Budget Beautiful: My Favourite Affordable Interior Picks That Pack a Punch

With the ever-rising cost of living looming like an uninvited guest at a dinner party, I thought I’d jump online and share a few of my favourite budget-friendly finds. Because let’s be real — a gorgeous interior shouldn’t come with a side of financial ruin. You can have champagne style on a beer budget, and these little gems prove it.

1. The Humble Gladom Side Table – IKEA

The Ikea Gladom side table. The reigning queen of budget style.

Let’s kick things off with a classic: the Gladom side table from IKEA. This unassuming little number is wildly versatile — pop it beside the bed, next to the sofa, or even pair it with an ottoman or a lower coffee table for a luxe-looking nesting moment. The sky’s the limit, and at a tidy $19, it’s an absolute no-brainer.

They come in a variety of colours (bring back the bright red and yellow, please, IKEA gods), and they just work in so many spaces. Flexible, affordable, and kind of a design chameleon.

2. H&M Home Cushions — Stylish and Sturdy

H&M Home Cushions are bang-on trend and cheap enough for the dog to destroy.

Next up: H&M Home, specifically their cushion covers. With prices ranging from $15 to around $50, these are ideal if you’re after high-style, low-stress soft furnishings. Especially if you’ve got a dog like mine — Pedro the cushion destroyer — who likes to ‘nest’ in them. These ones I don’t mind him wrecking quite as much.

Pair them with their responsibly sourced feather-down inserts (also about $15) for a plump, designer look without the designer price tag. Polyester inserts are there too, if down's not your thing. And honestly, H&M Home is a bit of a goldmine for unique, interesting decor pieces — far more chic than your average “live, laugh, love” situation. (But hey, if that’s your vibe, I’m not here to judge.)

3. Hollowlight Pillows – Bed Bath & Table

The Bed Bath N Table HollowLight Pillow. The answer to every budget conscious stylist’s prayers.

While we’re still on the cushion train — I can’t go past Bed Bath & Table’s Hollowlight pillows. These are a styling essential in my book. I’ve probably bought hundreds over the years. No shame.

They’ve got that high loft for a plush, polished look and ring in at about $30 each. Totally fine for sleeping, but where they really shine is in your bed styling. You know, the excess pillow situation your partner complains about? “Babe, why do we need all these pillows?” Because we do, John. That’s why.

4. Paint – The DIY Power Move

Highlights from the Dulux 2025 Colour Forecast. Images courtesy of Dulux Australia

Finally, the ultimate bang-for-buck interior move: paint. A few tins and a weekend of effort can completely transform a space. Want drama? Go deep and moody. Need energy? Try something zesty and bright.

If you’re stuck for ideas, Dulux’s annual colour forecasts are worth a scroll. Bree Banfield and her team put together the most delicious palettes — a great launchpad if you want to be bold but don’t know where to begin. Dulux also breaks down all the how-tos: surface prep, paint types, tools — the lot. And worst-case scenario? If you hate it… just paint over it. You’re never more than a weekend away from a reset.

So there you have it — a few of my fave low-cost styling staples that deliver big impact. Interior design doesn’t have to be expensive to be beautiful — it just has to be clever. And if you’re looking for more budget-friendly tips or need help making a space feel special without splashing too much cash, you know where to find me.

Style like a pro: Decision Fatigues

Plan your strike. Get your colour palate locked and loaded.

No, not a typo.  I am indeed using dramatic military vernacular for this particular topic.  The topic that is the never ending despotic tyranny of “consumer choice”.  

Hundreds, thousands of choices. All marvellous. All waiting for you to meticulously sift through to find THE perfect piece for you home.  Before you know it, you have 157 grey modular couches on your short list with not even a glimmer of a final decision…Sound familiar?  Those of you that have attempted to DIY their own interiors will know what I’m putting down and it’s something I hear quite often from my clients.  They thought “how hard could this be?”  They donned the fatigues, unholstered their credit cards and waded into the swampy (but oh so pretty) marsh of the homemaker centre only to met by a formidable barrage of choice, running at them like hungry Raptors in a jurassic cornfield. Panic sets in, the white flag hastily goes up and suddenly that old ratty couch isn’t so bad. 

I’m a Libra (not an astrophysicist) and decision making is oft fraught and laborious.  Don’t even picture me sitting hunched over the menu like a mad scientist trying to decide which entree to order whilst my fellow dinner guests slowly loose their will to live.  Yet burdened with this terrible affliction, I work very happily in a profession where decision making is king.  But how?!  How do I efficiently pull together a coherent concept, choose furniture, paint colours and battalions teeny weeny little decorator objects without succumbing to design paralysis?  

