How should you split your budget to furnish a living room or a bedroom?
By Nassim Hasni, publisher of DecoScale · published
DecoScale splits a budget by use: 30% of a living room for the sofa, 19.5% of a bedroom for the bed, 16.5% for the mattress. When the budget falls short, it drops functions, never quality. From 1,000 € it covers every function. Those are its settings, not a standard.
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What share of the budget for each piece of a living room?
DecoScale's split is proportional to use, not equal: dividing 500 € by the 14 functions of a living room would give a 36 € sofa. The chart gives, for each function of a living room, its share, its priority (1: essential, 3: nice to have), the floor price DecoScale gives it, and the resulting target at 1,500 € and 3,000 €, for a 22 m² living room.
| Function | Share of the budget | Priority | Floor (€) | Target at 1,500 € | Target at 3,000 € |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sofa | 30% | 1 | 250 | 450 | 900 |
| TV stand, sideboard | 12% | 2 | 50 | 180 | 360 |
| Rug | 10% | 2 | 25 | 150 | 300 |
| Armchair | 8% | 3 | 60 | 120 | 240 |
| Coffee table | 7% | 2 | 30 | 105 | 210 |
| Shelf, bookcase | 6% | 3 | 20 | 90 | 180 |
| Curtains, sheers | 6% | 3 | 15 | 90 | 180 |
| Floor lamp | 5% | 2 | 20 | 75 | 150 |
| Ceiling light | 4% | 3 | 10 | 60 | 120 |
| Table lamp | 3% | 3 | 10 | 45 | 90 |
| Cushions | 3% | 3 | 5 | 45 | 90 |
| Plants | 3% | 3 | 10 | 45 | 90 |
| Posters, pictures | 2% | 3 | 10 | 30 | 60 |
| Mirror | 1% | 3 | 10 | 15 | 30 |
DecoScale settings, targets calculated by its split function for 22 m². Priority 1: essential; 3: nice to have.
These shares, priorities and floors are DecoScale's settings, not a price survey or a standard: the floor is a “realistic new price in euros”, written by hand. DecoScale then checks each target against the catalogue: on the catalogue of 6 October 2026, that check changes no target in these charts, at 800 € and above.
What share of the budget for the bed and the mattress of a bedroom?
The bed and the mattress come first: 19.5% and 16.5% of the budget, more than a third between them, the mattress weighing almost as much as the bed. Bed linen, duvet, fitted sheet, cover, pillows and pillowcases, has its own shares.
| Function | Share of the budget | Priority | Floor (€) | Target at 1,500 € | Target at 3,000 € |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bed | 19.5% | 1 | 130 | 292.5 | 585 |
| Mattress | 16.5% | 1 | 100 | 247.5 | 495 |
| Wardrobe | 15% | 2 | 90 | 225 | 450 |
| Chest of drawers | 6% | 3 | 60 | 90 | 180 |
| Bedside table | 7% | 2 | 20 | 105 | 210 |
| Duvet | 4% | 2 | 30 | 60 | 120 |
| Rug | 5% | 3 | 25 | 75 | 150 |
| Table lamp | 5% | 2 | 10 | 75 | 150 |
| Curtains, sheers | 5% | 3 | 15 | 75 | 150 |
| Ceiling light | 4% | 3 | 10 | 60 | 120 |
| Posters, pictures | 2% | 3 | 10 | 30 | 60 |
| Mirror | 1% | 3 | 10 | 15 | 30 |
| Pillows | 2% | 3 | 15 | 30 | 60 |
| Cushions | 1.5% | 3 | 8 | 22.5 | 45 |
| Fitted sheet | 2.5% | 2 | 18 | 37.5 | 75 |
| Duvet cover | 2.5% | 3 | 25 | 37.5 | 75 |
| Pillowcases | 1.5% | 3 | 12 | 22.5 | 45 |
DecoScale settings, targets calculated by its split function for 11 m². Priority 1: essential; 3: nice to have.
What does DecoScale drop when the budget falls short?
Functions, by decreasing priority, before touching quality: a room of four fine objects beats a room of thirteen cheap ones. The chart gives the functions dropped at 800 € and 1,000 €. Below 800 €, the list grows fast: at 500 €, a 22 m² living room loses 10 functions out of 14, a 11 m² bedroom loses 10 out of 17.
| Budget (€) | Living room of 22 m²: functions dropped | Bedroom of 11 m²: functions dropped |
|---|---|---|
| 800 | Mirror, Posters, pictures, Table lamp | Mirror, Duvet cover, Chest of drawers |
| 1,000 | none | none |
Functions dropped by DecoScale's split, before the check against the catalogue.
No function is dropped from 1,000 € up: it is the mirror, at 1% of the budget, that decides, because its floor is 10 €.
What budget to furnish the whole room, by floor area?
DecoScale rates the range from the ratio between the budget and the room's viable minimum, not from the budget per square metre: a small bedroom costs more per square metre than a large living room, the bed being a fixed cost. The chart gives, by floor area, the budget from which the room is covered in the mid range, and the one from which it moves to the high end.
| Room | Floor area (m²) | Mid range from (€) | High end from (€) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Living room | 12 | 765 | 2,336 |
| Living room | 16 | 846 | 2,583 |
| Living room | 22 | 945 | 2,888 |
| Living room | 30 | 1,054 | 3,219 |
| Bedroom | 9 | 987 | 3,015 |
| Bedroom | 11 | 1,059 | 3,234 |
| Bedroom | 14 | 1,152 | 3,519 |
Limits searched on DecoScale's range function. Settings, not a price survey.
Can the total exceed the budget?
Yes, and DecoScale says so: each function may pay up to 1.35 times its target, so the sum of the choices can exceed the budget. Tightening that cap would empty the budget of the following functions. For bed linen: duvet size guide; for the space furniture takes: small living room layout.
What DecoScale checks, and what it does not
DecoScale splits the budget by function, drops what does not fit and announces the split. It does not compare its floors with a market price survey: they are settings. The plan of the room comes from your photos and two tape-measure dimensions: see the Method page. The measurements of a whole room are gathered on room layout dimensions.
Frequently asked questions
What share of the budget for a sofa?
30% of a living room for DecoScale, that is 450 € out of 1,500 €. It is a DecoScale setting, not a standard.
What share of the budget for the bed and the mattress?
19.5% for the bed and 16.5% for the mattress, in a bedroom.
What is dropped when the budget is too tight?
Functions, from the least important priority to the most important, never quality. At 800 €, a living room loses 3 functions.
From what budget is every function covered?
From 1,000 €, for a living room as for a bedroom.
Can the total exceed the budget?
Yes: each function may pay up to 1.35 times its target, and DecoScale flags it.