Last spring I came home with a Gather sign and a mason jar full of fairy lights. The sign annoyed me by summer. The jar is in the cupboard behind the lentils.
I wasn’t trying to turn the flat into a farm. I just wanted budget farmhouse decor that didn’t look like I’d raided a garden-centre sale. Warm wood. Something on the big blank wall opposite the sofa. No words staring at me while I eat.
Most cheap DIY wall decor ideas I tried were too small: five little objects instead of one thing with some weight. The wall still looked empty, only now it looked busy and empty at the same time.
Here’s what actually stayed up.
Budget farmhouse decor I didn’t take down
Off-white walls. One wood colour throughout the room: sage on a cushion, not on the tray, the sign, the candle and the wreath.
I sanded a stool once until it looked distressed. That was enough distressing for me.
The farmhouse wall decor that lasted came from charity shops. Frames. A window. Baskets that still smelled a bit off for a week. Same places I keep going back to in 20 Thrift Store Home Decor Ideas.
Where budget farmhouse decor is actually cheap
Charity shops first. Then the hardware store for offcuts and a drop cloth. Those little wooden plaques only if you’re going to paint them yourself.
I bought a “farmhouse bundle” once mini houses, a tiny ladder, a sign. Everything looked smaller in the room than it did in the bag. One old window did more.
Farmhouse wall decor: the skip window
I found a sash window behind a skip. Washed it in the bath. Two proper picture hooks, because the sticky strips let go overnight and I heard it from the kitchen.
Paint is still chipped. Two panes have stems in them when I remember to buy some. The other panes are empty.
If you want other ways people hang old frames, The Spruce’s window frame piece is worth a look. Ignore the ones that look like a photoshoot.
Cheap wall decor ideas DIY with mason jars
I had jars already. Screwed three of them to a bit of wood from the offcut bin. Pipe straps, plumbing aisle, cheap.
Sometimes there’s water and a cutting in them. Sometimes there isn’t. I tried twine and a label. It looked like a stall. That board came down.
This is the only DIY farmhouse wall art in the kitchen, and I’m leaving it at that.
Budget farmhouse decor from ugly frames
Four pounds for a terrible landscape in a decent frame. Landscape went in the bin. I did that five times and stained the frames the same colour so they belonged together.
Prints from the laptop. One page out of a book that was already wrecked. A photo from my phone. I arrange them on the floor first now. Saves filling the wall with holes I regret.
I used the same approach in 18 Budget Living Room Decor Ideas That Don’t Look Cheap. One stain. Then leave it.
Cheap wall decor ideas DIY: baskets
The first basket was four pounds. Found two more later. Hung them close, not in a perfect grid, because I couldn’t be bothered measuring.
Took down a quote print to make space. Have not missed the quote.
Don’t buy a set of matching baskets. You can tell.
Budget farmhouse decor: blanket ladder
Two boards, four rungs, wood glue, screws. Stained darker than the floorboards.
It leans in the corner and holds two throws. I delayed it for months because every blog made it sound like furniture making. It isn’t.
Farmhouse wall decor from one plaque
One board from a cheap shop. Off-white paint. Sanded the edges. Hung that one.
Made two more that afternoon and never hung them. They are in the hallway cupboard with the fairy-light jar.
Cheap wall decor ideas DIY with plates
A white platter, two plates, one enamel thing with a chip. Plate hangers.
Over the dining table it’s fine. I tried the same group over the sofa, and it looked like a works canteen, so I moved it after two days.
Budget farmhouse decor on one alcove only
Lattice strips from the hardware shop, painted the same as the wall, just the alcove behind the chair.
One strip isn’t straight. I see it every time I sit down. No one else has mentioned it.
I am not doing four walls of this.
Cheap wall decor ideas DIY that come back off the wall
Eucalyptus on the window. It goes grey. Take it off.
I left a wreath up for months once because taking it down felt like a waste of money. The wall looked better bare.
Budget farmhouse decor with a drop cloth
Stapled a painter’s cloth over a frame I paid two pounds for. Hallway.
Art felt like too much effort for that wall. A sign felt stupid. Fabric was the lazy option, and it’s still there.
Things that keep budget farmhouse decor from looking homemade in a bad way
One plain modern object. I use a black frame.
Don’t mix five materials. Wood and linen are enough.
Stop filling gaps. I kept adding “just one more small thing”, and the wall started looking fidgety.
A lamp near the wall helps more than another piece of farmhouse wall decor. The overhead in this flat is awful.
Budget farmhouse decor I wouldn’t buy again
Mini houses. Cows and chickens on anything; a pack of three matching signs. Fairy lights inside jars, jugs, letters, take your pick. Stick-on wood on every wall.
And trying to finish the whole room on a Saturday. The cheap wall decor ideas DIY I still like happened in bits. Shop. Hang one thing. Live with it. Then decide.
If you only want three budget farmhouse decor projects
- Hang one large piece of budget farmhouse decor an old window or a tight group of frames.
- Add one texture baskets or the drop-cloth frame.
- Add one useful piece jars on a board, or the ladder.
Then sit down and look at the wall. Most rooms need less farmhouse wall decor than you think when you are standing in the shop.
