Let's consider an option that is not so often discussed on interior and design forums - a budget renovation of your living room. Not often, because people with a limited budget most often have no time for design - especially, they do not dare to turn to a specialist. However, the situation in which there is a budget of one million rubles for everything is quite common in the regions of Russia. For everything - this means for materials, furniture, plumbing, and wages for workers. It happens that people do not have any special requests, but there are other cases: impetuous and creative enthusiasts who dream of the perfect design and hang out on renovation sites for days. What should they do on a shoestring budget? Let's try to outline the correct course of action.
The living room is assembled from furniture that is different in style
The best is the enemy of the good
Let's say you have the same case when you have a full-length two-room apartment with a standard layout at your disposal. There’s no point in trying to make a three-ruble note out of it. Leave everything as it is - it’s better to try to improve the layout with proper arrangement of furniture, and spend the money that could have been spent on new partitions, for example, on a kitchen set or more expensive bathroom fixtures.
The living room should have a bright accent, for example, a red armchair and a wall panel
Large living room - needs a central accent
Most modern living rooms do not have furniture sets or wardrobes. Therefore, in spacious rooms there is often a feeling of emptiness. Creating a central accent—an element that attracts people’s attention—helps get rid of this unpleasant feeling.
The following can be used as such an accent:
- Big picture. In addition to the pleasure of contemplation, it clearly indicates that the owners have taste.
- Photo wallpaper. The choice of themes and designs for these decorative materials is simply enormous.
- Fireplace. Creates a wonderful feeling of home comfort. In modern apartments, electric or false fireplaces are more often installed.
- TV. This essential attribute of modern life is found in every apartment today.
- Aquarium. Its presence in the apartment has a positive effect on the psychological balance of family members.
Furniture: time to retire or start a new life?
Think about the list of furniture items: what are you ready to take into your new home from the old interior. Don't get rid of everything at once. It happens that a very slightly repaired and repainted chair lives for a very long time, and the owners themselves no longer understand why, in fact, they wanted to take it to a landfill.
Modern furniture in the living room interior
How to renovate a living room: design selection
The design of the new living room should be significantly different from the old interior, because that’s why the renovation is being carried out. Some people prefer to rely on the designer's eye, while others find it much easier to customize the finish to their liking. In any case, it is worth deciding what style the room will be in. Choosing a specific style allows you to carry out repairs according to certain rules.
In particular:
- In a specific color scheme;
- Using furniture of a certain type;
- Give preference to specific accessories.
The most important thing is to create a pleasant atmosphere, as well as a homely feeling. Depending on your style, you can even choose certain types of wood. For example, furniture made from luxurious and expensive wood is suitable for the classic style. In modernism, analogues and products made from laminated chipboard panels can be used. The shades of furniture directly depend on the color of the walls, the preferences of the room owners and the lighting.
By adding all these parameters into one, you can make a specific choice, but designers believe that there should not be more than three shades in the room.
Also, depending on the style, it depends on what accessories, chandeliers, and decor will be installed. The most important thing is not to overload the room with many items. This will create an awkward and cluttered look.
You may also be interested in how to choose furniture for your living room:. Furniture from Italy is the most popular and in demand today.
My own interior designer
Replace the shade or lampshades in an old chandelier - and now it’s a completely different thing. Don’t let stereotypes deceive you and approach the revision of interior items with maximum flexibility: you shouldn’t discard a thing right away just because you’ve been living with it for 5, 7 or 10 years. There are many video tutorials on the Internet on updating old things. Evaluate furniture, lamps, and accessories according to several parameters: design, functionality, good condition.
The living room is combined with the bedroom and is fenced with a radius partition
Style - decide in advance
When intending to renovate your living room , initially decide on a style. Fortunately, designers offer a lot of options:
- Traditional classicism.
- Quirky baroque.
- Asymmetrical modern.
- Ascetic minimalism.
- High-tech hi-tech.
