Splurge vs. Save – Ideas to Make Your Home Amazing

We all spend a lot of money on furniture and home decor and no matter what the budget is we always have the question “Should I splurge or should I save on this piece”? Well we might not always ask that question but I do have a few tips to help you decide when to save and where to splurge.

Our homes are the places where we escape from the outside world and nurture our family’s. It doesn’t matter if it’s an apartment or a house, it doesn’t matter if we own it or rent it. It’s our space and it should be beautifully decorated.

You deserve to be surrounded by beautiful things.

So how do you decide what to splurge on and when to save?

There’s so much inspiration available to us and it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the choices. You know I’m a big fan of Pinterest and I’ve got some great tips for how to use Pinterest to decorate your home. It can be too easy to become overwhelmed with inspiration.

If you’ve never furnished a house before, or bought everything you need for a functional kitchen, it can be hard to determine what pieces to spend your hard earned money on and which places are good ones to be thrifty with.

I believe that you are the best person to decorate your space and I think that there aren’t any actual rules to decorating. There are lot’s of tips and guidelines, so check out these tips to help you decide where to splurge and when to save on home decor.

When to Splurge on Your Home

Let’s start with talking about budget. Your idea of inexpensive and mine are likely to be different. Household income, lifestyle and family will determine your priorities and they’ll be different at different points in your life. Just as they will be different from your neighbor’s and friend’s.

Your budget is always going to factor into what you purchase to it’s a great idea to prioritize your wants/needs and have a plan for your funds. You can read more about how to budget for your home decor HERE.

A college dorm is unlikely to have “splurge” pieces in it – unless there’s an amazing piece of art that you can’t live without. Your first home may contain some hand me down’s that help you fill a space while you search and save for what you really want.

Mixing high and low price points is a great way to furnish a space and feel great about it. That goes for your first apartment all the way to your retirement home. Price doesn’t always determine value.

Splurge on Your Sofa

Your sofa is most likely to be one of the largest expenses for your living area. It’s also one of the pieces that’s going to see a lot of use over its lifetime. It should be durable as well as beautiful, but most importantly it should be comfortable.

This means that you should consider your sofa an investment. Purchasing a quality piece of upholstered furniture is going to pay you back! A quality piece of furniture is going to hold up longer and be built better than a bargain piece of furniture.

High quality fabrics have a tighter weave to them which makes them feel nicer against your skin. Not only that but they will resist stains and soil much better than less expensive fabrics. That’s a definite plus – stain resistant fabrics!

A sofa is a piece of furniture that I like to purchase in a showroom. Or at least order it. I want to sit on it, touch the fabric and test it out. I want to see how soft it is, look at the color in person and feel how comfortable it’s going to be.

If you can’t see your purchase in person be sure that you pay close attention to all the reviews. The reviews can be a great factor to help you learn about, well, just about anything. your purchase online. Be sure that you also know what the return policy is if you don’t love the piece.

Splurge on Your Mattress

Your mattress is where you spend a large portion of your life. I think I read somewhere that we spend around a third of our life sleeping, which is strange since it never feels like enough right?

There’s no better feeling than getting a good night’s sleep. You owe yourself a comfortable place to rest and recover. So splurge on a mattress. Get the most comfortable one you can comfortably afford.

Splurge on Your Linens

There’s no point in buying a mattress that feels amazing and then putting scratchy sheets on it. There’s really no excuse for not having soft sheets these days because they are available at so many price points.

Spend some time touching sheets and blankets to determine which ones are most comfortable to you. The sheets that are up against your skin should be breathable and soft and feel great to lie down on.

The splurge here can be on a duvet or comforter. We have down comforters on the beds in our house and they are amazing and lightweight but they were definitely a splurge item. The upside is that I’ve owned a couple of them for at least a decade so I know that they were money well spent. The one that I purchased as a bargain is bunched and lumpy and we keep it as spare bedding these days. It seemed like a bargain but it really wound up being a poor purchasing decision. I should have waited and invested, but lesson learned.

Linens can also include your towels (linen closet, am I right?). You don’t need 42 towels and 7 sets of sheets, so get a really nice set of sheets and a few great towels. You so deserve them!

Splurge on the WOW factor

Sometimes you’re going to come across a piece that you fall in love with. It may not make financial sense and it might catch you off guard but this is one of the times you should splurge.

If this is something that makes your heart swoon and you love it every time you look at it then you’ll appreciate it. It’s something unique that adds that “wow” to your home and can be a great conversation piece.

