You can have a classy home on a modest budget. A beautifully modern home, tastefully done, is possible. Even on a prudent budget. Start your home makeover with simplicity. A crowded, cluttered up room full of decorations and furnishings and furniture looks tacky in comparison to a simple, almost spartan home.
The trick is to go minimalist.
The time for lavish spending on white elephants is over. Now is the time to learn from the Shakers and go simple. Form and function. Everything should have a reason to be in a room. Everything in the room should go with the decor and the color scheme. Pare down your furniture and furnishings to the bare minimum. Keep only the best items which go with your color scheme and with the style of your home.
To deal with a smaller budget, you can do two things:
1. Cut costs by buying only the best. The best meaning, what looks best in your home, which is the most useful and fits best with your lifestyle and home decor. If anything does not fit all these criteria, walk away. Spend only on the very best things -- furniture and furnishings, for your home.
2. Bring in more money by selling off the clutter. Pare down your decor. Go simple. Get rid of clutter to reveal space. Your room will look more spacious and classier when the surfaces are bare. When the mismatched furniture and furnishing are gone. Better to have less in pared down room that looks simply chic, than to have more in a cluttered up room that feels crowded and makes everyone in it feel claustrophobic. The money from selling off the excess will come in handy during the recession.