We've rounded up several cheap decorating ideas to make your space look luxurious without breaking the bank.
Cheap Decorating Ideas That’ll Make Your Space Look Expensive
1
/
14
Play Around with Paint
First up on the list of cheap decorating ideas is to utilize paint colors. “Paint is extremely inexpensive and makes a big difference,” says Keysha Jillian, lead interior designer and owner of K. Jillian Designs, based in Tampa, Florida. “Whether you need to tone down a color or add a bold color to liven up your space, color is great for changing the overall feel of a room.” Our experts had a wide range of suggestions when it came to picking colors and finishes, so you’re sure to find an idea or two that resonates whether your style is reserved and minimalist or bold and maximalist.
Stick to Classic Neutral Walls
When in doubt on paint color, choose a classic neutral. Colors like beige, gray, greige, and yellow will always look fresh and on trend. What’s more, they pair well with everything. Limit bold accent colors to accessories, and you’ll never have to repaint an entire room because a bright color choice got to be too much.
Choose Deep Colors
If neutral colors aren’t your thing, bold colors can scream “elegant” with a bigger punch, says interior designer Douglas Graneto. “Deep hues with shiny finishes are the way to go,” he says. “For example, a deep navy wall with gold and purple contrast within the decor can exude a glamorous energy that for sure can feel luxurious.”
Don’t Go Overboard On Color
Sprinkling just one or two accent colors throughout the home will add a pop that looks cohesive without going over the top. “Adding too much color will immediately make it feel shabby chic or Boho, which is nice but a very different vibe than luxe,” says Drew Henry, the founder of design firm Design Dudes.
Harmonize with Color
Creating the perfect color palette is more complicated than grabbing three of your favorite colors, but taking the time to perfect your color scheme will make your home look worthy of a catalogue. “I advise my clients to focus on a color family, or to pick hues that complement each other—not contrast,” says designer Gil Greenwash, author of Gil Walsh Interiors: A Case for Color. “Too many bold colors or a soft palette that lacks depth tends to fall flat.”
Try Luxe Paint Treatments
Instead of sticking to interior eggshell paints, opt for a special paint treatment in a few key spots in your home. With finishes like metallic stripes, sandstone, random rectangles, textured sand and brushed suede, to name a few, you’ll create a purposeful and elegant look that will draw the eye exactly where you want it to go.
2
/
14
Make Your Bathroom a Retreat
Your bathroom gets a lot of use, and guests are almost guaranteed to see it during parties and gatherings. So it’s an obvious candidate for some cheap DIY decorating ideas and luxury upgrades.
Pick Towels You’re Actually Excited to Use
It’s time to get rid of those dingy old bath towels—discolored whites and bleach-stained colors make your space look dirty and cheap. “Proudly display crisp white, fluffy towels like the kind you would find in a fancy hotel or spa,” says Henry. “This will immediately trigger a feeling for your guests, and they will have a more luxurious feeling towards the space.”
If you feel that plain white towels may be too boring for your space, fear not. Luxury interior designer Charmaine Wynter suggests adding simple DIY detailing to basic towels to show off your signature style. “Just select a coordinating ribbon color and pull out your sewing machine,” she says.
Focus On Faucets
If you only have room in the budget for one high-end bathroom feature, make it a quality tap. Pairing it with plain, wallet-friendly tiles will actually highlight the money spent, says interior designer René Dekker. “If you look in the window of any high-end jewelry store, you will see that the finely crafted items, the gold and diamonds, are always displayed against plain neutral backgrounds which show them off much better … the same concept will work in your bathroom,” he says.
Ditch the Old Toothbrush Holder
Upgrading your toothbrush holder and soap dish is a low-cost way to add flair to your bathroom. Pick a sleek, modern set that matches the rest of your décor, suggests interior designer Dayna Hairston, founder of Dayziner.
3
/
14
Add Molding
If your walls are bare besides the occasional artwork, consider adding molding to the baseboard, chair rail, or ceiling. “It doesn’t even have to be a gaudy, Victorian-style molding—a simple and single-shape, single-depth piece of molding will do the trick,” says interior designer Erica Leigh Reiner, owner of E. Leigh Designs.
