooden furniture the same color and re-cover all seat cushions in the same fabric.
Cargo Space
One way to cut down on how much furniture your bedroom needs is to allow for as much storage as possible in the pieces you use. Some beds include drawers and shelves in the headboard and bed frame. Inexpensive risers can be placed to raise the bed off the floor, creating space for storage underneath. A headboard pulled away from the wall a little way creates a few inches of hidden space to store small and/or narrow items, including frames, wires and extension cords, wrapping paper, rolled-up rugs and posters.
