Make Cheap Furniture Look Expensive

Let’s be honest here: we would all like to live in fancy homes with swanky furniture, high-end tech, and suave accessories. Alas, all that glitters is seldom affordable, and even a partial home makeover centered on lavish gear can leave you with a queasy feeling that you are wasting your hard-earned coins on mere eye-candy. Does this mean that you have to forgo expensive-looking home ware? Absolutely not: you just need to hack the pricey hardware look like a pro. Here are a few tips on how to achieve the opulent home aura without breaking the piggy bank.

1. Sleek pulls and handles go a long way

Even the cheapest cabinet can look like a piece off magazine covers if handled properly. Replace mainstream handles with their cooler counterparts – the minimal update will not set you back more than a few bucks, but the visual effect of sleek add-on’s will be priceless. There are many stunning handles and pulls out there (leather, wooden, and brushed metal, to name just a few) that will take your hardware from sodden to stylish in a flash.

2. Faux finish, yet true elegance

Metal may be durable, but over time it can loose its luster and ruin rather than enhance home decor. Not to worry: with a bit of sandpaper and some bronze, gold-hued, or silvery spray paint, you can update every metal surface in your nest and restore its charm lost through years of neglect.

3. A fresh sofa and armchair outlook

If you seldom use sofa covers and you treat armchairs without due tender, clean, and care, the upholstery will soon turn discolored, slouchy, and worn out. Hail colorful fabrics and soft tufting! All it takes to revamp upholstery is a few yards of quality textile, foam, a handful of chic buttons, and a tad of elbow grease. According to Fabric Traders textile experts, upholstery update is the easiest way to keep home fabrics on-trend, and it costs a dozen times less than a new furniture piece

4. Less is more in visual mores

Antique furnishings with lots of frills and trims are cheaper than modernist pieces, but they do add bulk to the visual load – and excess of detail does not exactly look the sleek 21st-century home. Chop off frills and loose ends from vintage rugs, give an outdated shaggy throw a haircut, and sand and repaint multicolored furniture to revert it to a monochromatic mode. Remember: in contemporary homes, less is always more, at least when it comes to aesthetics.

5. Teach an old piece new tricks

Re-purposed furniture is popular these days, and it does not have to look like an ungainly pile of clutter out of your grandma’s backyard. Convert an old coffee table into a tufted bench, up cycle an outdated shelf into an over sized dresser with the help of custom-made drawers, and transform a few torn poufs into a designer-looking beanbag.

6. Black-and-white for sophistication

Nothing speaks high style louder than black-and-white color scheme. For a sophisticated kitchen look, repaint cabinetry in contrasting colors, or top off a monochromatic dresser with handles and frame paint in a complementary tone for an instant Wow effect.

7. Stick it up – and all the way across

Self-adhesive wallpapers and vinyl decals can spice up the shabbiest of furnishings if selected with taste and applied properly. Depending on the decor color palette, pick contact paper with an urbane design, such as vertical stripes, botanical elements, matte, glossy, or textured finish, or graphic art. Even a simple pastel-hued adhesive coat will liven up your house – and it will also conceal the odd dent and crack on aged wooden surfaces.

Aesthetic value does not always come with a mind-boggling price tag – you just need to be a crafty homeowner who knows how to bring out the classiest side out of cheap furnishings.