Do you find yourself looking online at rooms and wondering how they get the high-end look and how to duplicate it in your home? Do you find it challenging to use your décor and change the look of a room? If so, this post is for you! Many of us get tired of our décor and want to change it to look more modern and high-end, but that doesn’t mean we have to buy all new items. There are ways to make small changes to a room to make large impacts on the overall look and feel of a room.
Styles and décor trends change every season, it is difficult to keep up with all the latest décor trends unless you are an interior designer. I don’t recommend trying to keep up with all the latest decorating crazes or you will drive yourself crazy. You will forever be changing your home and will never be satisfied with your space. Instead, pick an overall look that is right for you and meets your aesthetic goals, and then add/remove small items to make subtle changes over time. This allows you to add a trendy item or two to a room but not change the room completely all the time. I tend to decorate in a way that makes my home feel cozy and warm but still has a slightly modern twist to certain items. With a mix of old and new furniture, I tend to lean to the transitional style of decorating (a term I learned recently).
Small Changes That Make High-End Impact
Paint
Never underestimate the impact of paint on a room. Wall color is the starting point of your room’s high-end décor and sets the initial mood of your room when entering. Paint allows you to either make bold choices (like a focal wall in a bold color) or keep a neutral palette as a starting point for your room styling.
Painting a room can be an affordable way to greatly impact a room with a smaller price tag associated with other major changes like furniture or structural changes. Paint can also freshen up a dull room and make it look new and updated.
There are many places to find affordable paint. You can look online for sales or also on the marketplace for second-hand paint that is available (most people have extra leftover from projects). Most locations that sell paint also have an “oops” section, where paint has been mixed in the wrong color. This paint is usually very reasonably priced.
When selecting a paint color it can be challenging to imagine it on a wall. Many people tend to go too vivid in their color choices when they cannot picture it on a large wall. Unless you create a bold accent wall or look for a bold color in a room to make a statement, it is usually recommended to select on the lighter side of the shade, as it will look more vivid once applied to a larger wall. Neutrals with light undertones of the color you are looking for are always a safe choice. You can always purchase samples as well to test a color on a wall before diving into a large project. High-end trends are usually neutral with small pops of color.
Moldings/ Woodwork
The woodwork in a room screams that extra detail and care has been taken in the construction of a room. Thick crown molding and baseboards always make a room look more finished and high-end. It is the small touches in a room that take it from ordinary to extraordinary. Moldings can be costly to install but there are cost-saving actions that you can take to reduce the overall cost.
You can use an MDF molding instead of solid wood, this cut costs significantly. In addition, you can paint and install the woodwork yourself. There are lots of great YouTube tutorials on how to do this and it is not overly complicated. There are only a few basic tools needed (miter saw or hand miter box/saw is an essential tool for the angled cuts).
If you already have molding on the ceiling or baseboard but they are not as thick as you would like there are also a couple of tricks that you can do to make them wider. You can purchase thinner molding and place it a couple of inches away from your current molding and paint the area in between (the wall) the color of your molding. This makes the eye think it is one large molding.
Flooring
Many people that to update flooring you need to completely replace them. This can be very expensive to undertake and something that most people have to save for. For flooring, I encourage you to think of alternatives to total replacement when working on a tight budget. Many less expensive options can transform the flooring in a room to make it look high-end.
Rugs can be a great way to change space on a budget. They can cover less desirable flooring and bring cohesion to a room. They make a space feel warm and inviting. The cost of area rugs can also be steep so you need to get creative on this as well. Many stores have sales on area rugs and offer them at great prices. I always am on the lookout for good sales and rugs in clearance sections. In addition, I have found some beautiful, high-quality rugs thrifting. A quick spot clean and they look new again. If you are new to thrifting check out our Top 10 Thrifting Tips
There are many other options to change the flooring. Paint (yes I said PAINT), can transform a floor. You just need to ensure that you are selecting the correct paint for the surface you are refinishing and that you seal the flooring to ensure that it can handle the wear of foot traffic on it. Solid colors can make the floor much more neutral and stencils have become popular on tile cover-ups.
Inexpensive peel and stick flooring is also another option for flooring on a budget. There are many tiles and wood-looking options available for the transformation on a minimal budget. Just make sure whatever you select is meant for floors and can withstand foot traffic. Look at clearance centers for budget-friendly options, there are many options available at highly discounted prices.
Pillows and Accents
If you have a relatively neutral room you can change the overall look and feel with accent pieces and pillows. High-end design does not mean changing the entire room. Usually, you can get these items inexpensively and they can make a huge impact on the style of a room. If you like to keep up with style trends this is a great option and you can add one or two items to a room to make it feel up to date. Keeping a room and furniture neutral and having the majority of the color in accents and pillows allows you to make less costly changes. If you purchase a very trendy chair or sofa in a specific pattern you are more likely to tire of it quicker than something more neutral.
