How to: Style Your House Like 5-Star Homes on AirBnB

Ever stared dreamily at pictures of gorgeous homes on Airbnb and thought, "How do I get my bedroom or living room to look like this?" Well on the whole, luxury locations tend to have many similarities that are reasonably easy to achieve. Before getting into where you can find things like lanterns and rugs — here are five ways you can model your living space like 5- star dwellings.

#1 Clear out unwanted things.

One of the first things to do when styling your dream home is getting rid of things you don't need. We all have things in the back of our closets that we're pretty sure we haven't used since 2010, so not only would having a clean out be good for making extra space for new things, but it'd symbolise a fresh start — sort of like a blank canvas.

#2 Embrace Feng Shui.

Based on the Chinese philosophical system of organization, its focus is derived from an alignment of one’s self with the space in which they live in as well as the objects that surround them. By taking some notes from the idea of feng shui even if you aren't necessarily a spiritual person, you can create the perfect space for you. For instance, keeping clutter to a minimum is a very important part of the practice and ensuring you make an area that's only used to promote learning and growth. Essentially, it's purpose is to keep your home balanced and encourage you to be the best you that you can be.

It really does work.

#3 Lighting

Probably the most overlooked of all elements in interior design; lighting can absolutely transform the entire look of a space. Think about it this way: is there much point of putting money and effort into making your home perfect if you can barely see it? Light makes colours richer, texture easier to recognise, and gives your room the right ambience.

There are three main types of lighting; accent, task and mood. Accent lighting is perfect for highlighting pieces of art such as painting or sculptures but the angle needs to be spot on to have the desired effect. Task lighting is essential in every room of the house because it can stop eye strain and ensures you don't make a dangerous mistake in the kitchen. Last but not least is mood lighting, which like the name suggests, is best for creating atmosphere by using a range of brightness and colours.

#4 Choose your style.

Picking your decorating style can be really difficult, and sometimes we just buy what we see and bungle it all together but then get some serious house envy when we visit our friends. This quiz by Houzz is a great way for finding out what style you should look into — they also have an awesome shopping section where you can filter right down to your preferred category, style, colour, and price.

Knowing more about the different styles means that when you see a home you admire, you can tell what kind of thing you should look into if you want to incorporate it into your own.

#5 Colours

The best way to pick colours for a room is to figure out how long you spend in it, what it's main uses are, and what mood you want to induce with the colours used. Another thing to consider is how big the room is, because that's often a huge factor in choosing colours — bright, energetic colours give the feeling of more space and warm colours make the room look smaller and cosier.

If you aren't sure, a good idea is to use neutral colours on your walls and inject colour dependent on trends or what you like the look of - this way you can change out the extra bits easily with the potential to transform the room whenever you like. Many 5-star homes on Airbnb adopt this idea because it's easy to accomplish and much less expensive than redecorating whenever a colour goes in and out of style.

Which one do you like the best?

I chose these 5-star homes because they all have their own unique styles, but many basic concepts of interior design are followed (see the five things you can do at the top). They are great examples of how you make a space your own but without it being too cluttered and chaotic.

Images courtesy of Airbnb.