A well-rested woman sits on her unmade bed after discovering Koala has some of the best sheets in Australia

Revamping your home on a budget

Looking for tips for styling home on a budget? Right this way...

When it comes to revamping your home on a budget, there’s a wide range of options available to you that can instantly breathe new life into your habitat. Whilst we'll be the the first to tell you that Koala products are all stunning additions to your home (and we will tell you that, of course) there are plenty of other methods, both big and small, that can take your living space to the next level without breaking the bank.

Work with what you’ve got

It might be a little odd for a furniture brand to tell you not to buy something new, but that might just be the right move for you at the moment. Until that juicy tax return comes through you may not be in a position to invest in Australia’s #1 rated sofa just yet. Instead, take stock of what you already have and think about how you can rearrange your furniture to give your place a fresh feel.

Alternatively, think about what you could remove from the room to help declutter your space. Where possible, try to avoid throwing away items and instead think about donating your old furniture to op shops if you’re unable to sell them or give them away to friends and family.

Picking key pieces of furniture

Once you’ve taken stock of what you have and what you want to keep, figure out what you want to add to your living space. What’s missing or what can be upgraded in order to revamp your area and add value.

You could try looking at:

🟦 A new bedroom set - tired of the ‘mattress on the floor’ look? Maybe you’ve had mismatched bedside tables for a while.

🟦 A new sofa - in your living room, the sofa is generally the centrepiece of the room. It needs to tick the box in both supreme comfort (for the best kind of disorienting midday naps), and stylish

🟦 A new bookshelf - a perfect combination of easily accessible storage, and an extra element in your living room that you can style to your liking.

Shop wise, shop well

When you’re ready to buy a new piece of furniture, there are two questions you need to ask yourself:

🟦 Do I like it?

🟦 Will it last?

If either of those questions are answered with anything other than a clear yes, don’t buy it.

Make sure that you spend your money on good quality furniture that you’ll genuinely enjoy looking at and using. If you buy a couch or a table purely because it’s cheap, you’ll constantly be on the lookout for a replacement which will just add costs down the track. Take your time and spend your hard-earned money wisely.

Products that can grow with you

In your current living situation you may not have a great deal of space to work with. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to limit your thinking when planning out your living space.

The entire Koala sofa range is available in a variety of sizes which allows you to pick the perfect size sofa for your current situation whilst giving you the freedom to plan for future upsizing by adding more pieces down the track. For example, if you’re living in a studio apartment, a 2-seater sofa could be all you need. If you then decide to move into a house a few years later, you could buy a 3-seater from Koala in the same style, saving you from buying a brand new set of couches from scratch.

Bundle buying

Similar to the previous point, there are advantages in buying products that have multiple sizes or items in the one style, specifically when you buy them all at once in a bundle.

Other than saving money by buying as a set, if you have a friend or family member with a similar taste in style, consider buying bundled products and sharing the items. You could either pick which items from the bundle that you each want to keep and split the cost accordingly, or swap the items occasionally to update the look and feel of your living space every few months.

Koala’s bundle offering doesn’t just accommodate combinations of sofa sizes either, we offer a wide range of furniture combinations perfect for modern and neat living spaces, such as the ‘get around it’ bundle, which includes a 3-seater Lounging Sofa, Coaster Coffee Table, and an Ottoman.

Accessories and styling

Once you’ve got the bulkier pieces of your living space sorted, tie the room together with simple and affordable accessories. These could be as simple as styling your bookshelf with small knick knacks and reading material, or hanging up artwork to fill in blank walls.

Op shops and vintage stores are perfect places to find accessories for your home when styling on a budget.

Be careful not to over do it and re-clutter your space.

Plants

Get back to nature with a variety of indoor plants to breathe life into your room. Large plants can often be expensive so start small by planting your own, keeping them in smaller locations to disguise their size until they grow into larger plants you can use more as a feature.

Wander around your area and ask neighbours if you can take trimmings from their trees for you to replant and propagate.

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