Here at Home Beautifully, three of our most favorite things are great DIY projects, timeless and classic style, and budget friendly decorations.  When you combine these three things, you have a powerful combination for creating long-lasting, affordable decorations for your home.  But how do you do it?  Keep on reading for 3 ridiculously easy tips for creating timeless budget friendly DIY décor.

Ridiculously Easy Tip 1:  Stick to Classic Colors

I went through a leopard phase.  It’s true.  I also went through a purple and lime phase.  Seriously.  These days, my style is a little more subdued.  I prefer pallets of grey, blue grey, greige… you get the gist.  I’ve mellowed a bit.  I’m definitely going through a grey phase.

That said, I expect that in a few years, my style will change again.  And while the leopard print pillows and the lime picture frames have been donated to Goodwill, the pieces that are more neutral and classic will stand the test of time.  Whenever I’m working on a DIY project, I consider its potential longevity in our home.  Sure, I might be making the project for a particular reason, but could I use more neutral or classic colors so that I’ll enjoy it year after year?

When decorating for the $20 fall mantle challenge, I knew I wanted to create a rustic, vintage inspired banner.  I’ve seen other banners online in gorgeous colors and prints, but I knew that if I chose a neutral tan canvas fabric, I could probably use the banner time and again and add pops of color using other small décor items.  That’s what it means to be timeless budget friendly DIY décor!  When I painted and sewed the banner I purposefully chose neutral colors, like rich brown paint and beige bias tape, because I knew I’d enjoy them for quite some time to come.

Coincidently, if you want to watch the whole DIY banner tutorial, you can click here or simply scroll to the bottom and enjoy!

Ridiculously Easy Tip 2: Fit the Décor, Not the Space

While I knew I wanted to create a banner to use on our mantle, I purposefully made the banner smaller than the mantle itself.  Our mantle ledge is quite large — about seven feet long — and if the banner itself stretched the entire width of the mantle, I would be limited in my ability to repurpose the banner in other places.

So instead, when I pieced together my banner, I measured and sewed the banner to be only 3 feet long.  It looks so cute perched above the middle of the fireplace, but next year, maybe I’ll hang it over our front door or above the shoe cozy in our entryway.  When making a DIY project, think more about how the décor itself may be used than what the DIY project needs to look like in only one particular space.  Consider the decor, not the space, when creating timeless budget friendly DIY décor.

Ridiculously Easy Tip 3:  Span the Seasons

While I love decorating for each season, it can be both costly and time consuming to overhaul décor for each change of holiday.  When doing DIY décor projects, consider how each project might span across the seasons.
For example, could a DIY project use non-traditional colors?  When you paint pinecones red and green, for example, they kind of scream Christmas.  But if you dust pinecones with a light coat of gold, you might use them throughout fall and the cold weather months.

Could you purposefully create DIY décor to flex across holidays?  Because I chose such classic, neutral colors for my banner, I knew I could happily see it above the mantle for months to come.   But after Thanksgiving or so, I’d want to change up the message a bit.  BY thinking outside of the box, I decided to create a reversible banner that could span the seasons.  On one side, the banner reads “fall” and on the other, it reads “noel.”  Consider how you could extend the life of your do-it-yourself projects in this way to add longevity and mileage in your timeless budget friendly DIY décor!

This banner made itself right at home on the $20 fall mantle, alongside lots of gorgeous DIY projects, like a gorgeous lush white wreath, a vintage chic floral sign, hand-painted rustic pumpkins, and rugged distressed wooden boxes.