I’m an interior designer – 10 ways to make your home look more high-end and expensive on a budget
SPENDING time at home should be relaxing, but you won’t be able to feel at ease if your house is full of tacky, outdated, cheap decor.
One interior designer shared her favorite ways to upgrade a space and make it look luxurious, and the 10 tips are surprisingly affordable.
Interior designer Kristen McGowan loves a good home transformation, and her own home is full of sophisticated accents.
“I love creating beautiful spaces, but I’m always doing it on a budget,” McGowan explained. She shared her industry secrets for revitalizing a space without spending too much.
First up: picking a color scheme. If you want your space to look luxe, McGowan recommended sticking to two shades of a very specific color.
“If you stick with a neutral color palette and white walls, you will end up with a more luxurious-looking space,” the professional said.
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McGowan doubles up on two shades of white when she paints a space, starting with a warm-toned white as her main color.
“It’s absolutely timeless,” she said. “It will brighten up your home.”
As an accent color, she uses pure, crisp white on trim, molding, and doors, which makes a space look cleaner and larger.
Next, McGowan explained how she uses the “rule of threes” to guide her design.
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“It doesn’t really matter what you’re using to style your space, or how much it costs,” she explained. “It’s all about how you place it.”
The designer likes to group decor pieces in sets of three, assembling tiny collections that vary in size, texture, and shape.
“If you have a vase with stems going really high, have something flowing lower, and then throw a decor piece in between,” she said as an example.
This creates visual interest but also keeps decor from getting overwhelmed.
Her next recommendation was to make sure your kitchen is stocked with matching dishes.
Even inexpensive, plain dishes look better than a cabinet full of mismatched dishes.
“It just looks messy, it looks a little cheap,” she said.
You can even buy a thrifted set of dishes secondhand. “As long as they’re matching, you’ll have a more luxurious-looking kitchen,” McGowan insisted.
While you’re at it, buy a different sort of matching set for another part of your home: white bath towels.
“White towels look amazing in your linen closet and amazing in your bathroom,” McGowan revealed.
She said they’re the “one little thing” that can make any home feel like a hotel, so put your mismatched towels in storage and invest in a set of clean white ones.
She also suggested taking time to visualize your furniture layout, rather than placing pieces willy-nilly.
“If you have furniture pushed against the walls, and not really organized in a way for conversation…your space will not give off that high-end luxurious feel,” McGowan warned.
She reminded viewers that furniture layouts aren’t permanent, and can always be changed later.
Strive for a symmetrical and open layout in your living room and any bedrooms, which will also make your space look larger.
Also take the scale of your furniture into consideration.
“If you have a smaller space, maybe lower ceilings, I think you need to shop lighter weight furniture and smaller-scale pieces,” McGowan explained.
If you have a bigger room with high ceilings, you can fill it with larger “statement” furniture and heavy pieces, she said.
Candles and room sprays are an inexpensive way that McGowan makes her space feel luxurious.
“I think scent matters,” she said. “I love using scent as another element of the design in my home to add to the experience.”
She loves warm-smelling candles, in scents like amber and vanilla, and the Mrs Meyers peony room spray, which McGowan said smells more expensive than it is.
For a relaxing, welcoming atmosphere, fill your space with lamps, and use the harsh overhead lights less.
“Lamp lighting makes all the difference,” McGowan said. “Turn off those ceiling lights, turn on your lamps, and your home will feel so luxurious and cozy.”
She thrifts all of her floor, table, and wall lamps, spending only $5 to $10 for each one.
Another way to make your space look high-end is decluttering. If you have things that need to stay out on the countertops for easy access, make sure to keep them organized.
“I really love to re-jar my products to make them look like a decorative opportunity,” McGowan said.
McGowan has a paid partnership with Cricut, and uses the tool to make classy labels for containers all over her house.
Finally, McGowan shared a brilliant trick that’s one of her favorite insider secrets.
“You need to use this designer hack,” she said. “Get larger throw pillow inserts, and smaller throw pillow covers.”
Look for a pillow insert that’s two inches larger than the throw pillow cover – so, for an 18-inch pillow cover, buy a 20-inch insert.
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This trick will “really tighten the fabric of your throw pillows,” McGowan said, allowing them to stand on their own and preventing them from looking limp.
The result will be instant, and it’s a trick you can use in the living room, master bedroom, and guest rooms to impressive effect.