8 Ways to Furnish Your First Home on a Budget

When we moved into our new home together I often had people ask me how we managed to afford to furnish the whole house, carry out repairs and redecorate the place so quickly. There’s no big secret – we just did it all on a budget! And I like to think that it’s possible to make your home Pinterest-worthy without spending thousands or having to take out loans or credit cards.

So here’s my top tips on how to furnish your first home on a budget!

1. Pick Your Style

First things first – pick a style that you want to go with so you know what you’re looking for. You can pick a totally different colour scheme for each room, or you might prefer for your decor choice to flow throughout the house. I love to use Pinterest to make a mood board for each room so I can see how things will look together in advance.

For example, when I was looking to furnish and decorate our living room, I started by pinning the sofa that we had bought and then added cushions, furnishings and wall paint swatches that I liked the look of. This helped to build up an idea of the theme that I wanted to have in this room (which is tropical teal with gold accents if you’re wondering!). This meant that when it came to buying stuff, I already had a clear idea in my head of what I was looking for, making it easier to execute your vision. Otherwise it can be a bit overwhelming… have you seen the cushion section in Dunelm?!

2. Make Some Cash

We previously lived in my teeny tiny one bedroom flat so we didn’t have much furniture to begin with. But I sold a few bits of furniture that wouldn’t have looked right in the new house and then saved this money so I could use it towards new stuff!

I sold so much stuff – not just furniture but even old bedding and odd crockery and plates. A lot of it would have just gone to the charity shop or in the bin, as I didn’t want to take ‘old’ stuff to the ‘new’ house. But I listed it all on Facebook Marketplace, not expecting it all to sell, and made quite a bit of money!

A lot of the furniture I sold was stuff I’d bought second hand originally and then sold it on again for it’s third life – very eco-friendly! So have a declutter before you move and make a bit of extra cash to put towards your new home.

3. Get Thrifty

I am always perfectly happy to buy furniture second-hand – you can get some amazing vintage or retro pieces for much cheaper than modern flat-packed stuff. Older furniture tends to last a lot longer too as it’s usually made from solid wood rather than MDF and chipboard.

The best place I’ve found for buying second-hand furniture is definitely Facebook Marketplace. It is a treasure trove of goodies at ridiculously low prices! Some of my best Facebook buys include my enormous circle mirror which was £15, our brand new DFS sofa for £150, and my vintage gin cabinet for £20.

As well as Facebook you can also find some bargain buys on eBay – I bought our solid pine farmhouse table and chairs set for £37. Just filter the search results by distance and you can find some local gems at super low prices! Gumtree might also be worth a look – I don’t use it much but I did buy our Ikea display cabinet for only £30 rather than £300 brand new. Also when the charity shops reopen, they’re a great place for bargains too!

You can also get thrifty when it comes to buying accessories or decorative pieces for your rooms. Art goes a long way to adding new meaning and feelings to a room, but a lot of it can be super expensive. Small up and coming artists are also another great place to look; you don’t need to splash the cash on an established work of art to make your interiors look amazing. 

4. Freebies

Facebook is also great for finding a few freebies! You need to be quick though – free stuff gets snapped up quick! I’ve managed to get quite a few very useful bits for free from local groups including a Victorian door for our kitchen, a dressing table, a bed frame, a big TV, and brand new tins of paint. So keep an eye out on your local community pages as you never know what you might be able to get for free.

It’s also a very handy way to get rid of old stuff you no longer want but don’t want the hassle of selling. Just pop it on Facebook for free and someone will have collected it within an hour, saving you the hassle of selling or taking it to the tip!

You could also ask your family and friends if they have anything decent that they no longer need. My parents gave us an old wardrobe which we use in the spare room, and Gav’s friends parents were giving their house a big clear out and we got a hallway table and a couple of antique gentlemen’s smoking chairs!

5. Upcycling

Sometimes you need to use your imagination a little bit when looking to buy second-hand furniture. But there’s plenty of quick, easy and cheap ways that you can transform the look of something old to make it fit in with your home decor.

With the farmhouse dining table set I mentioned earlier, it was orange pine which looked quite outdated. But luckily I could see past that, and so I got down to business by sanding it down and upcycling it with some Frenchic paint. It went from 90’s orange pine to shabby chic in no time!

Repurposing items is also a way of upcycling. There are so many ways to take things and transform them into something else. Another super easy way to instantly update the look of your furniture is to change the hardware on it. I change the knobs on all of my drawers, cupboards and cabinets and it’s so cheap to do. All of the furniture in our bedroom was second hand and not from one range, but they now look like a matching set after changing all the knobs on the bedside tables, wardrobes and chest of drawers!

6. Buying New

You can’t really buy everything second-hand though. Personally I like to buy my kitchen appliances new, but they can be pricey. There are a few ways to save money on your pricey kitchen appliances though. I would advise that you keep an eye on eBay for their special offer weekends.

Most people think eBay is all second-hand stuff, but these days stores such as Argos and AO sell on eBay. I bought our fridge freezer, washing machine and dishwasher on eBay when they were doing one of their ‘20% off selected sellers’ weekends. A 20% saving on a big ticket item like that can save you a lot, so it’s not to be sniffed at.

7. Bargain Stores

If you love ‘proper shopping’ then I highly recommend heading out to some cheap shops to pick up some home accessories. Places like B&M, Wilko and Home Bargains are my favourite places to pick up homeware at low prices! Dunelm is another great place to pick up soft furnishings, towels and kitchen stuff.

If you don’t mind waiting until the sales are on, check out places like Argos, Homebase, and Dunelm as they often heavily reduce their homeware items in the sale as they need to make space for the next season. We recently bought some really stylish lights for our kitchen from the Argos sale at 75% off!

Plus, if you shop online, make sure you use a cashback website like Quidco to earn money back every time you shop – I’ve been paid almost £1000 over the years! Overall I just think it’s important to live within your means and not to overspend. Just because you can get a big mortgage or loan, doesn’t mean you need to take it (as tempting as it might be!). Be careful with your money and it will be worth it in the log run!

How much does it cost to furnish a house?

Furnishing a whole house can sound like it will cost a fortune, but in reality the total depends on how much you buy upfront, the size of your space, and whether you choose new, second-hand or a mix of both. If you shop smart and prioritise the essentials, you can often get the big-ticket items for far less than you would expect, like picking up quality bargains on Facebook Marketplace or eBay, snapping up freebies locally, and saving the “buy new” budget for things like appliances.

With a bit of patience (and a willingness to upcycle), it’s possible to create a home that looks pulled together without resorting to loans or spending thousands all at once, especially when you are scoring deals like a £150 sofa or a £37 dining set.

These are just some of my top tips on how to save money when you move into your first home. If you’ve enjoyed this post then give me a follow on Instagram as I often share my budget home hacks!