- Warm and romantic country.
This is just the beginning of an extensive list that includes several dozen options. A modern living room can also be decorated in oriental, gothic or African style. Japanese, Egyptian or Indian room design looks very elegant.
Think carefully and choose the most harmonious style for you. Act thoroughly, without haste, consult with professionals, find out the opinions of loved ones.
Timeless materials
If you have a Stalin-era floor, critically evaluate the condition of the parquet - as a rule, it is cheaper to restore it (sometimes it is enough to just scrape it off). Even if it looks a little older, it will only work to your advantage, because wood is one of those materials that ages gracefully. Herringbone parquet is a godsend; it will suit any interior, even if you have minimalism in mind.
The walls can be painted and decorated with framed photographs.
Repair difficulties
The specialists were given a difficult task. The room must change, but without changes.
Preparing for repairs.
The designers proposed to restore the walls, ceiling and floor in such a way as to visually increase the space. This can be done using light color tones.
Since the house is old, the renovation workers faced a number of structural difficulties. One of them is wooden floors and herringbone parquet. It has existed since the construction of the house.
Removing the old flooring was not easy. After all, the laying of uncut dies was done carefully, the parquet was attached very tightly. The installation pattern is called “Soviet herringbone”.
Cutting the budget into pieces
When starting repairs, pay attention to windows and radiators: they may require replacement. In this case, set aside some money for this important matter.
Living room in beige color
Now let's break the remaining budget into three parts: materials, labor and furniture. A modest interior with smooth wall lines and clear tile seams is quite capable of making a good impression - especially since we are initially talking about non-standard moves and bold decisions. But a modest interior with crooked seams and waves on the ceiling will look depressing - no matter how interesting your idea is. Therefore, choose a specialist carefully.
You can place bright upholstered furniture against the background of bright walls.
More actively involve multidisciplinary specialists who work alone and charge much less money for their work than organized teams. If you have recommendations, you will lose only in time - usually such craftsmen work well, but not quickly, but with feeling, with sense, with arrangement.
The walls and ceiling can be left in their original form with the effect of wear and antiquity
Decorating the floor in the hall
The examples can be very different, just like pictures on wallpaper and furniture, but we shouldn’t forget about the flooring. Floor repairs are not carried out in one day, and this must be done before all work begins.
The process itself requires:
- Removing old canvas;
- Installation of new cement screed;
- Laying insulation;
- Laying new covering.
If the floor in the living room is not concrete, but made of wood, then when updating it, it is worth examining each element for strength. Parts are replaced if necessary. During inspection, pay attention to the nail heads so that they do not stick out.
After this, the rough substrate is laid and only then can you begin finishing with sheets of chipboard or fiberboard.
At the moment, parquet boards, laminate or ordinary parquet are considered very popular materials. Parquet boards are recognized as the most expensive product, but at the same time the most attractive and durable. If there is an old parquet floor in the living room, it is worth sanding and then painting with varnish. Thus, you can refresh the canvas and not replace it with a new one. It is practically forbidden to lay tiles or linoleum for the living room, as this will not only spoil the appearance, but will also become a so-called oversight, because modern styles exclude the use of such fabric.
The living room is the main room in the house. How to properly decorate the interior of the hall, read this article:.
Savings should be done with taste
Now let's talk about materials. You're very lucky if you actually managed to save something old - and it's great if it's parquet.
All communications in the room can be left visible - this is an ultra-modern solution
What remains are the rough materials, which will take approximately half of the allocated amount. The workers will tell you how much and what you will need. With the remaining money you need to buy paint for the ceiling, wallpaper for the walls and much more.
You can place completely different furniture in one living room
Functional and decorative changes
After the walls were leveled with finishing putty, the next stage began - painting. For her, the designer chose English matte paints in a light gray shade called “Royal Fog.”
After painting, new sockets and gold-colored switches were installed. Their warm, unobtrusive shine creates the effect of elegance and luxury.
