Stingy, moi?! (Or budget ways to maximise your interior design)
Eleni Fantis, 12/05/2021
Those of us who subscribe to any of the home style magazines will be familiar with the gorgeous images of this season’s latest furnishing and home accessories trends in interior design. Readers of home magazines and features are usually passionate about their home, interior design and probably buy, or window shop, for home goods on a regular basis.
The reality for many of us, however, is that as much as we may dream and covet the latest looks, we can’t always afford to buy the ones featured in glossy magazines – particularly when trends in home décor come and go as quickly as in the fashion/clothing industry.
So just where do you draw the line between bankruptcy (caused by owning 854 cushions in various colours and textures) and feeling bored and dissatisfied with your home?!
Home magazines, both online and print, often have a feature on new trends detailing a ‘perfect’ item along with a more budget-friendly similar choice, but often the lower priced option might also be out of reach. I recently read a feature online which compared two industrial style black and brass pendant lights; the ‘ideal’ version cost £119, and the ‘great deal’ version was £69 – not too bad for a fab light fitting I thought, but a quick search later and I found three more almost identical lights priced at £17.99 (ManoMano), £35 (Dunelm) and £39.90 (Lights.co.uk).
Lower disposable income doesn’t mean you love your home any less. You aren’t less passionate about interior design just because you need to budget carefully for day-to-day life before you even think about ‘granny chic’ cushions or tribal inspired rugs; some of my most creative times have been the years when I did have less, or nothing, to spend on home accessories. (My children probably have vivid memories of their crazy mother cutting up old Aran jumpers to make cushion covers, bending plumber’s copper pipe to make curtain poles and painting upholstery long before it was a ‘thing’!) Even though my children are now grown-up (well, almost!), and I therefore have a bit more money left to spend each month, there are still items that I will rarely splurge on – choosing instead a more sensibly priced option. Is it a constant compromise? I suppose so, but one I prefer to the guilt I would feel if I splurged on a metallic accessory that is ‘in’ this season, only to decide I hate it next season when it’s ‘out’. (Or maybe it’s the voice in my head that goes “more money than sense” … I think it belongs to my grandmother!)
Magazines, newspapers and TV production companies that assume their audience to frequently splurge or even semi-splurge (is that even a word?!) are surely missing a trick. Why not expand these features to include items in a luxury bracket, a mid-range and a genuinely bargain option – thereby making the feature more inclusive and expanding their target audience?
Back to the industrial lights; I did a quick test with my family (admittedly not the most design-savvy, but you work with what you have!) using images of the lights in the magazine feature and the ones I found in my search. None of them could tell the difference in quality or identify the expensive/ cheapest version.
Of course, there will be products where it doesn’t make sense to go for the cheaper option (if you have tried sleeping on a budget mattress, you’ll know what I mean!) but transient trends are not where you necessarily need to blow your budget. So next time you are lusting over the latest trend, that you’ve just got to have… don’t max out your credit card, go bargain hunting!
