Paint Your Front Door

An eye-catching front door is a quick and easy way to up your curb appeal and make your home look fancy. While you want a colour that pops, don’t forget to take into consideration the tones in the exterior of your home. You don’t want your door to clash!

Fake A Swanky Brick Accent Wall Or Fireplace

Exposed brick walls and brick fireplaces have long been on the homeowner’s “would love to have” list. If installing an actual brick wall or building out brick around your fireplace is out of your budget, then you’ll be happy to know that there are cheaper alternatives out there that look realistic and amazing.

You can get faux brick contact paper on Amazon or at any home improvement store. Check out this DIY for a faux brick fireplace and this DIY for a faux exposed brick accent wall.

Give Your Lighting An Updating

If you’re wanting to make your house feel fancy without spending too much money, try investing in upgraded lighting. Replace those old flush mount dome light fixtures (or what everyone knows as “boob lights”) with a modern flush mount light or a bold semi-flush mount light.

Try replacing your kitchen or dining room lights with statement pendant lights. Head to Instagram or Pinterest for inspiration.

Update Your Hardware With Colour

You don’t need to buy all new hardware to update your home. Those hinges and handles can really add up if you replace all of them. Instead, try painting the existing ones that you have. A jet black or opulent gold can make your home feel bougy and high-class.

By painting them yourself you’ll spend pocket change and a weekend’s worth of time but the impact will be huge!

Make An Eye-Catching Headboard

You can make your bedroom look super chic and expensive with a unique and eye-catching headboard. If you get a little creative and put some work into it, you can DIY that headboard for cheap! Check out this DIY or this one for inspiration.

Go Neutral

When it comes to colours, nothing says luxe like neutrals. If you think of lavish hotels and ritzy mansions, you’re probably picturing huge rooms with crisp white walls or moody greys. Light neutrals make rooms feel large, open, and airy, whereas darker neutrals add drama.

Use String Lights For Ambiance

Adding string lights to your outdoor spaces is an inexpensive way to up the “wow” factor and create an ambiance that feels like luxury. While string lights are reasonably priced in most places, the best bang-for-your-buck that I’ve found for those Edison-bulb-looking ones is grabbing them at Costco.

Make sure you buy ones that are meant for the outdoors so that they won’t be ruined at the first sight of rain.

Those old-school Edison-bulb string lights are great for creating a light canopy over a deck or firepit area, hanging across the roof of a pergola, or hanging along the fence. Fairy lights are a great way to make eye-catching gardens, dreamy parasols, and stunning planters. LED strip lights are great for adding drama to your deck features and steps, as well as lining the fence.

Faux Marble

When you see marble, you immediately think “expensive and fancy”. Of course, that is because marble costs a pretty penny, so anything from countertops to side tables that are made out of real marble is going to actually be expensive and fancy.

If you want to have the look of marble, without the price tag of marble, then look to the self-adhesive faux marble contact paper. While you’re not going to want to install this baby on any high-contact surfaces (places that see a lot of daily wear and tear like your kitchen island or your main bathroom), it’s the perfect expensive-looking upgrade for a side table, desk, rarely-used half bath, or decorative shelves!

Check out these 5 things to know before you install contact paper.

Use Mirrors

Mirrors make a room look and feel bigger and brighter. Nice, large mirrors can be expensive. One trick is to buy framed floor-length mirrors. Paint the frame to match the colour of your closet door. Then use adhesive (or removable hanging strips for something less permanent) and stick the mirror onto the outside of your closet door. You can even glue trim onto the mirror to make it look even fancier. Check out the inspiration here.

DIY Modern Wall Molding

If you have large walls that are boring and plain, you can easily create eye-catching designs on the cheap with wall trim. Check out this how-to for this project.

Go Oversized On The Art

Large statement pieces of art are an easy way to make a big impact in a room. While art can be quite costly, it doesn’t have to be! Check out the clearance area in stores like Homesense, hit up thrift stores, and check out garage sales. Just make sure that your vehicle is large enough to easily and safely transport your new purchase!

Don’t Forget About Texture

One simple way to make your home look fancy and luxurious is to play with different textures. Try mixing woods with metals. Use throw pillows, rugs, and even wall-art to add in different textures.

Minimize And De-Clutter

One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to make your house look expensive is to have LESS. Get rid of clutter, reduce the knick-knacks, let your furniture be minimal, and your home will start to feel way more like those gorgeous million-dollar homes that you see on TV.

Go Green

Plants are an inexpensive way to brighten up your home and make it feel more luxurious. If you’re someone who cannot keep plants alive, try going for easy-to-care-for succulents or cactus.

Use Baskets and Glass In Your Pantry

Organize your pantry and make it look super bougie by using baskets. Check this out for inspiration. By making fancy-looking labels for the baskets, you can make your pantry look even MORE upscale!

Final Thoughts

Or, if you have the budget for it, invest in making your home your happy place by hiring an interior designer to transform your space for you. Interior designers are like decor ninjas and can help you make your home a place that you never want to leave. They are the experts at transforming spaces and will help you see the true potential that your households within its walls.

When you hire a local interior designer through the Locorum platform, you’ll earn rewards that will be loaded straight onto a prepaid Mastercard! You can use those rewards on any local business in your city! Plus, when you hire a local professional on Locorum, you know you’re getting a verified business and can scope out verified reviews from other locals like yourself.