Decorate your student flat on a budget
by Cherry Pullinger
Once you’ve moved into your new student house or flat, you’ll want to start making it feel more like a home. Most landlords won’t let tenants paint or decorate their house so this article brings a few ideas on how you can brighten the place up, on a budget of course!
To start with, you’ll want to make those whitewashed walls a little more interesting! The perfect way to do this is to dig out some photos of you and your mates on nights out as these are the most interesting photos. Most photos are taken digitally these days but by taking your cameras memory card to a local photo processing shop you can get good quality prints of photos for around 25p each. A good place for you to hang the photos is along the staircase or hallway as a gallery for all your visitors.
Try mypixmania.com for cheap photo printing
A sofa and a television doesn’t make a very inviting lounge area, so take a visit to your local Primark store where you can pick up home furnishings for a very small price. Cushions for your sofa are a good place to start and all student houses should come complete with bean bags, it’s a must! Try to keep colours matching and always make sure all housemates agree on what to buy and how much to spend.
A large poster can add a splash of colour to a boring lounge. Don’t go cutting out posters of your favourite bands and plastering them all over the walls though. We’re talking about some sophistication here so try to all agree on a band or a movie that you all like and scour places like Ebay for professional looking posters that you can hang. Local cinemas will usually always be happy to supply you with posters for free, all you have to do is ask! If you want something more special then try oneposter.com - they have free UK delivery.
When it comes to the kitchen and bathroom you might find yourself stuck for ideas but Matalan have a great range of student essentials from bathroom storage to dinnerware at prices under £10!
Your bedroom is the place where you can decorate more to your tastes, so you can go mad with posters, pictures, bean bags and anything else you want! It’s always a good idea to have a notice board where you can pin important letters and bills. Most bedrooms are pretty simple, you’ll get a desk, a bed and a wardrobe and not much else, so storage is a must. If you don’t fancy splashing out on fancy furniture you can grab cheap storage from Argos such as plastic boxes or draws that can fit under your bed so it doesn’t even matter if they’re ugly! If you’re bored of desk lamps then a fun lighting alternative are fairy lights which you can pick up anywhere!
A nice duvet set can pretty much be the focus point of your bedroom. Argos has a huge range of bedding, with double duvet covers at £5.99 and single covers at just £3.99! Also, most students are bound to have mountains of CDs and DVDs so it’s wise to invest in a CD/DVD rack. You can pick them up from most furniture stores or try scouting through your local charity shops for one at a bargain price.
We all know that time and money can be a bit of an issue so instead of trying to decorate your place all in one weekend, just keep your eyes open for bits and pieces that you can grab when you’ve got the cash and before you know it, you won’t want to leave!
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