Give Your Living Room A New Look For Under $100

Spotless rooms on Instagram and designer digs on Pinterest lead people to assume they need oodles of money to refresh their spaces. But crafting a new look for your living room doesn’t have to cost a ton. You can give your home an updated glow-up for less than you think.

A subtle change to the color palette, editing decor, mixing and matching furniture, and adding lighting are easy, inexpensive ways to make changes. Shop your home and frequent secondhand stores or online marketplaces to score good deals. Don’t downplay the free things, like decluttering, cleaning, and rearranging furniture to create a more functional flow.

Decide What You Want To Change The Most In Your Living Room

When you think about redecorating your living room, hit the pause button first. It’s tempting to leap into full designer mode, painting walls, replacing curtains, ripping out carpet, and buying all-new furniture sets. However, many of these things aren’t necessary if you simply want to get a new look for your living room.

Also, looking at Pinterest, HGTV, and other inspiration sources is fine for gathering ideas and distinguishing between likes and dislikes. However, resist the temptation to recreate a high-end look you see on social media. Not only may it not be what your space needs, but it could also make it feel as if it doesn’t even belong to you.

Focus Your Budget And Make The Biggest Impact

Keep your personal style, needs, and wants in mind when you’re designing your home. When it comes to recreating a look for your your living room, think about what you’d most love to change. Ask yourself what gets you the most worked up about your current living room. Is it the color palette? Do you want a cozier living room? Perhaps it’s the curtains or the hodgepodge of hand-me-downs from your penny-pinching era.

It may have nothing to do with aesthetics and everything to do with function. You have to navigate a maze of side chairs and tables to get from one side of the room to the other or the lack of storage is driving you up the wall. Once you pinpoint the most impactful changes to make, you can allocate your budget to those key elements. Instead of trying to stretch $100 across an entire room, divvy it up among a few things to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Ideas To Refresh Your Living Room For Less Than $100

Here are a few examples of how you could change the look of your living room for less. Decide which option makes the most sense for you, or mix and match to curate the perfect makeover for your unique space.

The Color Changer

Revitalize the color palette for a fresh look. Since your budget doesn’t align with changing everything, assess what you currently have when selecting new hues. Is the furniture and flooring fairly neutral? If so, you can go with pretty much any color you want. But if you’re dealing with pink carpet, it might change things up a bit. Choose a color story by selecting a primary color for approximately 70% of the room, a secondary color for roughly 20%, and an accent color for 10%. You may decide to keep a color you already have in the space, or go with all brand-new picks. Neutrals are just that, neutral, and you can count those as extras.

Here’s how this might look in practice. Your current living room has beige walls, a brown leather couch, red accent chairs, a bold rug with reds and oranges, and deep red curtains. You keep the leather couch since it’s in pristine condition and you love the look. You paint the walls a warm, buttery yellow and swap the curtains for green lace sheers. A second-hand rug in creams and greens, along with two green slipcovers for the chairs, adds cohesiveness.

So, how does this measure up to a $100 budget? A new paint color on the walls is an easy, inexpensive starting point. A good, quality gallon of paint-and-primer-in-one costs about $35. You could score a secondhand rug for about $20, the slipcovers for $25, and some sheers on Amazon for $20.

The Mix Master

You love your current color palette, and the flow of the space works well, but there’s just something missing. The living room feels stale; you’re tired of it, something needs to change, but your budget is slim. It’s time to mix things up a bit to inject new life into the space. Maybe you’ve had the same matching living room furniture set for decades. Keep the couch and coffee table, but swap out the side chairs for some funky vintage finds that cost about $30 apiece.

Trade the side tables with a couple of pieces from another room to create a different look in both spaces. Finish off your new look with updated decor that matches your mixed-up vibe. If you spent about $60 on second-hand chairs, you get $40 to play with; perhaps some of that could go toward a throw or pillows to modify the couch. 

