You don’t have to throw away all your stuff and hire the best interior designer to give your home a chic, expensive look - but it does help to know where to start.
We asked some top interior designers for tricks of the trade on how you can make your visitors go “wow” when they walk in a room.
Glorious flowers always make a room look high end but they can cost, says Philly Lyus of DMI Home Stagers in Auckland.
Instead of paying out for a florist she suggests you go foraging and collect some beautiful big green leaves to put in a vase because fresh always look lovely.
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Flowers will brighten up a drab room and make it seem more fresh.
Got some great cushion covers but the inners are flat and miserable? Then buy some feather inners so your cushions have a plumped up, luxurious look.
“It doesn’t show through but it’s the way they sit,” says Lyus.
“If you put a feather inner inside a cheaper cushion cover once you get the beautiful inner you can ply it a bit more and it tends to look a bit more luxurious.”
Go big on artworks
Fabulous art can look stunning, of course, but to keep costs down instead of going for small and significant find an amazing photo and get it blown up then spend the money on buying a great frame.
In the bedrooms you don’t have to get expensive bedframes - but do get a headboard.
“We never do a bed without a headboard because it definitely gives that luxurious, gorgeous feeling.
“You can pick them up quite cheaply now. A few hundred dollars can get a plain linen one and it just frames the bed and makes it feel a little bit more luxurious again.”
Large pieces of art can help a room stand out and seem more expensive.
Auckland designer Anna Cuthbert, of Cuthbert Interiors, says go for a mix of textures in a room and add surfaces which reflect the light.
“You don’t want everything ‘same, same’. You want to introduce, whether it be velvets or fur or chenille or sateens, different things that are going to reflect the light to make it look more luxurious.”
You might think about getting a coffee table with a polished marble surface for its reflective qualities, for example, and then introduce layers of texture.
Mix and match
And you might choose some darker colours for the walls instead of white on white because colour can give a rich, luxurious ambience.
Mix and match expensive objects in a room with cheaper pieces so don’t be afraid to try lower end suppliers – but don’t buy all your stuff from the same place.
“If every place has one gem you’ve got a great collection.”
If you are going to shop this way, Cuthbert warns it’s essential to put some time into the search.
“You can’t just walk into the first shop and expect to find what you’re looking for.”
Where to start, though? Go online first, Cuthbert says. Have a look on Pinterest and click on the images you like so you can start putting together a style you like.
Light the way
Cuthbert’s next piece of advice is attend to lighting.
Lighting can transform the whole look of a room and it can direct the eye towards the nice and away from the not so nice.
You can use uplights to accentuate features of architecture in a room, a pendant light to highlight a beautiful coffee table, or a directional light to put the spotlight on a fantastic painting.
“If you’ve got a side table and a beautiful lamp and three or four lovely dishes or accessories, highlight them.
“You want to make them the feature -draw your eye to the important and take your eye away from the things that aren’t.”
The right light can transform how you see a room
And, if you have an ugly view out a window dress the window with a roller blind so you can’t see the awful outlook then put beautiful curtains up.
If you’re still not sure what to do, Cuthbert recommends getting an expert in for a walk through.
Many designers will charge for a consult only which might only cost a few hundred dollars but would be money well spent, she says.
“That could be coming in and saying put this colour on the walls, you should select five cushions for this sofa and you should choose them in this colour palette and you should find a throw that looks a bit like this.”