4
/
14
Accent with Accessories
Magazines are a great source of cheap decorating ideas and inspiration for how to accessorize a room. However, homeowners should expect to shop around for a budget-friendly version of anything they see in a design magazine. “Accessories vary significantly in cost, but if you’re looking for a great deal there are plenty of discount home stores that offer stupendous finds, says Jillian. “My ‘go-to’ store for a lot of home design items (especially for clients on a budget) is HomeGoods.”
Swap Out Your Throw Pillows
Throw pillows are an easy way to accessorize and brighten a room, whether you buy them or make your own. Jillian says homeowners should throw out their older throw pillows and replace them with bright, fuller pillows—or just buy crisp new pillow covers. “Mix and match colors and textures, and blend different groupings,” she says. But more is not better. “There can be too many pillows, so make sure you don’t go overboard.”
If you don’t want to buy all new pillows, you can still utilize this tip. An inexpensive throw pillow will seem so much more luxurious when you replace the original insides with a feather insert. “They just look and feel so much better than foam,” says Ana Cummings, a design expert on CTV’s Homes & Lifestyles Canada.
Add Volume
Expensive items tend to have weight and volume to them. That’s why heavier gold bangles appear more luxurious than lighter ones that feel like—and possibly are—made of plastic. Avoid flimsiness at all costs: add an extra panel of curtains to your curtain rod, and search for quality carpets and throw blankets that great to the touch. Additionally, accessorize with weighty accent pieces; vases, picture frames, and ornaments should all feel like they’ve got something to them.
Pay Attention to Details
Your furniture and appliance choices might be the first things people notice, but giving details special attention makes it seem like you spent even more time and money creating your space. “Switching out small fixtures and hardware in the home for more thoughtful pieces can make the design of the home feel more intentional, which, in turn, makes it feel more expensive,” says designer Justina Blakenly, founder of Jungalow. Replace a dated flush mount light with a modern style, or swap plastic wall plates for metal, she suggests.
Seek Out Softness
“Velvet or velour has both a luxurious feel and look,” says Nicola Croughan, the lead interior designer and stylist at Blinds Direct. “In fact, most soft-to-touch fabrics work best.” Go bold with a deep jewel tone or pair a neutral color scheme with pastel “ice cream shades” like mint green or blush, she says.
5
/
14
Focus on Your Window Treatments
Windows add beautiful natural light to your space, and they’re also a great way to dress up a room. Our experts have a couple of suggestions for how to use your windows to make your space feel fancier.
Give the Illusion of Higher Ceilings
If you can’t raise your roof, literally, you might consider raising your window treatments. Jillian suggests raising window panels to create an illusion of height and give it a grander feel. “Window treatment is often underrated and clients commonly overlook the impact it has on a space,” she says. “An inexpensive way to achieve this tip is to simply add fabric to your existing panels. Once you find the perfect complementary fabric, simply take it to your local seamstress to have/her add the fabric at the top, middle, or end of the fabric.”
Opt for Custom-Fitted Blinds
“Any badly fitting blind within the recess looks cheap if not sized correctly to the window,” says Croughan. Spending just a little more on a made-to-measure style is much more elegant, she says. She recommends picking plush Roman blinds and wide-slat wood blinds, and says to pick a water-resistant roller blind for bathrooms and kitchens to prevent mold.
6
/
14
Use Bookshelves for More Than Books
Cheap decorating ideas don’t need to involve lot of work, sometimes it just takes a creative eye to see the potential of a space. For example, lines of books on your shelves tend to look like a stuffy library. “Intersperse with a few framed photos and interesting book ends,” says Cummings. “Make sure it is neat and tidy—that alone speaks volumes.”
7
/
14
Don’t Match Finishes Perfectly, Coordinate Them
Certain stains and finishes play well with others. For example, cherry wood marries well with oak, and hickory blends tend to work well with almost everything, but the vast majority do not. If you’re looking to match your floor to your cabinets, or your faucets to your door knobs, go for an exact match, or make a real contrast; aim for at least three shades darker or lighter. An almost match has the tendency to look cheap.
Don’t shy away from contrast, however. It’s one of the lesser-thought-of cheap decorating ideas that can add a ton of character to your space. Plus, by mixing your finishes you can save money; you won’t have to shell out for an entire set all at once.