The Eager Editor

Sometimes, all you need to make a huge difference in your living room is edit what’s already there. Spaces tend to become cramped and cluttered over time, making them feel overwhelming. Paring down and rearranging some pieces can give it a new perspective. If your living room is suffering from decor overload, set a goal to remove 25% to 30% of the knick-knacks. Only keep what you absolutely love. Reassess what’s left and experiment with switching pieces. Move a vase from the mantle to a side table. Style your bookcase to show off a couple of special heirloom items instead of cramming it with books.

Another area that often needs a little editing is the lighting. You don’t necessarily need to change out the fixtures to make a difference. Getting new bulbs and adjusting the color temperature can be beneficial. But if you feel your room lacks an inviting ambiance, never underestimate the power of adding a lamp.

The Space Plan Pro

Is the function the real problem in your living room? A classic go-to for making a room feel new is to rearrange the furniture, to move it with purpose. If you have to walk around the couch to access the back door, how about turning the sofa so it creates a pathway to the door instead?

Are the seating areas far apart, making conversation difficult? Place pieces closer together to create more intimacy. Before you start moving heavy items around, draw up a plan on paper or use an online design tool like Room Sketcher. You can enter the dimensions to test arrangements before actually moving anything, saving you time (and your back).

Tips To Give Your Room A Facelift On A Budget

In most cases, your living room facelift will include a combination of things. For example, you might paint the walls ($35), rearrange the furniture (free!), declutter (free!), swap out a couple of items with new decor ($40), and add a table lamp to create a cozy glow ($25). To maximize your $100 budget for your living room makeover, keep these tips in mind and apply them where it makes sense.

Shop Your House

Before you purchase anything new, look around your house for items that could work in the living room. In some cases, you might remove a few items from the living room and replace them with pieces from elsewhere in the home. Other times, you might trade items, like swapping artwork, accessories, and even furniture.

Embrace Second-Hand Stores And Websites

Can’t find everything you need by shopping your house? Your next step is to visit flea markets, thrift shops, vintage boutiques, and second-hand online marketplaces to snag some great deals. Someone else’s trash could be your treasure. Many people pass along items simply because they’re looking for something different, just like you. You can find unique pieces in great condition at a fraction of the cost of buying new.

DIY Within Your Skills

Doing something yourself instead of paying someone else to do it is a great way to save money if you know what you’re doing. But if you attempt anything that’s outside your wheelhouse or beyond your scope or skill, tread carefully. You could end up making things more costly, depending on the project. DIY artwork is a great way to save money and add a personal touch to your living room. Painting is another big money-saver. However, don’t take on difficult projects if you know you can’t handle them, such as replacing a door jamb or installing crown molding. For some, these tasks might be simple or easy to learn, but it’s up to you to be realistic about what you can tackle.

Keep It Personal

Give your living room a designer edge by incorporating a few personal elements to make it unique. Copying Pinterest is all well and good, but you don’t want your room to look like everybody else’s. Instead of storing grandma’s vase collection in the attic, display a few of your favorite pieces in your built-ins. Is your child a budding artist who just gifted you with an interesting self-portrait? Have it professionally framed and display it as if it’s a high-end masterpiece.

Never Underestimate The Power Of Decluttering

It’s fun to get new furniture, change a rug, hang new curtains, and paint the walls a fresh color. But you don’t have to spend any money to make a big impact in your living room. Decluttering your space and keeping it clean may not be as exciting, but it's a game changer. As you decide what items no longer add value to your living room, don’t just toss them.

Choose what you could sell and use the money for your makeover budget. For example, you want a new accent chair, but it’s going to cost you $70. If you sell your existing chair for $30 and perhaps make another $20 from selling random decor you don’t want, you now have $50 to put toward the new piece.

Redesign Your Living Room For Less

There are all sorts of ways to make your home look new on a budget, but that doesn’t mean you need to do them all. It’s best to think about what is most important to you when deciding on where and how you want to make changes, then focus your funds on those areas. Staying intentional and choosing a few impactful moments is key. It’s your roadmap to success for recreating your living room’s look for $100 or less.

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