Do you want your home to look like you hired an interior designer? Do you think styling your home has to cost a lot of money? If you answered yes to those questions, let me tell something, it is possible to decorate your home for less than taking you family to McDonald’s.

I must admit, I love McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets. My family true not to eat fast food, but sometimes when our calendar is packed, we pull into the drive-thru for a quick lunch or dinner. I don’t like doing this because not only is it not healthy but also it is not cheap. For my family to all get a meal cost at least $20, which is crazy for fast food.

What if I told you with that same $20 you can style one area of your home. Do you think I am nuts? Well I may be nuts, but you can do a lot of decorating with $20 if you think differently. Let me show you how to style shelves for less than your next trip to McDonald’s.

Stop Buying New Home Accessories

I do my best to never buy new home accessories. Most often when I am looking for home decor I am buying used items at a thrift store or garage sale. If I do buy something new, it is usually because it is on clearance.

If you are looking to spend less on home accessories, then stop buying new. There are tons of decorative items that are still in style that you will find at a thrift store near you. You will be amazed at want you can find.

Look Outside to Style You Home

Don’t limit your home accessories hunt to stores and garage sales. There are many opportunities to find free decorative items in your backyard.

Twigs, leaves, flowers, and stones are just a few things that you can bring into your home to add style to shelves. Here are a few examples of the stunning ways others have used nature to add beautiful and free decor to their homes.

Common Every Day Items Make Great Decor

You probably already have more home decor than you think. Many common household items can be repurposed or used in a new way to style shelves throughout your home. I wrote an earlier post that shows you 26 Common Items to Repurpose as Home Decor.

This is another way to spend less to styling your home so you can afford more decorating or another trip to McDonald’s.

Get Crafty

Even if you don’t consider yourself a crafty person there are simple DIY decorating projects that you can do in less than a day. Plus, doing a DIY project can help you save money styling your home. Sometimes you can create DIY home accessories that look exactly like an expensive alternative.

I made this DIY Slat Wood Vase simply by gluing on stained strips of wood onto a tin can. See how I did this in my post, How to Repurpose a Tin Can in a Beautiful Wood Slat Vase.

My Less Than a Trip to McDonald’s Styling Example

I recently added floating shelves in my dining room, which meant I had some styling to do. As usual, I didn’t have much money to spend to accessorize these shelves. So, I needed to employ all the above tips to style this wall for less than a trip to McDonald’s.

Here’s the result of my thrifty styling work:

This is how I stayed on budget.

  • The two floating shelves were curbside finds, $0.50 each from a garage sale (Used Item)
  • Blue Vase was a clear glass vase I painted with chalk paint, cost: $3.00 (Crafty & Used Item)
  • White Owl, was also a thrift store find I sprayed white, $2.00 (Crafty & Used Item)
  • Oil Lantern & Old Planer, we inherited it from my wife’s papa, Free (Common Items)
  • Cheese Platter, got from my neighbor, Free (Used Item)
  • Beehive, we found this piece of a beehive near our church which I thought would be an interesting item to place in the cheese platter, Free (Bring in Nature)
  • Pictures, downloaded for free from online websites and decoupaged onto MDF board, $5.00 (Crafty) Learn how I created these in my previous post: How to Make DIY Wood Photo Blocks in 6 Easy Steps

Total cost of styling these shelves: $11.00

As you can see by my example, it is possible to style your home for less than a family trip to McDonald’s. So, don’t let a limited budget keep you from decorating. If you use these thrifty styling tips and tricks you can transform your home for less without sacrificing style.