How to Save Money and Create a Beautiful Interior: Tips from Professionals

Viktoriya Zolina shared tips that she often uses in her projects: take a look at how you can create beautiful interiors without compromising your budget.

Viktoriya Zolina is a design expert, a graduate of the British Royal College of Art, and the founder of Zi-Design interior design studio.

Cork flooring or engineered wood instead of parquet

Parquet floors are always a luxury. I won't suggest laminate or linoleum as alternatives. However, cork flooring is an excellent option: a natural surface with great sound insulation. For example, in our project of a trendy apartment in a St. Petersburg new building, we used cork instead of modular parquet — it cost at least twice as less.

Also, pay attention to Swedish engineered wood of excellent quality — right now you can buy one square meter for 3,700 rubles during a promotion.

Wallpaper + mirrors + moldings

You can transform an interior in the finest French design traditions using expensive wallpaper. You’ll need just one roll for a wall. See how we implemented this idea by gluing wallpaper pieces into moldings in the bedroom.

You can also do the same with mirrors. Ready-made framed mirrors are quite expensive. A square meter of mirror made in a factory costs only 1,000 rubles.

Combine monochrome tiles with decorative ones

Another great trick is to combine monochrome tiles with decorative ones. Usually, patterned tiles cost 1.5–2 times more than monochrome ones. You can lay a small piece in the form of a carpet. That's exactly what we did in the hallway and bathroom of one of our projects — it looks very stylish.

Install tall doors

Tall doors will make your interior look significantly more “expensive.” A door panel that is 2.3 meters high costs only 10% more than a standard size. Plus, you can additionally frame the door with molding to make it visually taller. We applied both of these solutions in an apartment in St. Petersburg.

Decorative wall painting — yes!

This is also a great idea if monochrome walls seem dull. It all depends on your imagination. You can paint part of a wall in a contrasting color — our solution in the bedroom in the Wellton Park residential complex.

There are also bolder approaches — for example, in the bedroom of the residential complex “Rasskazovo”.

On my kitchen, I went even further — colored splatters. On the sketch, we placed a specific print, but we’ll implement it with the help of an artist — the cost is 10 thousand rubles.

Use tiles locally

To make a bathroom and toilet look beautiful, it's not necessary to tile the entire space. This is always very expensive. Especially if you fall in love with a certain print, which often turns out to be more expensive than desired.

You can use tiles locally and paint the other walls — especially if they don't come into contact with water. Fortunately, there is a wide variety of high-quality waterproof paints now.

Doors are not needed everywhere

Another lifehack is to save money on doors. Not every space needs a door. Think carefully — do you really need a door to the kitchen or living room? Sometimes it's quite possible to get by without one.

If there is a niche, make the most of it

If you have a niche, it’s a gift. Decorating it beautifully is not difficult: for example, you can place a bookshelf there: arrange shelves at different levels to decorate the book spines, vases and frames. This is the coziest, most vibrant and functional solution for a painted wall.

Decor and green plants also enhance any interior — from classical to modern.

Many things can be done by hand

For example, reupholster an old or cheap chair with fashionable fabric. To make eye-catching inspiring curtains, just print your favorite pattern on the fabric.

Illustrations: design projects of Zi-Design studio