Are you tired of not having the amazing furniture and decor you deserve because you simply don’t have the funds to get the home or apartment of your dreams? Stop, then, and take a moment to check out all of the inexpensive DIY home decor ideas you can make this weekend. I used to think I was going to have to wait years to have decent looking decor, and when I found my calling in DIY, well, I have too many things to even fit well in the house anymore! There is simply no excuse for using your limited budget as the reason you don’t have exactly what you want. In fact, DIY furnishings look even better than many of the things you can find in stores. Check out this list of the top 50 cheap DIY home decor projects around. Complete with easy to follow step by step tutorials and gorgeous photos, you’ll find everything from wall art to bedding accents to planters to baskets, and lots of things in between. Many of these cool and crafty ideas can be made with dollar store and thrift store items, too, so you will definitely not need much to make them. I already had a lot of these supplies at home. Pick your favorite to make this weekend and see for yourself. Dreamy DIY decor like this is yours for the making…
Cheap DIY Home Decor Projects
1. Gold Geometric Globe Planter
Shops charge a lot for these and they are essentially tubing and connectors. Thin brass lengths build an open faceted sphere, and the plants sit inside on a flat tray in their own small pots, which matters more than it sounds. It means you can lift a plant out to water it, or swap a cactus for a trailing succulent, without taking the frame apart. Against a dark wall the gold lines read as sculpture rather than as a plant holder. A Beautiful Mess has the full tutorial and the parts list.
2. Coffee Crate Lid Sign
This cool DIY home decor idea belongs in that farmhouse kitchen of yours. Super pretty but also practical, you will love this easy rustic coffee station.
3. DIY Ampersand Art
This ampersand art looks so pretty it might just be my weekend project. It can fill an empty space on the wall I’ve been looking at for, um, way too many months. Perfect addition to any gallery wall too, I should say.
4. DIY Rustic Wood Chalkboard
I just love the rustic feel on this beautiful chalkboard sign. Plus writing daily inspirational messages on this would be so great and so uplifting. What a fantastic idea from A Blossoming Life. Definitely worth a try.
5. DIY Metallic Rope Throw Basket
Make this stylish rope basket using materials from the dollar store and in less than an hour by following along with the complete tutorial from Lydi Out Loud. Such a beautiful DIY and I am loving the touch of copper.
6. DIY White Brick Vase
Breathe new life to your boring clear vases by painting them over and turning it into this beautiful white brick vase. It is such an easy and cheap DIY for an old vase, I absolutely loved this idea!
7. DIY Mirror Boxes
Add a little shot of glamour in your home decor by making these awesome reflective mirror boxes. I just love how pretty they turned out considering the materials all came from the dollar store. They look pretty great on bookshelves, don’t they?
8. DIY Floral Monogram
This beautiful floral monogram letter is ideal over the crib in the nursery or as the couple’s initials at the head table at a wedding – so many uses! The floral fabric was perfection, it totally rocks this monogram.
9. Hanging Wall Planters
Would you look at these cute little wooden houses? I love this idea, it’s so creative! It’s such a fun project. Now I just need to hunt for these little nesting houses and with the complete tutorial from Love Create Celebrate, I will be all set to make my own.
10. DIY Hula Hoop Chandelier
Learn how to make this awesome hula hoop chandelier from DIY Joy. We also have a video tutorial to help you along with this project. This would be perfect hanging in your porch or patio.
11. Simple Macrame Wall Hanging
For a bare wall on almost no budget this is hard to beat, because the entire materials list is cotton cord and a dowel. The reason this one looks bought rather than made is the color break: cream across the top, navy below, and a long fringe with enough weight to hang straight instead of curling. Pick two colors already in the room and it will read as deliberate. It suits a bedroom wall or the space beside a reading chair, and it is genuinely a beginner project. Persia Lou has the full tutorial.
12. Shadow Box Wall Shelves
This is the answer for a wall that needs storage without committing to a bookcase. Because the shelves are open boxes, whatever goes inside gets framed by the box, so books and models and collections stop looking like clutter and start looking like display. Grouping them at slightly different heights rather than in a neat row is what makes it look considered. White boxes against a dark wall give you the most contrast for the least work. Kenarry has the build and the cut list.
15. Modern Plywood Planter Box
The whole design is a plywood trough sitting inside a frame of square legs, and the reason it looks like a shop piece is the contrast between the painted box and the raw wood of the legs. That is a free decision, not an expensive one. Build it to the length of the sideboard or console it is going on instead of to whatever size a shop settled on, which is the real advantage of making it. Faux stems in it read as real from across a room. Paint the inside as well if you intend to put anything living in there. Dans le Lakehouse has the full build.
17. White Floating Shelves for a Small Laundry Room
The space above a washer and dryer is nearly always wasted, which is what makes this such a good return on one weekend. These are built thick, and that is the detail that matters, because a chunky shelf reads as solid timber while a thin one reads as a plank on brackets. Painted the same white as the wall they disappear and let the baskets and jars do the decorating. The same shelves work in a pantry or over a bathroom counter. Jen Woodhouse has the build and the measurements.
34. Wood Framed Bathroom Mirror
Almost every bathroom has the same plain sheet of mirror glued to the wall, and the good news is you do not have to take it down. The frame is built around the mirror in place, so nothing gets broken and nothing has to be replaced. Four lengths of trim and a weathered gray finish, and the mirror stops looking like something the builder left behind and starts looking fitted. For the price of some moulding it is the biggest change you can make in a bathroom you do not own. DIY Candy has the full tutorial including how she holds it on.
36. Decorative Bookends
thespruce
37. DIY Curtain Rods
maisondepax
38. Round Denim Rag Rug
This costs nothing but jeans and time. The denim gets cut into long strips, plaited into a rope and then coiled outward from the center, which means the rug is finished whenever you decide it is big enough. The rings of lighter and darker blue come from the different washes of the jeans rather than from any dyeing. Denim is heavy and it wears well, so it holds up by a bed or a back door where a lighter rug would not. It is slow work rather than hard work, and it goes well with something on in the background. Pillar Box Blue has the full tutorial.
39. Distressed Metal Candle Shade
This began as a plain metal piece of the sort every thrift store has a shelf of. A coat of white and then a light sand back is the whole finish, and it is the sanding that does the work, because it catches on the raised edges of the circle pattern and gives it age. Once a pillar candle is lit inside, the light comes through the cut outs and throws the pattern onto the wall behind it, which is the reason to hang a pair rather than one. Denise has the full paint recipe. Salvaged Inspirations has the full tutorial on the project page.
47. DIY Rope Lantern Vases
These rope wrapped hurricane vases were inspired by a much pricier Nate Berkus set at Target, and A Pumpkin and a Princess figured out how to get the same look for about three dollars a vase instead of twenty. The trick is gluing a strip of twill around the base first, then wrapping rope over it with just a thin line of glue so it doesn’t show through. A trimmed gold nail glued through the twill finishes it off with a boutique looking detail that doesn’t take much extra work. Rope comes cheap on a spool from the craft store ribbon aisle, so it’s just a few dollars in supplies for three or four vases. A Pumpkin and a Princess has the full tutorial.
