Sky,

Funny you should ask. There are so many things around my house that need stuff like furniture, window treatments, lighting etc. When my husband got his bonus at the beginning of the month ( it was quite a nice bonus) he asked me how much I needed and I asked him "how much do you want to give me?" I had no idea how much to spend and on WHAT? SO I did some shopping on Craigslist, and acuatlly made out quite nicely. Now I have some extra money to spend on window treatments. HOW MUCH? I don't know!!!!! I've been shopping for fabric all day.. looks like it's going to be at LEAST $300 per window. but do I have a set budget? no!!! I was going to buy a mini chandalier for my dinette.. but I think I will suffer with the one I have and keep the money for the windows.. which you can s3e in my other posts with pictures.... they really do look bare!

It depends. If I'm buying one or two items, then I just do research to see what it will cost. If I'm redorating, like we are in the middle of right now, then yes I set a budget. If I am remodeling than its an absolute.

We brought our home 6 years ago. It was a dump. We had to remodel and I spoke with several contractors, priced everything then determined how much to spend and what we could do without. I also padded my budget by 10% because you just never know.

Now that we are actually decorating our home, I looked on line for what I wanted. Priced everything and came up with a budget. It is really amazing once you put figures on paper how much your actually spending.

of course I do - and then my husband comes along, and the budget goes out the window. the man who only owns three pairs of shoes and could live on a steady diet of pasta, chicken fingers, and hamburgers...

inevitably wants to spend several times what I do on durable goods.

he's always right, he's got a flair for interior design...but whereas I'm used to decorating by curb-shopping and creatively reusing what comes to hand, sweat soldering my own pipes, and making do -

he's made me redefine my concept of budget. which has been really fun, since it's a new experience in my life :)

thankfully, though - the next two projects won't cost anything but paint :)

It is an interesting question! No, I've never set a budget for decorating because for the most part I've never decorated one complete room (or house) at a time. My decor has sort of fallen together over the years--I would either really need something new (like a sofa) or stumble upon something I liked at an estate sale, ebay, etc. Then I slowly add pieces around that. My rooms have been evolving over the years. I may spend $10 here, $50 there, and very occasionally I'll make a "big" purchase (over $500). I guess I do set a budget for individual items--if I needed a sofa, for example, I would have an upper limit for what I would spend and then hope to heck I could find something much less (which I could then splurge on extras with).

I'll be redecorating my bedroom in the spring. I'm actually thinking I should do a budget for this. I already have the major furniture pieces, but will be spending a lot on fabric/paint/new finish work/granite for countertops, etc. That stuff really adds up. Even though I can afford a lot of things that I never was able to in the past, the old cheap gene keeps coming through. And I do like the thrill of the hunt . . .!

For the most part absolutely not. However for the greatest part my deco is uniquely different therefore hard to find so I buy when I see *it* and pay what it costs.

That said, I want to replace my white Kohler porcelain double bowl sink (yech!) with an Blanco anthracite Silgranite super single. At HD here (Canada) it is listed at $539 yet I've seen it on Ebay as low as $276 and many places (in the US) for $330 or thereabouts. As I'll replace the taps and likely get a bottom grid, I'm giving serious consideration to driving to the US (about 4-5 hours) and purchasing there. So I guess it's a yes and no answer.

Where I'm looking at decor items per se, I'd say no -- I simply buy. Where the ticket is getting up there, yes I check it out.

A budget per se? No. I do keep in mind where I live, likely future value for X (non decor) item and act accordingly most of the time. :-))

I'm surprised to see that I'm normal - I thought most people set a budget when they went about buying things for their home. I guess I too rely on my cheap gene to keep me out of trouble. LOL Thanks for responding, it's interesting to see how different people approach this.

Sky

Only in terms of purchasing a large item, like a sofa. Otherwise I'm mostly finding my decorating at thrift stores, flea markets and antique malls. So my choices are more subject to serendipity and low (cheap! :-) pricing rather than "Here's my budget to totally redo a room.