They are from a German manufacturer who has won numerous international awards for the design and quality of their products.
Lighting in the form of a diode strip is mounted along the perimeter of the ceiling.
The owner's chandelier remained in the same place. The electrical wiring was restored and the hanging hook was replaced.
After repairing the ceiling, the owner's chandelier returned to its original place.
The owner insisted that the furniture and belongings be returned to their places. He didn't say anything about windows. The repair team decided to replace the old plastic frames with new, modern models, laminated in walnut. They have two sealing circuits, are equipped with a three-chamber profile, and have noise reduction of up to 45 decibels. This is one of the best indicators of premium designs. The glass in the windows is innovative; in winter it reflects heat into the building and in summer it protects from overheating. Also, window sills and slopes are mounted to them.
One profile curtain rod is installed on both windows. It's made of aluminum. The second row is equipped with adhesive tape for attaching the bandeau.
If the walls were covered with plain paint, then it was decided to make the floor from two types of coatings. Along the perimeter, like a frame, will be a border of dark parquet. There will be wardrobes, chests of drawers and a sofa on it. Most of the room will be occupied by a light-colored engineered wood flooring. It consists of square blocks with a diagonal pattern. Their color is called "Winter's Tale".
Modern packaged blocks are laid on a special glue, similar to the installation of ceramic tiles.
The ceiling is decorated with frescoed wallpaper. They look like hand-painted, with an unobtrusive plant pattern, made individually according to the ordered sizes. This material is ideal for wooden floors typical of old houses. A modern fresco has a solid base that will protect the ceiling from cracks.
The fresco consists of four mirrored fragments that are pasted end to end, like wallpaper.
We buy expensive things first, then cheap ones.
There is a great way to shop for interiors. In accordance with it, we begin creating the environment with the most expensive pieces of furniture: sofa, wall, armchairs, ottomans and in descending order.
Living room in eclectic style
Pay special attention to your capabilities. For example, a wall can be quite functional and have upper shelves instead of cabinets - their absence will significantly reduce the cost.
Blue sofa with velvet upholstery
A sofa can replace a full bed. There are transformer models on sale that can turn from an ordinary large soft sofa into an ottoman, coffee table, or bed.
Don't clutter the living room with unnecessary items
Preparation for repair
Before starting renovations, you should develop a living room project, select finishing materials, decide on colors, choose furniture and think about its location, and plan all costs. Then you need to draw up a plan for carrying out repair work.
Laconic, flat surfaces are back in fashion
The first stage of repair is preparation. It includes:
- Complete emptying of the living room, removal of all items, furniture, electronics;
- Dismantling old floor, wall and ceiling coverings;
- Redevelopment (if planned): you can expand the doorway or replace it with an arch, dismantle the partitions, combining the living room with a balcony or another room;
- Preparing surfaces for finishing: walls can be leveled using putty and primer; for the floor, you can use a special leveling mixture.
Preparing the surface for finishing by installing a plaster mesh
Advice! If the surfaces have large differences, then plasterboard is used for leveling, but its installation leads to loss of usable area.
Drywall primer for painting
Repair is creativity for adults
It must be said that the more creativity and imagination you are willing to show in your approach to budget renovation, the more unexpectedly interesting the result can be. Believe me, you can do a lot with your own hands - the main thing is to carefully read the procedure for observing the work and become familiar with the technology. For example, almost anyone can paint walls: instead of wallpaper, try using a non-standard painting technique or even making a drawing.
You can completely abandon wall decoration
Hall renovation: how to start work, preparatory stage
It all starts with thoroughly cleaning the ceiling and walls of old finishes. This stage of work must be done as efficiently as possible, otherwise the new finish risks crumbling along with the old one. An exception is when finishing walls with plasterboard; in this case, it is not at all necessary to remove the old finish.
After the old finish is removed, hidden electrical wiring needs to be installed. The final stage is puttying followed by sanding; in this case, a primer can be applied to the surface in advance.
