It was the early 90s and floral prints from Laura Ashley were all the rage.
Ami McKay was a budget-conscious student living alone for the first time. To make her bedroom more comfortable, she bought a Laura Ashley bedding set, sewed the sheets together and made a duvet cover. She also got some lace fabric and made a canopy over the bed, pinning the four corners to the ceiling.
With just a few pieces of fabric, her room was transformed.
Today, McKay is president and chief interior designer at Pure Design Inc., a Vancouver design firm. Being young and on a budget is a blessing, she says: It forces you to be creative.
“It’s a great time for 20- to 30-year-olds because they are only limited by their minds,” McKay said.
“You can get things done on a minimal budget.”
When it comes to design elements with “big impact, small investment,” Sharayah Moffat chooses plants, color, and cabinet hardware as her top three.
“I always like to play with different sizes when designing and creating (plants),” says Moffat, founder and chief designer of Salt & Ink Design Studio near Winnipeg.
Moffat likes a large floor plant combined with smaller accents on shelves and coffee tables. She praises Ikea for its affordable selection, with many options between $10 and $30.
“I think it’s about playing with layers and sizes,” she added. “You can have a darker sheet, a lighter sheet, a colorful one, and have real fun mixing and matching.”
With paint, on the other hand, you can make a dramatic difference that, if you can afford the labor costs, won’t cost a fortune.
Moffat’s final favorite detail is cabinet and furniture hardware – handles, hinges and knobs. She considers these a cost-effective upgrade with endless variety and a tried-and-tested recommendation for her clients to give a kitchen a new lease of life and avoid expensive renovations.
“Etsy is a great place to look for these unique pieces,” Moffat said. “You can choose vintage, you can choose modern, you can really change the look. It’s one of those things where if you want to change it up a little bit in a few years, you’re paying five dollars a handle.”
McKay is a fabric fanatic – fabric is cheap at fabric stores and simple sewing jobs are doable. You can even save yourself the work altogether by using sewing tape to press the fabric edges together.
For window treatments, McKay loves cafe-style curtains; a charming height that starts halfway up the window. They’re ideal for bathrooms, breakfast nooks, kitchen windows, and are easy to make yourself.
“It lets you look outside and still have privacy,” she said. “You can see the sky, you can see trees. I use it all the time in all my projects.”
For walls and ceilings, McKay likes stickers that dramatically transform the space — ideal for renters because they won’t damage the walls when removed. Etsy has a great selection, she added.
“And the secret to making a house cozy is to light the corners, the four corners of a room, and you can’t do that with overhead lighting,” McKay said.
“The uplight – it’s really affordable, you can get it at Home Depot – you just put it on the floor and it has a stand. You can put it behind a sculpture, behind a sofa, behind a plant and it just creates the right atmosphere.”
Other must-haves for inexpensive decoration, according to McKay, include statement pieces from secondhand stores, souvenirs bought while traveling and extra-large rugs.
However, she has found that many customers need help when it comes to choosing the right rug size.
“The problem I see so often is that people put really small rugs in the room and it looks wrong, and people don’t know what’s going on – the house doesn’t feel right psychologically,” McKay said, noting that there are affordable carpet options, including natural carpets.
“The secret is really the oversized rug. Choose the largest rug, so make sure all the sofa and chair legs are on the rug if possible.”
Roommates are a reality for many young renters, especially in expensive cities. Both designers said consultation and collaboration are key when it comes to shared spaces.
But be sure to invest in decluttering and organizing solutions, Moffat added. It’s hard to enjoy a beautiful room when everyone’s stuff is lying around everywhere.
“When we live with others, the frustration starts when you have to deal with other people’s things because they’re in your way,” Moffat said. “So find solutions if you don’t have a lot of space – find wall storage with hooks, shelves and organization.”
Go bargain hunting, consider refurbishing a quality piece and, if you can, invest in long-lasting pieces. Moffat also works in construction and points out the carbon footprint and landfill waste associated with constant manufacturing.
“Remember that buying inferior quality repeatedly is actually more expensive than investing in high quality,” Moffat said.
“So we often find a cheap furniture store and buy a sofa that might cost $500. But there are also opportunities to buy secondhand items – maybe the fabric is out of date or it’s not your style – but invest in those key pieces and don’t just buy for the sake of buying.
“Accessories too – accessories are really trendy, right? So it’s really important to find these pieces second-hand and reduce the amount we have to produce.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 20, 2024.