Hunt Around for New Options
When you find a bed or couch you love, you might be tempted to buy the whole set to guarantee a good match, but that can look cheap, says Myrf Bowry, interior designer and the co-founder of Decorum Inc. “All homes are much more interesting if things coordinate but are not all matchy-matchy,” she says.
Mix Up Your Bedroom Set
The easiest option won’t always pack the biggest punch. “If you have a dresser in a bedroom with a matching mirror, it makes the room much more interesting if you hang a different mirror over the dresser,” says Bowry. No need to throw that matching mirror out, she says; just hang it in another room.
8
/
14
Update Your Light Fixtures
Quit making lighting a second thought, says Isobel McKenzie, an editor of the interior design site NONAGON.style. “Very often in luxury homes and apartments, you’ll find that the lighting is subtly done but brings your attention to certain areas,” she says. Installing warm LED strip lighting on top of a bookshelf or under a mirror adds interest and dimension.
9
/
14
Up Your Thread Count
No matter what your bedding style, increasing the thread count for your sheets will instantly make your sleep space more luxe, says Charmaine Wynter, a luxury interior designer with Wynter Interiors. Your home won’t just look expensive—it will feel it.
10
/
14
Look Entertaining-Ready
If you have a dining room table you don’t use unless company is visiting, keep the settings there to fake your way to looking like a master host. “A staged tablescape will make the space feel more elegant,” says Henry. He suggests something as simple as fresh-cut flowers, which can make it seem like you’ve put time and effort into your dinner table. He also reassures readers that shelling out on fine china isn’t the only way to create a stunning table setting: “white dishes … have a low price tag with a high impact.” Pair them with gold flatware for a trendy, high-brow look.
11
/
14
Give Boring Products a Worthy Home
Cheap decorating ideas aren’t limited to big pieces of furniture. Even cleaning products deserve luxury treatment. “Ditch your plastic Dawn bottle and pour your favorite dish soap into a glass hand soap dispenser,” says Wynter. “Voila! Instant luxe.”
12
/
14
Go Big
Hiking up the size of your décor creates a big impression, even if the pieces aren’t too pricy, says Yael Meromy of design firm Studio D. “We love to use large-scale art and décor, like a massive canvas that takes up an entire wall or a well-oversized thick-framed mirror that leans against the wall instead of hanging, to create a space that’s impactful, memorable and grand,” she says.
13
/
14
Create a Vignette
Otherwise “dead space” can be dressed up to make the whole room look more styled. “Areas like coffee tables, consoles, empty corners of a kitchen counter … are all prime real estate for a well dressed vignette,” says Cummings. This is one of the cheap decorating ideas on our list that may turn out to be free. Take stock of what you have on hand and see how it can best go together. You might not have to spend a dime!
14
/
14
Shop at Thrift and Antique Stores
One of our favorite cheap decorating ideas has to do with where you shop. Never judge a store by its logo or storefront because you have no idea what treasures it will hold. You can find real gems at thrift stores. And don’t be afraid of a little hard work, if your initial purchase isn’t exactly what you wanted, be open to repainting, switching out hardware, or changing the fabric. Quality secondhand finds will add a high-end look to your home.
About the Experts
- Keysha Jillian is the lead interior designer and owner of K. Jillian Designs, based in Tampa, Florida.
- Douglas Graneto is an interior designer with Douglas Graneto Design.
- Drew Henry is the founder of design firm Design Dudes.
- Gil Greenwash is a designer and the author of Gil Walsh Interiors: A Case for Color.
- Charmaine Wynter is a luxury interior designer with Wynter Interiors.
- René Dekker is an interior designer with René Dekker Design .
- Dayna Hairston is an interior designer and the founder of Dayziner.b
- Erica Leigh Reiner is an interior designer and the owner of E. Leigh Designs.
- Ana Cummings is a design expert on CTV’s Homes & Lifestyles Canada.
- Justina Blakenly is the founder of Jungalow.
- Nicola Croughan is the lead interior designer and stylist at Blinds Direct.
- Myrf Bowry is an interior designer and the co-founder of Decorum Inc.
- Isobel McKenzie is an editor of the interior design site NONAGON.style.
- Yael Meromy is a designer from Studio D.