Put down that Ikea catalogue and read on my dear Comrades, your lounge room needs you.

Laser Like Focus.

You know that look your pet gives you when you’re scoffing pizza on the couch?  That’s focus.  Those steely determined eyes, watching and studying every minutiae of movement, intricately tracking that slice of pizza from the box to your face (and probably down your t-shirt).  Body motionless but tense, ready to strike when opportunity falls from your mouth.  Doubt that you will accidentally drop an entire slice on the floor is never entertained.  Success will be theirs. If not by your careless greasy hands then certainly by the sheer telekinetic power currently being employed by Walter the Puggle.

Be like Walther the Puggle at dinner time when entering the furniture store.  FOCUS. You know you want a modern light grey modular lounge.  “Of course!” says the sales assistant who promptly walks you over to the most perfect and comfortable grey modular you’ve ever seen. GET. IT…..But wait! The sales assistant seductively asks “But have you seen these…?” Your hairs prickle with curiosity, the sales assistant gestures their arm like a tv game show hostess and suddenly a savanna of couches is revealed, all different, all beautiful.  None being a grey modular couch. Now, you’re questioning your plan. Those hours you scoured instagram, measured the room, argued with the other half, gave Walter a bit of pepperoni and said it was the last one, re-measured, given Walter another bit of pepperoni and finally agreed to a solution have now gone.  Hastily surrendered in the face of new and completely different options.  Why? Because they’re simply there.  

Remember, pizza box, face.  Don’t be distracted! Be like Walter. You knew what you wanted and it’s here, waiting for you. Perfect…the store has metaphorically dropped THE most perfect slice of pizza on the floor.  Be. Like. Walter. Snaffle it now without hesitation knowing in your heart it’s what you wanted in the first place and it’s perfect for your house.  Let some other gormless schmuck be ravaged to death in the sofa savanna.  You have the inside scoop, you haven’t won the war yet but the first battle can be notched up as an allied win.

Spidy Senses.

“Let’s just make sure there’s not a better option”  …I hear this a lot. And as Paul Keating once said, this concept “is a shiver looking for a spine”.  Usually mine.

Choosing fabric and colour samples can be overwhelming.

Sure, getting the best option is super important. But that best solution is something you’ve probably already discovered when pulling together your overall colour scheme. Sitting in a showroom with a sales assistant helpfully hovering like an impatient Blackhawk chopper (desperate to make a sale) whilst you’re engaged with a weapons grade toddler tantrum is not the time to start exploring an entirely new design concept.  Then the sales assistant parks a troop carrier of fabric sample books and proceeds to lob grenades of designer fabrics at you in an effort to be “helpful”. Suddenly you can’t decide between the teal velvet, hot pink corduroy or cobalt blue boucle.  What happened to light grey?!  Put down all the other sample books that aren’t grey…Except maybe the one with the cobalt boucle.  Maybe we should just have a look…

I won’t lie, once you have “the colour” locked in, then there’s “which shade?”.  Even talking humble grey we have a kaleidoscope of choices.  Shark grey, charcoal, flint, pavement, graphite, smoke, pewter…I could go on. I won’t.  I do have a client at the moment who delights in the unnecessarily fruity names we creatives come up with for simple colour names.  I’ll admit, it’s become quite a fun game to come up with increasingly ludicrous names for our colour palate and highly recommended to lighten the mood…But I digress.

There’s only one piece of advice I have here.  Trust. Your. Gut.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve laboured over 50 shades of porpoise (not a typo, a legit colour) with clients just to end up selecting the first one that caught our eye…only now it’s dark outside.  Now, I’m not saying don’t look at the various shades, it’s your duty! But if you thought light grey was the colour, then look at the light grey options. Don’t even bother looking at the darker shades. Choose from the handful you do want, not the gazillion you don’t.

In closing.

I guess the nutshell sales pitch here is trust your judgement and your plan and remain focused.  You decided a light grey modular was the right choice weeks ago, then built a whole room around it.  Don’t go a changing now just because you saw a lovely but totally unsuitable day bed.  Approach everything from here on in with blinkered determination to succeed in the face of choices overload.  Trust me, I’ve been there and done the alternative many times before learning this particular war game. And once you engage these strategies, you’ll be sitting on your new couch eating pizza with Walter in peaceful bliss in no time.

Happy styling!

