Living Room Refresh For Under $250!

I was recently challenged by Better Homes and Gardens to give my living room a makeover within a $250 budget, and of course I jumped right on that! Makeover challenge? Yes! Staying within a budget? Yes! Frugal decor that makes a huge difference in our main living room? ABSOLUTELY!!!

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

The challenge was a huge win-win for me because this room was in serious need of some love, and it motivated me to make some changes! Plus, I got to make a trip to Walmart and shop around for awesome Better Homes and Gardens decor items!

For a bit of reference, here is what the room looked like before…

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

The room felt very dark and cluttered to me, and the overall color seemed pretty reddish. But with a few changes and some Better Homes and Gardens products from Walmart, I was able to make the room so much brighter and more open!

The biggest change I made was putting a slipcover on the red couch. At just under $80 it was the most expensive thing I bought on that trip, but it made such a HUGE difference that it was totally worth it! I also picked out a few pillows for about $14 each (notice, they’re not red!) to accent the brown slipcover.

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

Here is what that half of the room looked like before:

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

And this is even after we had cleaned up! Having the bookshelf right next to the hutch basically made that space unusable, so we just started using it as storage. The spool is for an upcoming project (stay tuned, it’s going to be AWESOME!), JM’s guitar and amp are hiding behind the spool, there’s a little cat cubby in front of the bookshelf and a blanket wrapped around the base of the spool so the cats can nap there (can you spot the black cat taking a nap? It’s like “I Spy”!) It was just a cluttered mess!

But here is what it looks like now…so much better!

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

We moved the bookshelf, the cat cubby, and the guitar/amp to different places in the room, and I threw a tablecloth on the spool until I can find time to give it a makeover. We also pulled the rug out from under the coffee table, which really helps to open up that half of the room. And to keep the wooden floors from looking too bare, we added a small area rug right under the front door. The red and brown in the rug ($12) are perfect to tie the cherry wood in the hutch to the brown slipcover on the couch!

We also added a gorgeous floor lamp ($40) to give us some more light options. That bottom light is movable so we can point it wherever we need light; perfect for reading or for game nights on the coffee table!

On the other half of the room, we got rid of the small TV stand. Then, since we were getting rid of the bookcase next to the couch anyway, I decided to rip it in half and use the bottom as a TV stand. It puts the TV up a bit higher, gives us more storage on that side of the room, and as a bonus, it makes the furniture on that side of the room look less “cobbled together” because the two bookcases are identical. It’s almost like we have a purposeful “wall unit” over there now! 🙂

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

Even just organizing the bookshelves has helped the room to look a little less cluttered! Sometimes it’s the small things that make a huge difference. 🙂

Over in my desk area I took down the fall wreath chandelier (finally, geez!) and replaced it with a fun candle chandelier. It’s actually supposed to be a table centerpiece ($13), but I got a little creative and hung it from some chain I had laying around. So much cooler up in the air, right?!

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

See the wall-mounted tea lights in the back there? I really love candlelight, the more the better!

(Man, it really is like “I Spy” in here; how many projects can you find in these photos that you recognize from tutorials on the blog?! I count at least 8 that I’ve already published, plus two or three projects that are in the works!)

I also switched out the lampshade of my desk lamp to a prettier one in a lighter color ($10).

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

Overall, the room is so much better now! It’s open and airy and no longer dark and red. Even with the dark brown slipcover, the rest of the changes lightened up the room enough that the brown fits in perfectly without bringing the room down! And for those of you counting along, I only spent about $210 on the whole refresh!

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

The Better Homes and Gardens products make a huge difference, and getting a few pieces of furniture rearranged helped a lot too! The end result is a gorgeous room that we love to live in!

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

Living Room Refresh for under $250!

Do you have a room in your home that could use a little TLC? Better Homes and Gardens is sponsoring a Pin It To Win It sweepstakes right now, and you could win $1000 to work on your own room refresh! If I can make a huge difference to our living room with just $210, imagine what you can do with $1000!!!!! Head over there now and enter to win!

BH&G Pin To Win Sweepstakes: Win $1000 towards your own room refresh!

Disclosure: I received compensation from Better Homes and Gardens in exchange for my participation in this room refresh challenge. But the BHG products I found at Walmart are totally awesome and all opinions in this post are 100% my own. I would never write a post about something I didn’t think was useful or interesting for you guys, and Practically Functional will only publish sponsored posts for companies or products I believe in! 🙂

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Jessi Wohlwend

I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!

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Reader Interactions

  1. Jackie says

    11 years ago

    The living room looks great.

  2. Kim says

    11 years ago

    You did such a great job, Jessi – I love it! BHG has some great items. Our kids bought us one of their larger TV stands a few years ago and it looks so much more expensive than it was – we love it. And that chandelier!!! You’re so clever! Love it! I’m pinning now!

    Kim @ {enjoy the view}

  3. Crystal says

    11 years ago

    Your room looks so brighter!! Love the chandelier!! Great job!! Love it!!

  4. Ann says

    11 years ago

    I love the new look! Where can I find the hanging tea light chandelier?

    • Jessi @ Practically Functional says

      11 years ago

      Thanks Ann! I bought all of this stuff at my local Walmart, so you should be able to find it there. I don’t have the box anymore or I could tell you it’s exact name, but it’s a Better Homes and Garden candle centerpiece that I found in the decor/candle section of Walmart. It’s actually meant to sit in the middle of a table, but I had some chain and a hook above my desk already from hanging a different chandelier up there previously, so I thought “Why not?!” That way the cats can’t knock it over and burn down the house either. 🙂

  5. Melissa@TheHappierHomemaker says

    11 years ago

    I love that you turned the table centerpiece into a chandelier, how amazing!! Great transformation, I can’t believe it only cost $210!!

  6. Heather says

    11 years ago

    I love the BHG line of home decor! You are so clever to take the table candle centerpiece and turn it into a chandelier! Pretty!

  7. keri @ shaken together says

    11 years ago

    Those changes really made the room brighter and gave it a whole new mood – great job! (And I can’t wait to see what you do with that spool!!)

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