When to Save and When to Splurge on Home Decor

I know many of you love budget-friendly home decor and you know I share that preference when decorating my own home. I mean, we live hard in this house so spending thousands on a sofa just doesn’t make sense for my family. Buying a second-hand sofa, or a chair from IKEA does make sense. That being said, I do believe in splurging on pieces that you love if it makes sense. When it comes to decorating, I live by the idea that you should save where you can so you can splurge on key items that you will love and adore for a long, long time. As I’ve been hunting for a perfect coffee table, I’ve been thinking a lot about when to save and when to splurge.

Today, I want to chat about when to save and when to splurge on home decor.

For each of us, that will mean something different according to our budgets but the concept remains the same.

When to Save:

I would say 90% of my home decor falls in the SAVE category. In general, I think you can save on items that you think will take a beating, smaller accents, and items that are trending. For me, that means my living room sofa and chairs. My girls are constantly jumping off of them, onto them, tossing the cushions around to create a fort and I’m totally okay with it because I purchased those items knowing they would get a lot of wear. Same goes for any rug in my home. I love the look of those gorgeous antique rugs or the higher end natural fiber rugs but all the rugs in my home get a lot of traffic and use. So, when I have to replace my living room every two years or so, I’m totally okay with it because it’s a budget spend.

I also like to save on smaller accents/trending items like vases and decorative objects as well as wall art. These are items I enjoy swapping out with frequency so splurging on these items does not make sense. I’ve spent some major money on throw pillows in the past ($100+) and I have regret. I might love a pattern enough to think I want to splurge on it but at the end of the day, I enjoy swapping out my decor too much to spend that kind of money on pillows. I feel similarly about wall art. Just in the last few years, I’ve begun to invest in art pieces that are less trendy and more meaningful, or just ones that I feel will fit in with our style for years to come.

To save on home decor I shop smart. I don’t necessarily buy everything on clearance. I don’t believe in buying things just because they are on sale but I do wait for items I love to go on sale or use coupon codes to get extra savings. I also frequent local sale sites and visit my local thrift stores.

Sometimes I find items that I fall completely in love with and I can’t stop thinking about and I just know that they will be perfect in my home. When that item is more than my usual budget, I’ll consider the splurge. Since I save on much of my decor, I feel comfortable splurging on bigger or better quality pieces, more meaningful pieces, or items that I’m completely in love with. When I do decide to splurge on an item, I think about it really seriously before pulling the trigger. Splurging is never a split decision for me even if the item might be gone. I always think carefully before spending. For example, I splurged on my tv stand several years ago. I walked into a local shop that had unique pieces and fell in love with a beautiful buffet that I thought would make a great tv stand. Since it was out of my budget, I went home empty handed but kept thinking about it. A week later I visited the shop again to take another look and it was gone. I was super bummed that I had missed out on the piece but I also felt like if it were meant to be it would have been. A couple weeks later I spotted a very similar piece at the same shop and I scooped it up then and there.

So, in the context of the coffee table, I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced coffee table that fit with our style and I haven’t found a single thing. We’ve been without a coffee table for awhile since Millie started dancing on the glass of the bamboo one we had more recently (#notsafe). I’ve found a couple of contenders that are definitely splurge-worthy but I’m still not sure I want to splurge on a coffee table while the girls are still small, I mean Millie just drew on the floor with a sharpie like two weeks ago. At the same time, I think, well if I get a better quality table it will be able to last through the brutality of kids.

I would love to hear what you’ve splurged on recently and how you save money when it comes to decorating! Leave me a comment and let me know!