Changing accent pieces and pillows for the season is also fun to add variation to a room. You can easily brighten a room in the spring and make it cozier with darker colors in the winter months. Instead of having clutter in a room with many accent pieces, you can try rotating your accents in and out of a room to keep changing the look and keep and clean sleek feel to the room. When it comes to accent pieces in a room less is more, and a couple of nice pieces are far better than clutter and filling every surface.
High End Is Simple
When looking at pictures of high-end, designer rooms you will notice that they are streamlined, well thought out with intentional design. They are usually simple, clutter-free, and have an appealing aesthetic. When staging a home for sale the real estate agent will usually tell you to declutter surfaces and rooms, to make them more attractive to buyers. This philosophy also holds in regular room design. Less is sometimes more. When you have a few focal points in a room it allows the important accents to be noticed.
Clutter is hard on the senses, it makes you feel chaotic and out of control. When you are surrounded by too many items you can feel overwhelmed and unfocused. Go through your home as if you are putting it up for sale. Look at each room and what you have sitting around. It is easy to get desensitized in your home and not notice that rooms are getting more full with “things” over time. Clearing spaces creates openness and flow in a room, and lets you notice what is important in the design. You can focus on the few items that bring you joy and add that decorative flair when there is less clutter. Baskets are a great way to reduce clutter in a room. You can tuck items such as remotes and other necessities away for easy access but still have the room look less cluttered.
Ample storage and organization is the key to reducing clutter. Everything in your house should have a place. When it is no longer in use it should immediately go back to that location. Cleaning and organizing as you go is much more simple than waiting and doing it all at once. When you look at other people’s homes and wonder how they keep them so neat, this is how. They always return things to their spots. If they notice something out of place they quickly pick it up and return it. This simple act of putting things in their place becomes a habit and makes keeping a home tidy simple. It becomes an unconscious act, when you see something out of place you just grab it and take the 10 seconds it put it back instead of waiting and making an event out of cleaning/ organizing the whole house.
This applies to many other tasks as well. If you don’t delay the job becomes less overwhelming. Laundry is another key example of this. Having a huge pile of laundry to fold and put away is daunting, it becomes a large event and time-consuming to do. All of us have been guilty of having the mountain of clean clothes that needs to be put away. It becomes a long chore that you need to find time for. Changing your habits can eliminate this situation. Forcing yourself to take 5 minutes when a load of laundry is done and folding it straight out of the dryer means that you don’t get the dreaded huge pile of laundry. You are breaking up the task in to small chunks that are quicker and more manageable to do quickly. Keeping a room clutter free follows the same principle, continually put things away and you won’t have a large chore of cleaning a room. High end design is simple and pleasing to look at. A room should give you a sense of peace and be clutter free.
Curtains
Window treatments can add elegance and sophistication to a room. The trick to window treatments is not to use just enough material (too little material makes the curtains look cheap). Additional material gives fullness and luxury to the look. If 2 premade panels fit your window (you can close them and cover the window), then you should use 4. Doubling the material makes a huge difference and adds fullness. The high-end décor look should have ample material.
Material of curtains is also important when deciding on your window treatments. Ensure you test the transparency of a material. Hold it up to the light to see if you can see through it. Unless you are going for a sheer look in the curtains you may want to make certain that the curtain has a lining.
Quality material can add depth and drama to a room making it look high-end (expensive). If you have ever been shopping for the material you know that it can be really expensive. This is where you can get creative for material options. I love to thrift for material, I purchase bedspreads, shower curtains, and window curtains to re-use in my home. The cost is a small fraction of the cost of new material/ making your own and there is usually a lot of textile choice available at thrift stores. When thrifting always keeps your eye out for quality material. It can be used in a variety of ways, including window treatments. If you find a nice material at a good price you can tuck it away for a future project. I have also used bleached painters drop cloth in my home as material. The cost of this canvas is very low and bleaching it can create a nice linen look. There are many cost-effective ways to get the high-end material look on a budget.
When hanging your curtains ensure to hang the rod higher than the window casing if possible. This adds additional height to a window. This adds to the drama and focus of the window in the room. Curtain rods should also be wider than the window frame. When you open the curtains they should hang to the side of the window over the wall and not cover any of the windows. This also visually adds additional size to your window. Long curtains should just skim the ground or puddle to add to the upscale look.
