Going to University: How to decorate a shared house without spending much?
Go to university in September, to a shared house, and want to make the space welcoming without spending a lot of money? Get to know some tips to feel at home, and not exceed your savings.
Need a personal loan to cover all expenses related to going to university? Turn to Poupança no Minuto and don't worry about bureaucracy. To learn tips on decorating a welcoming home on a budget, check the link below.
Returning home tailored to everyone.
The first step is communication
Whether you know the people you are going to share the house with or not, it is important to have a prior communication about how they intend to leave the welcoming spaces.
Once you are away from home and your routine, it is essential to live in a place where you feel comfortable.
So, communicating with housemates, the first step is to set a maximum budget to spend on decoration and/or necessary items. Also decide on tones, who can decorate what, and share ideas to reach common decisions.
Common neutral spaces and individually chosen spaces
The simplest suggestion for everyone to agree is to leave common spaces in neutral tones. With this base, it is easy to combine various decorative elements that please everyone.
And having an environment with neutral tones, especially light ones, also conveys a calmer and more comfortable feeling.
But so that no individual taste is excluded, they can decide that within each person's room, the decoration is up to their choice.
So, each resident can decide, according to their preferences, how to appropriate their own room with a personal touch. This may even mean having stronger colors, as what conveys comfort to some may not convey to others.
It's all a matter of taste and, in this case, consensus among the various colleagues in the house.
Each one decorates a division
Regarding common areas, they can decide that each person makes their own choice.
In other words, if the house is completely undecorated, it will be necessary to fill the various rooms, and for that, they can decide, for example, that each one will be in charge of one.
If the spaces to decorate are few, decide on the theme (like neutral tones) and each person brings items to decorate.
It is important for colleagues to be involved in decorating the house because, after all, it will be the roof where they will live throughout, at least, one academic year (or even the entire course).
Decorating is not synonymous with spending money.
Reusing can be the key
Do you have any decorative elements from your previous room? You can try taking as much as possible with you, so you don't have to spend money on new pieces.
Even if there are already heavily used elements, you can try to reuse them, giving them a new look.
For example, use a bench for a nightstand, giving it a paint job or doing a makeover. Searching online, you can find various ideas for repurposing decorative pieces.
DIY decorative elements
The process of building decorative pieces at home, by your own hands, is called DIY - Do It Yourself, and it is the simplest way to not spend money.
As mentioned above, it is easy to find on the internet, especially on Pinterest, the most different ideas for building handmade decorative elements.
Reusing is the fastest way, of course. But you can also build from scratch. Through cardboard, cardstock, rope, crochet thread, you can build a variety of pieces, from decorative bottles to pillows.
Customize frames or photographs
Custom frames are also a DIY way to save a few euros. Instead of buying frames with designs already printed in stores, where the price is much higher, why not build your own?
Just print customized paintings or photographs , at a cost of cents at a stationery store, and buy the frames separately (or reuse them if you have them from other contexts).
To spend even less money, you can simply print multiple photos and with a string and clips, you can hang the photo line on a wall.
Being in charge of a house is not an easy task. There are many expenses associated with it. If you need help with getting a personal loan or other financial matters, know that you can turn to the help of the credit intermediation service of Poupança no Minuto. It's free, fast, and personalized. So that your budget problems can be solved in a minute.