A wow piece doesn’t have to break the bank either, it doesn’t have to be something expensive, just something that you know you love.

But you should be willing to pay more for something that you love versus something that you like.

As you decorate and refine your style it will be much easier to pick out those pieces that will bring the wow factor into your space.

When to Save on Your Home

There are lot’s of ways to save money on your home decor and furnishings. You can watch for sales (highly recommend), buy gently used furniture and decor and spend some time on DIY projects. I have a few pieces of furniture that have been several different colors over the years and we still love them.

Spending money on something that you don’t love or that isn’t going to last is never a good investment. Take your time when furnishing your home and add pieces that speak to you.

Save on Lamps

There are so many beautiful lamps that you can purchase, but unless your lamp is going to be your focal point it’s a great place to save money.

A lamp’s job is to illuminate and it doesn’t need to distract you from something else in the room that’s beautiful. There are lamps available at so many price points these days that I would put this on the list to not splurge.

Timeless styles are simple with classic cone or drum shades. You can even update a lamp with a new shade and it will look brand new.

Save on Mirrors

I have mirrors that pop up everyday in my facebook marketplace because I searched for them once. Not only did I search for them but I found two fantastic mirrors that just needed some paint to work perfectly in my bedroom.

Mirrors are available at every vintage store I’ve ever visited and there is no end to the shapes and styles that can be found. Spend some time searching for a unique mirror and save.

The fun thing about vintage mirrors is they can also be part of your wow factor!

Save on Throw Pillows

Pillow covers are absolutely the best way to go when you’re searching for throw pillows. Any pillow that has a zipper cover on it can have an amazing down pillow (or down alternative) stuffed into it and look like a more expensive pillow.

Throw pillows are also an amazing addition to just about any room and one of my favorite accents!

Buying your inserts and covers separately saves money and it also frees up storage space since you can unzip a cover and store it much easier than a pillow.

Now that doesn’t mean you can’t find a great pillow at a big box store, just be sure that it has a zipper so that you can take out that cheap insert that’s included and add your own amazing insert. Voila – designer pillow!

Save on Rugs

Once upon a time rugs were a big investment and we all spent a lot of money on them. We knew that we’d be keeping these rugs forever.

These days it’s much easier to find rugs at varying price points so decide what your comfort level is and find a rug that you love.

In our house we go with less expensive rugs and if I can find an indoor/outdoor one that I like that’s a bonus. We have kids and dogs and the rugs take a beating so I like to work with surfaces that I don’t have to worry about. A rug that can be hosed off is a bonus when we have a rainy spring and we’re fighting muddy footprints around here.

Save on most Decor Accents

Items that are seasonal or items that you won’t be handling are great places to save money. If a basket is meant for carrying flowers from your garden you’ll need a sturdy one, but it it’s purpose it to hang on the wall as an accent piece, it’s a save item.

You can apply this rule to accent furniture as well. The dining chairs that you sit in everyday may need to be a splurge because you want them to be comfortable and long lasting. The accent chair in the corner that looks pretty and is rarely sat in, well that one can be a place to save.

Other items on this list can include:

• Houseplants
• Frames
• Baskets
• Seasonal Decor
• Vases or Jars
• Art (unless it’s a very special piece)
• Small Decorative Pieces

This list can be so much longer and it can also be wrong. You might find a houseplant that’s very rare but you want it, so splurge. You may have a collection that you splurge on too.

You may not care if all your dishes are in a matching set. If not then that’s how you know when to save.

A few final thoughts

If you spend money on something that you wind up regretting later you’ll be annoyed. When you’re learning to decorate there may be a few decisions that you regret later and that’s okay. This is part of the process of learning your style.

With a little bit of time you’ll quickly discover what you love and how to put a home together that reflects your personality and design goals.

When you’re thinking about your budget remember that our perception of expensive and quality is different from person to person. Invest in items that you plan to keep for a long time and save on items that you use for decorating.

The items that you handle everyday have to be more hardworking than something on the wall. If you love it, by all means get it! Those items are the ones that you’ll have for a long time.

So tell me, have you ever fallen in love with something and just couldn’t bring yourself to buy it? Does it still haunt you?

Be sure to follow me on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest for more inspiration!

Some more ideas to help:

• Quick ways to refresh your home
• Ways to create calm in your home
• How to Choose Curtains
• Common Decorating Mistakes