Easy, Beautiful, Cheap: Managing the 3 Points of Home Projects

Fast, good, cheap: You can pick two, but you can't have them all. That is the basic gist of the classic project management wisdom, and it works pretty consistently for home projects, too — although since we are talking about decorating, I've taken the liberty of replacing "fast" with "easy" and "good" with "beautiful." You still have to pick two: easy and beautiful (but not cheap) or beautiful and cheap (but not easy) for a successful home project. Of course I cannot endorse going with the easy and cheap (but not beautiful), although if you get really lucky, you can sometimes find a project that hits all three points. Below you'll find examples of how to use this prioritizing strategy to your benefit in any decorating or home design project.

Beautiful + Cheap = Not Easy

If you are willing to put in some of your own blood, sweat and tears (hopefully mostly sweat; less blood and tears) and a healthy dose of patience, you can create a beautiful space on a tight budget. This route generally involves plenty of weekend time spent scouring thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets, and monitoring local sites like Craigslist for great deals, plus doing much of the work yourself rather than hiring pros or buying new. Going for beautiful on a budget takes significantly more time than simply going out and buying stuff to fill your home — so you have to be able to live with gaps in your decor, possibly for months or even years.


Get crafty. Doing your own work not only will save you money, but it will push you to get more creative, too. Instead of buying something straight out of a catalog or off the showroom floor, you may find yourself coming up with your own DIY creation, learning new skills along the way. A space that you have worked on with your own two hands feels more like home, and you will certainly earn bragging rights among family and friends.


Start small. It can be quite overwhelming (not to mention sometimes unrealistic) to take on too many DIY projects at once, especially if you are new to the DIY route. Start with something doable to get your feet wet, such as the DIY silhouette art shown here. Successfully completing a project will boost your confidence and help you develop skills you can build on.


You can DIY and thrift your way. Vintage, homespun and midcentury modern looks get a lot of play in magazine and blog features on budget decorating, but the truth is, you can decorate on a budget in any style. Flea markets and estate sales are great resources for unearthing treasures for a chic traditional home, and budget finds in any style can be found at wallet-friendly stores like HomeGoods and Target, or online.


Easy + Beautiful = Not Cheap

If you do have the funds or are willing to wait and save up, shopping smart for the things you love and hiring pros when needed will certainly make your life easier. It's important to be honest with yourself about your skills, determination and patience — perhaps a DIY kitchen remodel appeals to your frugal heart, but if you have zero carpentry skills and no strong desire to learn about plumbing, wiring and the like, a remodel is probably best left to the pros. Of course, when you are talking about a kitchen remodel, "easy" is a relative term!


Easy + Cheap + Beautiful = Jackpot!

Unlike in some other areas of life, in decorating you really can have it all ... sometimes. With so much instant sharing of ideas online, you are more likely than ever to run across a truly brilliant idea that is not only doable, but gorgeous and wallet friendly to boot. Take, for instance, the folding screen used as a headboard shown here. It's beautiful, it doesn't have to cost much, and it's as easy as pie: simply fasten the screen to the wall (or prop it up), and you're done.


Mastering the Mix

Of course, for many of us, our homes are likely to be a mashup of budget finds, weekend home improvement projects and splurges. The key is making these decisions — about where to shop and how much to spend, whether to make it or buy it — with intention, rather than on the fly. If you have your heart set on a dream bed from Anthropologie, like the one shown here, perhaps you can scrimp in other places by bidding on vintage one-offs on eBay or making a trip to a big flea market and haggling for a good deal on the pieces you need to finish the room.


Learn to appreciate your home, however it looks right now. Becoming comfortable with (or even reveling in) imperfection is a wonderful way to be at peace with the process of decorating your home. Because the honest truth is, there will be times you feel frustrated with how things are going — no matter if you are doing it all yourself or hiring pros, and no matter your budget. To get through a tough spot, try focusing your attention on what is working at home: what makes you happy, what feels good and what you enjoy doing there.

Tell us: Have you found these style equations to be true?

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