Dave xx

On another note, Ii’s my hope that these blogs give you practical info to help style your own master piece, intended to be delivered a light and entertaining way.  How am I doing?  If you love it, share it with those you know would love it too. If you hate it or want to me to discuss a particular topic, don’t be shy!  I love all feedback so send me a message.  I have a 3 part series outlining the entire design process which should be a good summer read…and helpful too!  Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get all the latest info AND 10% off your first purchase.

Colour me happy. Daring to be different with paint colour.

Colour me happy.

Choosing paint colours with confidence.

Lately I’ve been looking at ways to steer clients away from safe colour palates and into something more adventurous.  This is usually greeted with some trepidation and I get that, I really do….especially when talking wall colour.

There’s a lot of “rules” around this.  Don’t use dark colours in a small rooms, it will make it look smaller.  Play it safe for open living areas and stick with a light neutral so it’s not too overwhelming or clashes bla bla.  No wonder people get spooked and yes, some are certainly valid.

The thing is though, paint is a relatively cheap thing in the grand scheme of renovating and is one of those elements that makes a HUGE impact on the final result. I’m not sure why people don’t mix it up and change this more often as it’s one part of decorating you can easily do yourself without the expense of a trade professional.

One of things I’m really loving at the moment is using multiple shades of the one colour.  This is proving to be quite the hit with my more nervous clients.  Doing a feature wall in the darkest shade and then the other walls in a lighter version delivers the drama and excitement without the full commitment.  I guess it harks back to the bold feature wall of the 90’s.  The difference here, the other shades help temper that impact rather than having a feature wall stand boldly (and garishly) on it’s own as the rest of the room cringes away.

A good place to start choosing the colours is to look for a main colour, and then grabbing the 2 shades on either side.  Taubmans paint samples are great for this as they have 3-4 variants of the one colour on the one sample chip.  You can see straight up how they sit together.  I would probably not do the darkest and lightest together.  Darkest and middle.  Or middle and lightest.  Basically, you don’t the difference to be too severe and jarring. Make sense?

The next step is getting sample pots of all 3 and start painting!  Make sure you do a larger sample (say 50x50cm square) and do that in various points in the room to see how the colour reacts to ambient and natural light.  You’d be amazed how the colour can change from one part of the room to the next, from one time of day to the next.  It’s also important to remember, the existing wall colour will influence the new paint samples so a couple of coats and waiting for it to dry is best before deciding.  If that all sounds too hard, Dulux have A4 sized paint samples you can blu-tac to the walls which is super easy and quick.  

Now you’ve made the decision, go forth and create your dream space!

Check out my insta feed to see some experiments in colour and materials…and hopefully some inspiration!

Dave xx

Turning that interior design problem into an opportunity!

Beginning a property make over can seem a bit daunting.  Where do you start…more importantly where do you stop?

Whilst all of us would love to rip everything out and start again with a cache of high-end finishes and designer knick-knacks, more often than not that is not possible.  It’s at this point many people give up. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing to get great results.

Refreshing a Docklands crash pad for a country based client recently, this very dilemma was front and centre.  The apartment itself was built in the early 2000’s without a single update during that period and was beyond tired.  Think 90’s Australian boy band video clip…but I digress. Without the budget, a new kitchen, new bathrooms and new flooring wasn’t an option.  It is a holiday home after all.

Fortunately, the carpet was in good knick but not exactly a forecast colour trend.  Similarly with the window furnishings.  Not bad enough to replace, but not up-to-the minute fashion either.  Making the best of what we had was simply how this was going to have to work. 

This may seem like a huge compromise.  In fact it was the opposite.  These constraints became the basis of the colour palate and the launching pad for the whole design concept.  Using forest greens, leather, linen, stone and dark wood, the concept was to bring rugged, rural Victoria to Melbourne and give it a chic city-slicker makeover.  Add some carefully curated decorator and new light fixtures to the dated kitchen and bathrooms (along with a much needed deep clean) and voila! What was once a problem was now a considered colour and design, transforming the space from the post long term tenanted apocalypse it was at the beginning of the refresh.

My point?  It boils down to glass half full vs glass half empty.  A problem vs an opportunity… plus a handful of other self-help metaphors you can choose from.  Anywho, don’t be so quick to think “this is all too hard” and just give up. More often than not, a little bit of creative thinking can make any space an aspirational masterpiece…without inviting financial ruin. Life is too short to live in a space that brings you down! 

Of course, if you’re really stuck this is where we can help!  A consultation can be anything from the full enchilada or just a friendly nudge in the right direction :)

Dave

xx