Room Decor 101

Since the era of COVID-19 has begun, we’ve been spending much more time in our rooms. Why not make the place where you spend most of your days more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing? Here are 10 keys to making your room look great on a budget.

Finding an aesthetic and layouts

The most crucial part of decorating your room is aesthetics. Knowing your aesthetic helps you to achieve your dream room. The best way to find your aesthetic is through Pinterest. Some people prefer Instagram, but I would suggest Pinterest because it is easier to save images by categories and divide them into files. It also provides suggestions based on images you’ve saved. 

But regardless of your aesthetic, the layout of your room should serve your lifestyle. Think about the function of the room. If you want to study, sleep, and workout in your room, you will need a bed, desk, and decent space for a workout. One tip for making your room look bigger and brighter is to set your main furniture where the light hits the most. Depending on your room structure, it may not be possible but remember to put your main furniture in natural light. 

In my opinion, the best affordable furniture stores would be IKEA and NITORI. Both stores have minimalistic, simple furniture that can go with any aesthetic. If you want to have gold details in your room decor, IKEA is the go-to. They have wide selections of unique lighting and simple yet functional desks and beds. NITORI is known for their high-quality products despite their low price point. Their artificial flower collections are so close to real flowers that you can’t tell they’re fake through pictures. If you have a little more in your budget, you can find trendy room decor through ZARA HOME and H&M HOME. They sometimes have sales, so it’s worth checking regularly. If you have no hesitations with buying furniture online, LOWYA is also a good place to shop.

Can’t find it? Get creative!

Sometimes what you want to have in your room might not be available in stores or out of your budget. However, you don’t need to give up your desires or lower your standards. Just make it on your own. DIY is not just for people who have special power tools. In fact, I made a tufted headboard for my bed all by myself. Somehow, the tufted headboard was not available in major furniture stores in Japan and even the available ones were quite expensive because they were imported from the States. Depending on where you live or what your budget is, you might have to get extra creative, but in the Internet age, there are many resources like how-to videos on youtube, and if you go to Home Depot, you can basically get everything you need for DIY projects.  

Lighting is more important than you think

If you live in a modern regular Japanese house, you are most likely to have a ceiling light that is quite functional as lighting but not aesthetically pleasing. If you find your room somehow doesn’t look aesthetic or put together even though your furniture and room decor are awesome, you are most likely having a problem with lighting. Strong white lights from the ceiling make the room look plain and unsophisticated because it lights up the whole room without any intensity. To solve this problem, you can simply replace the strong white bulb with a soft white or warm yellow one depending on the functions of your room and add multiple lighting sources, for example on desks and bedside tables. The key is to decentralize the lighting source. If you can’t get a clear image, think about a nice restaurant or luxury hotel room. They always have multiple lights and indirect lighting. You can also recreate indirect lighting with LED lighting tapes. 

Spicing up home spaces

A small house or small room is a pain in the neck you probably will deal with if you’re living in Tokyo unless you are extremely rich or live in the countryside. However, with a little bit of creativity, small spaces can be transformed into a nice cozy room.

For example, try putting up your curtains at the top of the wall. Because of the optical illusion, it’ll make the room look elongated. Putting mirrors on walls is also effective because it reflects lights and views. Also, don’t forget to keep your furniture low, since it creates openness by allowing more space at eye level. 

Art doesn’t only belong to museums or fancy mansions. You can even create your own art. Pictures you took on vacation, paintings from your early childhood, and lovely cards from friends can be art pieces in your room. It adds personality to your room and makes it unique. If you are looking for high-quality flames for art on a budget, IKEA has a wide collection of flames to make your art pieces look like you bought them from art galleries in SoHo. 

Let’s be real. Real flowers are aesthetically pleasing but not economical, not eco-friendly, and die too soon. Still, it’s good to have them on special occasions. I personally recommend having fake flowers instead of real ones. You can easily find good fake flowers at a reasonable price at NITORI. Instead of flowers, try to have real greens and house plants. House plants don’t die if you take care of them properly, and they’re good for the environment and will clean the air in your room.

As symmetrical faces are perceived as more attractive, symmetrical layouts also give satisfaction to people when they see them. It is actually easy to implement in your room and will suddenly make your space look luxurious and gorgeous. For example, if the main furniture in the room is a bed, you can make a symmetrical layout by putting bedside tables on each side and putting the same lamps on top. Also, you can add some photo flames on top of the headboard if you have extra space on the wall. 

Nice bedding equals comfiness

Bedding is quite an easy way to make your room comfortable and warm without taking up extra space. Some people might call it impractical, but try putting throw pillows on top of the bed and layering blankets over the duvet cover. Don’t forget to match the color of your bedding to the color scheme of your room. Also, if you feel like your room is too simple, add textured pillow covers, or throw over a blanket. 

• room decor