I like to accumulate things over time. I can makes things fun and interesting.

--Jenn

In our previous house, we bought some new furniture (we merged households, so we sold off things that wouldn't blend). We went with gut feel on whether an item was too expensive or not. My problem is that I tend to research and research and look and look for options. DH is impulsive, so he'll walk into a store and say "that's the one" and so I often end up with something that I wouldn't have chosen because I will take a year to finish one room whereas he wants to get on with his life! LOL

We don't really plan... We look around, see what we like and how much it costs, and if we love it we'll buy it or save up to buy it. We have managed to shop around or find things on sale in some cases, but much of what we own is pretty one-of-a-kind and from small independent local shops, so if it scores low on my mental ridiculous-price-o-meter, it is an option.

On the other hand, we also know what is totally out of our range. I might fall in love with the $10 000 chairs in Roche Bobois, but no way would I ever even consider buying one.

On the other-other hand, we really should plan more - most of the "mistakes" that we own were spur-of-the-moment, this-would-solve-problem-X purchases from Ikea. Exhibit A: the large Expedit bookcase we now loathe and are not looking forward to dismantling so that we can move it to the basement....

I don't set a hard budget for decorating one room because I don't do it all in one shot (can't imagine doing it that way!), I do it in dribs and drabs so it's a lot easier to set budgets for individual elements in order of their priorities or opportunities. What's nice about the dribs-and-drabs method is that sometimes I realize I don't actually need something I thought I did. I'll juggle things within those budgets I establish, like I'll say "okay, I'm going to give myself $X for the four windows in the living room" and then fiddle things around within that amount, like if I spend 75% of $X on curtains, I have to wring the rods and sheers/blinds out of what's left so I'd better be careful. When it comes to furniture I tend not to set a budget other than "I will not pay any more than $X" because I generally can't afford to shop new without going broke - I tour new-furniture stores and say to myself "you gotta be kidding me!" - and the used market is SO unpredictable on price. Sometimes I go over budget but I balance that out by either shutting down other spending for a while or trying harder to find bargains on things that we actually need rather than want.

When we remodeled the master suite in the other house we had a pretty firm budget set, with "slush" for overages - I was under budget when I finished buying materials but labor problems blew the rest of the budget to smithereens, including the slush. That really made me crazy, but it was very much a learning experience.

My feeling is this. If it has to go on a credit card? It's too much. I've always just added here and there......the house evolve gradually....from antique stores, flea markets, the rare new piece from a furniture store.

But it's paid for asap. That's the only way to stay outta twouble IMHO.

And the funny thing is? When your imagination is kicked in you end up with a wonderful, unique home. Not only done on the cheap but one of a kind.

We ABSOLUTELY budget for major projects, be it "decorating" or "landscaping". Now, that's not to say that we don't adjust our starting estimate! There have been times when we've scrapped a project altogether because we clearly didn't have the money to get it done the way we wanted to see it done. And there have been times we've had plenty to do something "right"!

Usual order:
1.) We decide something needs to "be done" and we begin to assess it carefully. What can we do ourselves to get the ball rolling?
2.) What part(s) of the project are beyond our immediate abilities?
3.) What parts of the project are things we'd like to do ourselves and will have to learn before the project can be finished?
4.) How willing are we to "learn as we go"? Sometimes it's just easier to pay, you guys!

But yes, every single time we undertake a project we begin with a very basic budget and then we revise it; if the price is too high we wait and continue to save for it.

Money makes a wonderful slave but a terrible master.

I need to take lesson from Chelone !!

I mostly decorate w/ furniture from Craigslist so it's very tough to budget.

I haven't learned the art of refusal yet. If I see something I love, I would go for it even though it's not something I need nor in my budget *sigh* Dh would told me 'you don't need it, walk away' and next thing I know I am in the car driving 1 hour to lug it home . The couple times I listened to him and walked away, I ended up hating myself for not getting it.

