Budget Home Decor Projects Using Chalk and Clay Paint

Decorating a home can be expensive. So any home decor projects that can be done on a budget are always welcome. Today I am sharing my favorite budget home decor projects using chalk and clay paint.

Budget home decor projects 

When dealing with a tight budget, your ‘go-to’ should always be paint.

Paint is the most cost effective for big change. It has the power to make the most visual difference.

With paint, you are only limited by your own creativity and skill.

Occasionally, a product comes along that seems so easy to use, that it could be considered ‘idiot proof’. For me, that product is a chalk style paint.

My favorite, obviously, is our Bungalow 47 Furniture Paint. Did you even know I had my own chalk paint line?

The paint has more than a chalk finish. It has a chalk and clay base that provides beautiful depth of color when buffed or distressed, and is a great choice for a lot of DIY projects.

Quick prep makes for an easy project

When working on home decor projects, having one be easy peasy is always the best kind.

With a chalky paint, many claim that you can complete chalk paint projects with NO PREP work. And although this can be technically true (in some cases)  the secrets of experienced furniture painters will tell you that you will always have the best outcome with some prep.

Think of it as, the larger projects might need a bit more prep, and the smaller projects can get by with minimal.

Of course, when on a budget, time is money right? But simply taking a little time to run a fine-medium grit sandpaper over a piece, cleaning it, or adding a second coat to furniture pieces to give it new life, will provide your piece with it’s best outcome.

Favorite budget friendly projects:

Doing something great on a budget is a beautiful thing!

The most transformative projects have been ones that saved big on the budget and didn’t take a long time.

Here are my most favorite ones I have done with different uses for chalk painting.

Budget solution: painted slate floor in my entry

The slate floor in the entry of our current home was really ugly. It started out as different colors of mint green and eggplant purple and made the room look very dated.

When deciding on the flooring for the renovated room, I realized that I really wanted a slate floor, just not in the current color.

Then I remembered who I am and what I do for a living, and decided to paint it!

Even though our paint was not made for this medium, I figured, why not try? If I hated it, or it didn’t work, then I would need to rip it out anyway because I really didn’t want the first impression of our home to be the dated slate tile that was there.

But you know what happened? It turned out beautiful! Not only was it budget friendly, it was easy. After cleaning the floor, painting each tile, buffing with a soft cloth, I protected it with our Matte Finish.

And now that I am coming up on the third year of it being done, it has held up great! The most amazing thing, it was a HUGE budget saver! Ripping out the floor and replacing it would have cost thousands of dollars! But I was able to transform the room for less than $150!

The transformation was so much fun! I used the color Tarnished Silver but we have so many great options that would be perfect for a more natural stone color than mint green and purple.

Budget solution: painted upholstery

Almost 20 years ago, I purchased this pretty upholstered bed frame for my daughter’s bedroom. It was a sample sale from a specialty design shop and we loved the bed, and she loved the color.

We bought it and she designed her room around the dark eggplant color (what’s with all the purple?).

When she went off to college and later got married, she had the chance to take furniture from our home and the colorful bed was not a choice she made. So I was left to use it in our guest room, since that was the bed she chose to take.

I wanted to change the color and looked into the cost of reupholstering it, which was over $1,000 not including fabric. Even if I did do it myself (a skill I do possess) it would still cost time and almost $1,000 for the fabric I wanted.

Once again I decided to paint it. When I put the first coat of paint down, I knew I was headed in the right direction.

The entire change costs about $100 and transformed the bed and the whole look of the room. You can read all about the transformation of painted upholstery in this post.

Budget solution: painted kitchen cabinets

When my youngest daughter and her husband moved back to Michigan for a new job, they purchased their first home.

At the time, we were doing a full house renovation of a house we had purchased, and were able to give them the cabinets that came from the kitchen we were redoing. The cabinets were high quality and in good shape, but we were changing the layout of our room and they wouldn’t work for us.

They were perfect to update their newly purchased 60s ranch! In classic DIY style (like her mama) she painted them using a white paint from our Bungalow 47 Furniture Paint line!

Once again, for under $100 (and some free cabinets) they were able to transform the kitchen in the dated ranch. 

It worked so great the first time that, when they moved south about 60 miles for a new job and bought a different house, she took on her new kitchen as well.

The finished product was perfect for her budget. Read this post for the process of how to change your kitchen on a budget.

In her latest transformation, she has even updated their current primary bathroom and a half bath to reflect their style. Paint does wonders!

Budget solution: painted metal fixtures

While helping my daughter update items in their new home, and make it more of their look, we were once again faced with a small budget crisis.

She wanted to update the some of the lighting in their family room and make it less “granny style” (her words). Since new light fixtures and the help of an electrician wasn’t in her budget, we decided to change them the quick way, to paint them.

Using the chalk and clay paint for small projects worked brilliantly, since we had several colors on hand that she had used for other projects.

The painting process required just a small amount of paint and about 30 minutes. We simply taped off the metal base of the sconce and I repainted them right in place.

We then went to Menards for a new light cover and they were totally transformed for less than $20. It’s amazing what a little paint will do!

Read this post to see how we had to prep and get ready to paint metal.

If you want to see the before and after of her second project, read this post.

Budget solution: chalk paint furniture

Over the years, while I had the home decor shop, we literally painted hundreds of pieces of old furniture.

Transforming them for new owners is always a thrill. But the best is finding a piece of furniture for a bargain and making it into something great with a new paint color and some elbow grease.

For people concentrating on budgets, there are great deals at your local thrift store. They really don’t make furniture like they used to.

Although I have painted countless pieces over the years, my two favorite ones are painted blue and in my current home.

I have a large primitive cupboard in the living room that holds my milk glass collection. It is painted the color Paddleboat from Bungalow 47 Furniture Paint.

The other favorite is a piece redone that stands center stage in our primary bathroom painted in the color Tea Towel.

Both felt like new pieces of furniture with the help of a pint of paint (less than $25). Now that’s a great budget home decor hack!

Budget home decor projects are waiting for you

When you are ready to transform your space, consider the only thing that packs a big punch into a little budget: PAINT!

Whether you are painting your favorite garage sale find, or making your kitchen seem new with a little elbow grease and some paint, look to this easy solution and try a chalk type paint.

Not only can our chalk and clay paint be painted on wood, you can use it on stone, metal, fabric, glass, and more!

If you have any chalk paint questions, email us at info@bungalow47.com and we’d love to help! Follow me on Pinterest for budget painting inspiration.