Thrifty ways to make your house a home with only a few accessories!

_{Collaborative feature}

As an avid interiors blog reader and the world’s most addicted Pinterest user, I love to drool over images of gorgeous homes, and I regularly have my head turned by new design trends. Now, I can’t afford to redecorate my home every time I see a new trend that I like – in fact I’ve not yet finished decorating since moving in two years ago – and who actually has the time to empty out a room for a full blown paint-job? It’s just not practical, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to update my home and put my own stamp on it. So I’ve been researching ways to personalise my home using the latest colours and funkiest designs but without spending a fortune. And that’s where the supermarkets come in…

I’ve been scouring the home departments of the online supermarkets and have found plenty of inspiration for design makeovers on a purse-friendly budget. I especially love the new George at Home range from Asda which has designs that follow all the latest interiors trends and will allow me to personalise my home while I do my weekly shop! I’ve created a little mood board of one of my favourite looks from Spring/Summer 2014 – nautical. Not just a clothing trend, the coastal look is everywhere for homes this year, with blues and greys being very popular colours for decorating with at the moment. I’ve been thinking about painting my hallway grey for a while now, but it’s difficult to get the right shade of grey so that it doesn’t make the space look to dark – you can imagine how many tester pots I need to try out before making that decision!

I really like the nautical look and although I’ve pinned photos of a living room and bedroom to my moodboard above, it’s actually my kitchen that I’d like to give a seaside makeover. I’ve already got some light-house fabric for my blinds (I’ll share more about this soon) and I’d like to try out blue walls to brighten up this small room. I’m taking inspiration from retro postcards and I really like the design of the ice cream placemat above – especially as it’s only £1! The blue bowl is also an absolute bargain at £2 – I’ve seen very similar bowls in interiors shops with considerably higher price tags – I could get 5 bowls from the supermarket for the price of one designer dish! So it will be easy and cheap for me to add a nautical feel to my kitchen. I just need to choose which tester pot of blue paint to use… 😉

The other homewares range that caught my eye is called ‘Riviera’ and it’s suitably bright, tacky, retro and kitsch – all the things I love in a home accessory 😉 Please don’t buy these flamingo glasses because they are mine all mine and I want to be the only one with such garish glasses in her cupboard! Oh okay, at only £2.50 for a set of 4, I can’t begrudge you getting a bargain, especially when it’s such a funky design. It’s easy to change the look of a room by simply adding a few new colours and patterned cushions to the sofa, and I’m planning to invest in this camera design ‘feature cushion’ for my retro living room. Similarly, a bedroom can feel like it’s had an entire makeover by simply changing the bedding, so one of these super-low priced duvet sets is a good investment – just check out that on-trend pin-up girl pattern!

I hope I’ve given you a few ideas for updating your home for Spring/Summer 2014 without breaking the bank, and I hope you’ll check out the supermarkets next time you’re shopping for homewares;  it can be so much cheaper than shopping in the department stores and the designs are bang on trend for a fraction of the price. To be honest, the household goodies sell out so quickly at the supermarkets because they are such a bargain that I almost wanted to keep this information to myself, but I wouldn’t do that to you and I’d much rather we all save money and live a thriftier life where possible, so I’ll always tell you if I find a bargain! 😉 Let me know if you’ve found a great homewares deal anywhere else, I’d love to hear about it so tweet me @Cassiefairy or leave me a comment below.

This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