The finish must be extremely firmly fixed to the surface, and it does not matter whether it is brick, concrete, wood or drywall. To do this, we prime the walls; it provides excellent adhesion and protects the surface from damage. On a concrete base, a primer layer is often abandoned, but still in this case there is a real chance that the repair will not be of the highest quality.
But only a primer is not capable of hiding various types of irregularities and surface flaws. To level the wall and hide its defects, you need to putty the wall. Puttying and sanding help make the wall as smooth and even as possible.
You can learn how to properly putty walls from the following material:
Typically, the preparatory stage includes checking the floor for various types of deformation, such as creaking, unevenness and loose beams. If this is the case, then outdated boards are replaced with new ones, and all kinds of defects are eliminated.
Make way for experiments
Paint the ceiling: the price of white and colored paint is comparable, but the effect is incomparable! Surely such a ceiling in the room will become a distinctive feature of your interior.
Small living room with original IKEA lamp
Newspapers or magazines instead of wallpaper? This technique has not yet been canceled. If the best decorators in the world still use it, why shouldn’t you?
For a small living room, you can choose a glass coffee table
In the case of furniture, it is also important to think outside the box. There are many examples of the use in interiors of such improvised and inexpensive products as cargo pallets (pallets), vegetable boxes, car tires or building bricks (as in this photo). Try non-standard materials in action! At worst, you will be considered eccentric.
Surface finishing
Most modern living rooms cannot boast of large sizes, so when choosing finishing materials you should give preference to options that do not take up the usable space of the room. This advice can also be followed when decorating a large living room to make it look even more spacious. Below you can see real photos of the design of a living room of 20 square meters. m after renovation.
From simple materials you can create a real masterpiece in the living room
Ceiling
Typically, small living rooms have low ceilings, so hanging or hanging structures will only make them heavier and take up part of the space. In this case, it is better to use one of the proposed options for finishing the ceilings.
Whitewashing and painting
First, the ceiling is whitewashed, and after drying, paint is applied to it. Modern high-quality water-based paints retain the attractive appearance of the ceiling for a long time, do not turn yellow, and are not afraid of moisture. If desired, the painted surface can be washed.
Painting walls with bright paint
Advice! The ceiling should be lighter than the walls. It is not necessary to use white. You can choose a cream or vanilla shade.
A paint roller will help you apply whitewash or paint evenly, without streaks or drips.
Budget renovation in the living room: photos of interiors
Repairing walls, floors, ceilings: how to do it correctly
Before starting work, the old coating is removed from all surfaces, and windows and doors are protected with film or cloth from possible contamination.
The ceiling is always finished first (except for suspended and suspended ceilings), because painting and plastering will easily stain the walls and floor. First, small chips and cracks are puttied, and only then - complete plastering and leveling of the entire ceiling surface.
The walls are finished secondarily. The cracks are also rubbed, primed and sanded, and then the walls are plastered from top to bottom in several layers. Further finishing depends on the chosen material. Wallpaper and decorative plaster will require a mandatory primer, and paneling will require the installation of a mounting frame.
Floors are the last stage of interior finishing. Today, there are many ways to arrange a floor - self-leveling, which involves screeding, and frame, most often used to create a heated floor.
Arranging furniture
At the end of the work, a thorough cleaning of the room is carried out, where construction dust and drips are blown out and removed from windows to switches. Now it’s just a matter of small things: arrange your furniture in the room so that it does not look cluttered and does not lose its functionality. The most popular layout options: island and wall, when soft corners, sofas and armchairs are placed along the walls.
The living room should not contain unnecessary items; it is appropriate to place display cases and shelving, store books, trophies, and souvenirs. For this purpose, transparent or open facades are used, and additional niches serve to successfully position the equipment. Modular collections and cabinet sets can have a straight or corner configuration, and you should select furniture according to the shape and size of the living room.
Video: Renovation in the hall:
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