My question is how to remodel a living room on a budget?

Fun challenge!!! 😀 A few thoughts:

- can you upgrade any of the furniture by painting? Chalk paint is super easy for most furniture items and you can save a lot of money by making your own

- do you have an accent wall? This goes a LONG way

- how about dressing up some of the current decor items with dollar store items - like a boring vase with glass pieces from the dollar store

I agree it sounds like a fun challenge! I would first decide on a style and then hit the thrift stores. Having a style in mind will help keep you focused. But you can find lots of cute frames, shelves, faux plants, etc. Plus furniture, too. It might take some time, but that's half the fun. Also watch for "oops" paint at Lowe's or Home Depot. I was able to buy a gallon in a neutral color for only $5. I'd love to see what you come up with Ezmee!

Yard sales and resale shops are a fun way to find unusual pieces to give your home the look of being developed over time. You can also find all kinds of decorative pieces to fit whatever decor you are going with. Start with a couple pieces you love and go from there. You might have things in other rooms in your house that would love relocating.

Sometimes adding a feature wall either painted a vibrant/contrasting color, or wallpaper, or use great sheets and liquid starch for removable treatment.

Then build a collection of pictures, weird clocks, sometime that appeals to you. Now get hunting for those items at thrift stores, dollar stores, yard/estate sales.

Pickup the coordinating color throughout the room in pillows, lamps or lampshades that you can make yourself. Many times I buy fabric, curtains, bedspreads etc. to make pillows or reupholster a piece.

I frequently make entertainment centers out of old dressers, remove top drawer(s) get some thin wood and make a floor to that opening and drill a couple holes in back for plug/cord. Now paint it something wonderful. Last one I did for a woman was kind of a wedgewood blue, and I stained the top and wooden knobs pine. We picked that blue up in pillows, cushions, picture frames, even painted a line of it around the base of her round table.

I love to redo lamps also, that really finishes a room to me, I spray paint them, sometimes with fine mists of multiple colors to create an irridescent look (I use model paints in the bitty cans). And I redo shades all the time, using decorative papers, fiberglass or fabric right on top of old shade using spray adhesive. A new coffee table makes a big difference too, adding different legs, painting it, adding glass or upholstering the top. An area rug over an old carpet can add some drama. Those are a few of my tricks.

My two cents worth: 1. Have a general plan, motif, color, or shape in mind. 2. Go to Dollar Tree. Go down the kitchenware, glassware, plasticware, children's, health and beauty, even first aid aisles, picking up items of the right color, shape etc. 3. Now that your brain is using divergent thinking, go down the aisles for home decor, giftwrap, picture frames and mirrors, silk flowers, and other more usual decorative items. 4. With your plan in mind, or thrown out of the door, choose the things you are actually going to buy. Put the other things back on the proper aisle. 5. Save your receipt. Dollar Tree refunds your money for returned items, except things like Christmas items in February. 6. Go home and try things out. What you don't like after all, take back with a smile and receipt. Best wishes!