How Make Your Home Look Like a Million Bucks Without Breaking the Bank

Whether you’re a solo professional outfitting your first rented apartment or part of a couple that’s just starting out and decorating your first home, this budget range is where things usually start. The good news is that your $ 15k - $20k budget already covers taxes, delivery, assembly, and furniture purchases in addition to hiring an interior designer. You would be looking at stores like IKEA, Structube, or Home Sense for this type of decorating budget. Even at this budget range, you can still have a house that looks like a million bucks provided you have an experienced interior designer by your side helping you select attractive pieces of furniture and eye-catching accessories to make your home look way more upscale than if you tried decorating on your own. Do remember not to scrimp when it comes to buying key pieces that will support human weight for long periods of time like couches, mattresses, or dining chairs. Ask your designer to choose these carefully so that they can last for many years, which is why I recommend allocating just a little bit more budget for these 3 items if you don’t want them to fall apart after a short period of time.

I usually recommend budgeting between 3% - 5% of the cost of your home for better quality stuff. So if you own a three-bedroom house valued at $ 1M for example, you may want to set aside $ 30k (or .03 x $ 1M) or more for furniture and accessories that are not only pretty to look at but also durable. You will end up with better quality furniture in this budget range from stores like Wayfair, EQ3, and Urban Barn than what you will get from a $ 15k - $ 20k budget. In addition you’ll be able to acquire nicer and more unique pieces of art and accessories, which function as the jewelry pieces in your home in the same way that the accessory pieces in someone’s wardrobe help to elevate that person’s entire outfit. When a person chooses a high-quality bag, shoes, necklace and/or watch, these can all make a $ 200 dress (or suit) look like they’re worth $ 1,200 or more, just like choosing the right lighting fixtures, art, and tabletop accessories can elevate your space and make it look more polished and luxurious. Working with an interior designer can really pay off in this regard as their trained eyes allow them to find the best-looking furniture pieces from each supplier for your budget and enable them to accessorize your walls, corners and tabletop surfaces with one-of-a-kind items that really stand out and make people go ‘wow’. And you may really need an interior designer in this budget range as Wayfair is a labyrinth of goods that can be difficult to choose from, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing, as there’s so many options at different levels of quality and price available there.