A common misconception is that a lot of money must be spent to make your home look expensive. However, this is simply not the case. We’ve compiled a list of 10 common mistakes that cheapen the look of your home. Luckily, most of the fixes are pretty budget friendly and will help a make your home look more expensive.
1. Dirty Walls
Dirty walls are often overlooked when the reality is, they can make a huge difference in the overall appearance of your home. Dust your walls regularly, try a magic eraser, tend to stains as soon as possible and keep a touchup pen handy. Check out this blog post by Life Should Cost Less for a detailed tutorial for cleaning walls.
2. Lack of Texture Variety
With so many textiles being polyester-based these days, a room could easily fall flat in the texture department. When possible, mix and textured materials found in nature; like cotton, jute, linen, wool & silk. This immediately makes a huge difference!
This room below achieves an expensive look with it’s varied, layered up textures.
3. Unmade Beds
This fix is both quick and free. Try implementing making your bed into your routine for a full week and see what a difference it can make. You don’t have to know how to make the perfect hospital corners or even have toses of layering pillows. Anyone can use what they already have and make their bed each morning.
4. Incorrect Scale
With scale, the most common mistake is using furniture and decor pieces that are too small for the scale of the room. This can make rooms appear smaller than they are and even create a visual sense of clutter to the eye.
The room below beautifully executes proper scale with the art piece above the couch. Art above a couch should span at least 2/3 the width of the couch blow it,
5. Matching Furniture Sets
Instead of matching furnitur sets, opt for a more curated, collected look that similar tones of wood and coordinating textiles, as furniture sets can often come across as cheap and boring.
In the photo below, the living room furniture follows a consistent color palette and wood tone without being too matcha matchy.
6. Lack of Cozy Lighting
Stark, bright light can make rooms feel sterile and unwelcoming, but the right lighting can do wonders for any space. For the most elevated feel, add warm, dim lighting to your home and vary light height throughout the room for visual flow,
7. Poor Organization
When organization systems are in place clutter tends to stay at bay and the home can function much more smoothly as well as look more visually pleasing.The most important rooms to implement consistent organizing systems and routines are the kitchen, pantry, bathrooms, laundry rooms, living room & entryway.
Check out this beautifully organized pantry below for inspiration, it looks so high end and easy to reach for anything you need.
8. Old Knobs & Pulls
Try freshening up all knobs and pulls with a new coat of paint (ensure you’re using the right type of paint, rust oleum has solid options for painting metal). Even better, consider replacing your knobs and polls with something more crisp & modern.
Check out these knobs from our blog post How to Make Your Builder Grade Home Feel Custom that are only $9.95 each. Knobs and pulls with visual interest such as this dual semicircle shape and hammered texture will make your home look more curated and expensive.
9 Mass Produced Art
Often times mass produce art can come across as cheap, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money to achieve a more high-end look. There are tons of DIY abstract tutorials out there, and you can often find surprisingly good pics at the thrift store. You can even try taking to Etsy for unique art finds. This will give your homework character and help your home look more collected.
10. Not Enough Plants
Whether you choose faux or living foliage and florals in your home, this is a critical element to achieve a high and look and shouldn’t be overlooked.
Look at the image below; How the spherical vessel & plant make this kitchen look more high end and inviting.