The only redemption is that I hardly fall in love and when I do, it's often for old crusty stuff that nobody wants. I don't really go to your typical furniture store anymore.

I love this subject because I've spent my whole life budgeting.When Dh and I first married we bought (with his parents help)a small mobile home, furnished with hand me downs. We were teenagers with a baby and he was an airman in the AF but compared to the other young couples we had alot. We've come ALONG way since then but I still love to budget especially when it comes to decorating, I like finding unique pieces of whatever no matter where I may find it (even Curbside)Ive given myself a challenge the last few months to do my guest room with nothing but craigslist or garage sale finds I'm almost done and will post a pic when I finish, Of coarse I am picky or otherwise I'd be done!

When we do major projects we have a plan. We decided this year to do some upgrades so we had to plan money for them. Redo fireplace, shutters in rooms prior owner did not install them in, front landscaping, new laminate and tile in downstairs, new tv over the fireplace. I am really proud to say that we stayed within budget, so far.

On black friday we did not see anything for the tv. I wanted to keep it at $2500, but dh was getting closer to $3500, not making me happy. At 530pm we realized we misread the price on an ad and were able to buy two tvs for $2500. We put one over fireplace and one in our playroom where we are trying to get all the games to be played but kids did not enjoy their 27" tube tv as much as the 57" downstairs. This was a total win/win!

I found my flooring and waited for the sale at Lowes. Put it on a credit card with points, paid for it immediatly, and saved another $25. I found my tile and will open a card to get 10% off, then pay it immediatly.

The landscaping just took some careful planning. We got huge deal on some palm trees. Everything is on drip so the water is not wasted.

The shutters were more than planned only because we were matching existing style and so I did not have much choice. I have never used design stores but did on a recommendation. I did get a great price on a great product. It was less than HD or Lowes. I had a hard time paying for that but the resale factor on house- not that I plan to move anytime soon- did help me swallow the pain.

Now dh did want to upgrade some of our audio equipment that I always hate forking out dough on. But we need to simplify the equipment so we don't have wires everywhere. He found a site where the tv wall mount we could get locally for $125 was only $25 and the cable he needs for the receiver is only about $10 vs $100. He found some amazing speakers on clearance and when he went back to store for something else, noticed an additional markdown so he saved even more. Then he found the receiver he bought locally, cheaper online with no tax or shipping. So that just came the other day. So he did spend money but did a great job doing it.

The place we save the most money on is labor. We do it all! We did pay $300 for fireplace store to put in the fireplace and chimney pipe, but we did the rest. We dug the huge hole for the palm trees and spent $300, my girlfriend paid someone to do hers, don't ask but it was way more.

I know not everyone can DIY but there are many ways to DIY on smaller things. Like painting. You may hate it but you will save a lot. I had a sofa I loved but it did not fit new house. Since it was older but in great shape, I cut out one cushion of the sectional myself. It looks perfect and fits just right. No one knows it was not bought that way. Saved a ton!

I mentioned putting things on the card to get the points. I also have a point system with my bank. I earn points on every purchase done as credit instead of debit. Really helps when dh returns something too, it goes back to my checking account instead of his pocket to be spent on Del Taco.

There are lots of ways to have a budget stay within it and be happy.

I budget major projects (ie remodels) but have never budgeted when decorating really. I have an idea what I might spend on...say fabric for curtains, but if I find something spectacular that costs more, I often buy it. I'd rather have top quality than start cheap and move up, so if it's out of my range, I just wait until I can afford it.

For our remodel I did budget and am watching the money flow...but there were many changes we made that increased the budget significantly, but we did so knowing that we were increasing the budget and made an assessment about the value of that increase as it came up. I put in a 20% pad for over budget issues discovered while remodeling.

I am better at hunting for bargains than DH though. The man sees something, and he doesn't even ask the price. He just wants it. It's starting to rub off on me....it's a BAD habit! (but we only use credit cards for miles...we pay for everything within 30 days. We don't go into debt for household items...just for houses LOL)