Rearrange
You can completely change the look of a room just by rearranging the items that are in it. We can get stuck on how a room looks and think that things have their place. Mixing things up and moving furniture around it can change the feel of a room or the focal point. Reimagine a room by moving accessories or artwork to new spaces. High-end spaces have thought out décor choices and placement of items.
You can measure and sketch out a room before you start the heavy lifting. A few minutes of measuring and drawing your floorplan can save you a lot of time and a sore back. Make sure that things fit the way you want them to before you start. Measure your furniture and large items, and use a piece of graphing paper to draw it in scale. Reimagining your space on paper also helps you think of new and creative ways to layout the room. Many people have a difficult time picturing a room with a different layout, drawing it helps you see the changes before you go through all the effort of making the change.
When arranging furniture think of the functionality of a room. Are you looking to have a conversation area where the chairs face each other? Do you need side tables to set drinks or food? Is there traffic in the room and a natural flow where people walk? Do people need to be able to see a TV when sitting? Is there an area where you want to make the focal point of the room? All these things should be taken into consideration to make sure that the new layout will work for the way you live and what you will be doing in the room.
Reuse Items
Think outside the box and think about all the items you have in your home. Do you have extra furniture that you are not using Do you have too many items in one room? Moving things from one room to another is a no-cost way to change your current décor for a high-end look. In many cases, we get used to things in one location. Items can be re-imagined in another way in another room.
Instead of replacing items that are not getting used or things that you are tired of, think about how you can change them. You could change the look of something you have. Don’t like the color of a piece of furniture or it is scratched… paint it or stain it. Don’t like the material on a chair or it is looking stained/ worn…reupholster it. This is a far more affordable way to change your décor than buying new. Not to mention the environmentally positive impacts of reusing items and saving them from the landfill. I have done this to countless items in my home. I have taken an old sewing machine table and made it into a bar for my deck. I have reupholstered countless pieces of furniture or painted furniture items to give them new life. There is an intrinsic reward in seeing something transform from junk to treasure. Check out our Upcycle Furniture Basics for more tips.
Thrifted décor items also are a great way to reuse, reduce and recycle items. Look at the shape of objects, look at the construction, and look at the materials. You would be surprised with what you can create with a bit of time and imagination. I take inspiration from high-end stores. You can create an inspiration board and pin pictures that you like the look of or accessories that you find appealing. This helps you know what to look for when shopping. I find items that I find appealing and then figure out what I need to create that look. I look at the shape of the décor objects and figure out how I can transform them into the design that I am looking for. I have painted glass vases to create a concrete look (DIY concrete vase), spray-painted other items to make them the color I want, and stained wicker to make it darker (just to name a few). If you can find something with the right “bones” you can update it and make it look modern and fresh. This is your chance to get crafty!
New to You Furniture
There are so many gently used items for sale. There is an endless supply of furniture items for sale online. Locally you can always find deals where people are moving, upgrading, downsizing, or changing their homes. Garage sales, online marketplaces, and buy-sell sites are a crazy wealth of items. It is sad to think of how much is wasted, how many items go to the curb when they still have use. Buying “new to you” items is a way to reduce this huge amount of waste and defer items from going to the trash.
Our TV room sofa set came from a family that had moved to a new home and needed more space. It was a year old and looked brand new, it just didn’t work in their new space. I priced the items in a store and it would have cost me over $4000 to purchase the furniture new. I sold the furniture that we had in the room (that did not match the high-end décor we wanted) and purchased the “new to me” furniture items. For $0 I completely changed the look of our room to what I wanted. This deal was amazing and there are lots of deals like this available. It took some time to sell my current furniture, and I thoroughly cleaned the furniture I purchased, but there was no cost to me. With a bit of effort, I got the look I wanted without spending $4000 on new furniture. The room has a high-end look at no cost.
You can keep your eye out on the buy and sell sites for gems like this. The savings are huge and beneficial to all parties. I have not had any issues purchasing from people online but make sure that you do your due diligence when purchasing items (you want to ensure the items are in good shape, not to mention smell and bug-free). In addition, you need to make sure that you are doing the transactions in a safe way (meeting in a neutral location, or going with a friend if picking up an item). Your safety must come before a good deal. Read online regarding the best and safest practices when purchasing items from others (including what personal information you share, meeting and payment). You need to remember these people are strangers, take the needed precautions to keep yourself safe.
In Summary
Making a room look high-end doesn’t need to break the bank. Knowing what your décor goals are is the starting point and from there you need to use your imagination and budget to get you where you want to be. You can transform a room for pennies if you get creative. Living a posh life and having posh décor doesn’t mean buying new and spending a lot of money. you can create your dream room on a budget.