HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME LOOK EXPENSIVE | AFFORDABLE LUXURY

We all dream of a luxurious, expensive looking home, yet it can often feel unattainable without a huge budget. We're here to tell you the idea that something actually needs to be expensive in order to look and feel expensive is a total myth. When it comes to making your home look expensive, often less is more. If you've seen glimpses of Kim Kardashian's $60million mansion, you'll know what we mean - it's like nobody even lives there! While we're not suggesting that you need to hide or throw out all of your belongings and cover up every ounce of life with a minimal beige, we do think that expensive-looking, minimalist design can work for most budgets, helping to achieve an expensive look akin to a hotel room.

Contempee is the home of minimal and modern home decor, providing beautiful finishing touches that bring your space to life. We pride ourselves on offering affordable luxury, stunning pieces that elevate your home making it look and feel expensive without a hefty price tag. We believe that it's all about the finishing touches. Indeed, they make your home look “finished”, which in turn helps it look more expensive. You can use finishing touches to create a cohesive feel throughout your home by bringing similar pieces into each room. Tying the home together in this way brings everything into balance, making it look expensive.

While we love our finishing touches, from faux floral arrangements to statement vasesfluffy pampas grass, we're offering you a few more tips for making your living space feel expensive on a budget.

Here's 10 tips for how to make home look expensive:

1. PAINT

   A fresh coat of paint is a relatively cheap and easy way to make your house look fresher, crisper and newer. As we live in our home day in and day out, it's hard to notice paint fading. It's only when it's time for a re-fresh and we add a tester to the wall that we see how much it has discoloured. If you have a room that's looking a little dull and dated, a simple lick of paint can do the trick, elevating the space and making it look more expensive.
So our first tip, paint walls and try out lots of different paint colors. Dark walls can add an element of drama and luxury, so don't shy away from dark paint colors! While you're at it, we also recommend you paint doors and wall trim, so everything looks fresh.
   
   

2. FIND YOUR STYLE AND STICK TO IT 


   Many of us have many different interior styles that we like to draw inspiration from. While it is hard to pick just one, doing so will help to create a cohesive home that feels high-end and luxurious. If every room has a different style, your home can feel mis-matched and confusing and dare we say it, cheap. Finding your style and sticking to it throughout the house is the way to go - it makes such a difference. This doesn't mean you can't draw inspiration from different places, but that you shouldn't have starkly contrasting styles - for example, a white, minimalist kitchen and a moody, maximalist guest bedroom. It's all about cohesion! You can then add your personality with home decor accents.
   
   

3. MAKE BOLD STATEMENTS 


   Nothing says expensive like bold, brave statements to create a focal point. You can make a statement in pretty much anyway you can think of, and even rather boring, mundane elements of your home can become a statement. (For example, a light fitting, picture frames or window treatments). Contempee's favourite way to make a bold statement is with large wall art. Our framed canvas collection adds an element of luxury to any home and with modern, abstract designs. As they create a stunning statement and focal point to your room, they certainly make your house look more expensive. Opting for large framed canvases over prints creates a high-end feel for that same luxury hotel feeling. To go the extra mile, you can even add picture lights to illuminate your artwork.
   
   
   
   

4. CLEAN AND DE-CLUTTER 


   This one is simple, but having a clutter-free and clean home can make your house look more expensive. Think Kim K's mansion. We know this can be difficult, especially if you have young children with lots of toys. We recommend looking into innovative storage solutions that keep visible clutter to a minimum. These don't have to be expensive, with Ikea providing plenty of affordable options. It's worth investing so that you have a proper place to keep your things. Another way you can do this is to remove visual clutter and "de-clutter" visually. For example, opt for white bed linens and white throw pillow covers rather than bright bold patterns - this makes a huge difference. White sheets scream hotel luxury, and remember, a clear house equals a clear mind! 

   
   

5. ADD CHARACTER WITH FURNITURE AND PANELLING


   Any expensive home has tonnes and tonnes of character. Nothing says luxury like stunning period features, but most of us are seeking a modernised version and want to mix old and new decor. An affordable way to add character is by purchasing antiques and vintage furniture to make your house look expensive. We love to search Facebook Marketplace to give pre-loved pieces a second lease of life. Buying high quality furniture pieces second-hand allows us to incorporate heirloom quality pieces for not a lot of expense. By searching Marketplace, you can often find higher quality pieces for the same price as it's Ikea equivalent. Solid wood furnishings are always preferable and scream luxury, so pick solid wood furnishings where you can!
   
   Another relatively affordable way to add character is with panelling. There are so many different types and styles that you're sure to find something you love, from more traditional designs to slat panelling like that shown below. Panelling is also a great way to bring different paint colors into a room without having a feature wall.
   
   View this post on InstagramA post shared by Anna | Affordable Home Decor & Styling Tips | UK (@our_home_style_)
   
   

6. GALLERY WALLS 


   Next, we recommend streamlining gallery walls. Another way to achieve the wall art focal point we mentioned earlier is by adding gallery walls creating colorful areas. Quirky gallery walls are bold, brave and luxurious! While an eclectic style gallery wall can look cool, a simple, polished gallery wall is more our style. Try matching frames and arranging in a sleek pattern of 3's or 5's for an expensive look. Contempee even have ready made gallery walls to choose from, taking all the hard work out of it so you can effortlessly make your house look luxurious!
   
   
   

7. HANG CURTAINS HIGH AND WIDE 


   We recommend hanging window treatments and curtains high and wide. This has become somewhat of a ‘trend', and you may have seen videos showing the curtain pole being moved higher to create a more expensive, luxury hotel look. We think this looks great, and hanging curtains high and wide gives the luxurious illusion of larger windows and taller ceilings - an ideal combo to make your house look expensive!
   
   

8. FLOWERS 


   Always having flowers around the home creates an expensive looking space - think spa or hotel. Realistic, quality faux flowers are the best way to have flowers all year round. They're lower maintenance and last longer than fresh flowers, making them easier on the environment and your purse. Opting for faux also has several other benefits. Contempee have a range of stunning faux florals, from our new florist-style bouquets to artificial cherry blossom and hydrangea so you can add colorful flowers for little expense.
   
   

9. LARGE RUGS

   Next, make sure you opt for appropriately sized rugs. A common mistake we see if people going for a too small rug, but this can make the space feel far from luxurious. As a general rule, all legs of your living room furniture, or at least the sofas and coffee table, should touch the rug. If you're after an exact square footage, one of the best interior design tricks is to leave a one foot border around the edge of the room, but this will depend on the shape of the room. In a living room, the rug should at least cover your seating area and coffee table space, to ground your conversation space.
   
   

10. AMBIENT LIGHTING

    To make your house look more expensive, try to bring in ambient lighting. This really sets the mood of your home. Remember, you want your house to feel like a luxury hotel, not an office block that has bright fluorescent lights! But by ambient lighting we don't just mean the physical lighting. There are lots of things you can do to update the lighting in your home to make it feel more expensive. Try adding lamp shades lamps to dark spaces to reflect light around the room. An inexpensive idea is to just replace an old lamp shade or light fixture to bring a fresh, modern look to your lighting! Similarly, updating light switches makes all the difference. In your kitchen, you can install under cabinet lights that highlight your beautiful counters. Indeed, there are many ways lighting can be ambient!

We hope these tips have helped. Contempee have plenty of affordable yet luxurious finishing touches, helping you to create the expensive looking home you've always dreamed of. If you love luxury style, browse our collection today.