Posted 11 Sep, 2020
How to make your house look expensive on a budget
If you ever feel like your space has become a bit lacklustre, or that it doesn’t quite match your personality, it’s time for a home upgrade.
Your living space reflects your family’s essential values and character, so nothing is quite as satisfying as adding quick, easy elegance to areas of your house. It ups the ambiance and sometimes makes your daily routine simpler.
Upgrading your house isn’t as expensive as you think. Sure, it’s always nice to upgrade to granite or marble countertops and replace your cabinets, but there are easier, more cost-effective ways to beautify a particular space. Elegance is achieved by adding details in underrated locations, simultaneously enhancing your daily experience in your home and guests’ impressions of it. Here’s how to make your house look expensive, without breaking the bank.
Create a lush first impression with lawn and landscape upgrades. Consider planting a mass of bulbs with grass-like foliage in your lawn. By the time your lawn is ready to be mowed, the flowers will be, too.
A great species of flowers for this are scilla siberica bulbs, a delicate purple and white flower that covers your whole lawn. The scilla siberica’s purple colour makes your house look expensive with the impression of royalty. You can often find up to 100 bulbs for under $20. Add a stately privacy screen with a row of evergreens. They’re relatively maintenance-free, can grow three feet in one year and give a bright pop of colour in the grey winter. Also, your evergreen screen will block out harsh winter winds.
Open your kitchen space by removing a few of your upper cabinet doors. To make your house look expensive, use the shelves inside to display neatly organized dishes or fine glassware. Already have plenty of wall space above your countertops? Install floating shelves as an upscale storage option for glasses, red wine or baking ingredients.
Maximize the usefulness (and character) of your den, great room or sitting room by unhinging the doors on a closet and turning it into a home office. Arrange the shelves inside so they are deep enough to accommodate a desktop and other office necessities. Choose an accent desk chair. For an added touch of glam to make the house look expensive, think printed upholstery or a modern metal to really draw eyes to the new space.
The laundry room is an underrated space to make the house look expensive. Add some chic practicality by installing a chandelier ($80-$100) and adding a large shelf just barely above your washer and dryer. The chandelier adds unexpected glamour and light while the large shelf can double as a folding board and open storage.
By enhancing the details of the spaces you and your guests tend to overlook, you achieve laidback elegance. Keep the above ideas in mind next time you’re thinking of splurging on a major renovation.