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HOW TO MAKE CHEAP DECOR LOOK EXPENSIVE - Home Decorating Ideas
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Mar 5, 2025
Want a high-end look on a budget? In this video, I’m sharing six simple tricks to make affordable home decor look luxe and stylish—without spending a fortune! Whether you're decorating with thrifted finds, budget-friendly store buys, or DIY pieces, these easy tips will elevate your space instantly. | CHAPTERS | 00:00 Intro 00:54 High-Low Decorating 02:50 Add Texture 05:32 Solid Neutrals 07:14 Repot Plants 09:30 Layer Textiles 11:07 Knobs and Pulls 💡 Links & Resources: Drywall Spackle - https://amzn.to/3F5WQbk Rustoleum Stone Creations Spray Paint - https://amzn.to/3XxvXDp My Planter - https://amzn.to/3F1Sa6m ✨| FREE DOWNLOAD |✨ The Big List - 101 Places To Shop Home Decor Online
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0:02
hi it's lindsy Diane from Dian decor.com
0:04
in this video I'm going to share with
0:07
you six ways to make cheap Decor look
0:10
expensive now a while back I did a video
0:14
on how to spot cheap decor and I'm going
0:16
to link that in the description below
0:19
and this is going to give you a basis
0:21
for why some of the things look cheap in
0:24
a nutshell it can be the coloring the
0:28
size of an item the texture of an item
0:30
those tend to be Hallmarks for what can
0:33
make an item look really cheap really we
0:36
want inexpensive items we want budget
0:39
fines we want to save money but we don't
0:43
want our things in our home to look
0:45
cheap and so here's how you can take
0:48
some of those budget items and make them
0:51
look a little bit more high-end let's
0:53
get
0:54
started the first way to make cheap
0:57
Decor look more expensive is to pair
1:00
them with a higher end item this takes
1:04
your cheap item out of isolation and you
1:08
aren't uh likely to scrutinize it quite
1:10
as much when it's in a setting with
1:13
other items so to do this you might have
1:16
a vignette of items maybe three or five
1:19
pieces that are all together and you
1:21
have one piece that maybe is from the
1:23
Dollar Tree but other pieces are you
1:25
know thrifted or you have something
1:27
that's really highend in the mix and
1:31
together collectively they will make a
1:33
nice setup another way to do the high
1:35
and low is to um use statement lighting
1:39
so you may spend a little bit more on
1:41
your chandelier or your table lamps or
1:44
your floor lamps but go cheaper on your
1:47
curtains or on your vases on a
1:49
decorative Bowl on little decorative
1:52
accessories this is another way to do
1:54
the high low thing sofas furniture
1:57
usually sitting furniture I tend to go a
2:01
little bit higher end on especially
2:04
items that you know you're going to get
2:05
a whole lot of use out of so you might
2:07
go highend on your sofa but then go
2:09
cheap on your decorative pillows or
2:11
pillow covers you may go high-end on
2:14
your coffee table but on the little
2:16
accessories in the trays on top of your
2:18
table go cheaper you can also pair a lot
2:22
of the inexpensive glass wear that you
2:25
may find at Dollar Trees so champagne
2:27
flutes and wine glasses and any other
2:29
colored glasses that you may want for
2:32
particular table settings go ahead and
2:34
pair that with your nice China or your
2:36
everyday dishes to create a beautiful
2:39
tablescape this is a really great way to
2:42
kind of mix in some of those cheaper
2:44
items into your Decor in a way that they
2:47
don't stand out quite as much the next
2:50
way to make a cheap Decor item look more
2:53
expensive is to add a little bit texture
2:57
for some Dimension and depth now like I
3:01
said I did a whole video on what really
3:04
are the Hallmarks of some of the cheap
3:05
Decor what makes something that's in
3:07
expensive look cheap and a lot of the
3:10
time it's that it lacks texture when you
3:13
think about high-end pieces you want to
3:15
go for something that's a little bit
3:17
more handmade handcrafted bespoke you
3:20
don't want something that's cookie
3:22
cutter cast in a mold and a little
3:25
plastic resin mold and popping out vase
3:28
after vase after vase after vase it's
3:30
completely uniform you would like to
3:33
ideally go for something that has a
3:35
little bit more texture and at least
3:37
mimics the look of something that could
3:38
be handmade so to do this there are
3:41
actually a lot of really inexpensive
3:43
options so let's say again for example
3:46
you have let's say a a little glass vase
3:49
from the Dollar Tree you want to add a
3:51
little texture to that you can use a a
3:55
drywall spackle to create this look use
3:58
a little um
4:00
usually the kits you can actually buy
4:02
the drywall patch kit and you can get a
4:04
little jar of the Spackle and you can
4:06
get like a little um trowel to go with
4:09
it and you can just go along and make
4:11
some texture um I did this project a
4:14
long time ago I actually did it with a a
4:17
tied uh dish detergent container that
4:20
was like bright orange and I was able to
4:23
cover it completely with the drywall
4:25
spackle and it gave it a really nice
4:28
beautiful textured look
4:30
so you can do this on some of the
4:32
outside of your um smooth vessels or
4:37
vases or bowls to give it a little bit
4:39
more texture you can also do the trick
4:42
where you add in some baking soda to
4:46
your paint so let's say you may have
4:48
chalk paint you can add in some baking
4:50
soda to give it like a coarse grainy
4:53
effect and use that to paint it on to
4:55
create your own texture paint and then
4:57
of course you can spray paint
5:00
with the stone spray paint that already
5:02
has that kind of texture um as a finish
5:06
so there are a lot of options to go
5:09
ahead and add a little texture to an
5:11
item um Mod Podge is also another option
5:15
you can do a Mod Podge with a napkin or
5:17
a cloth and then paint over it um again
5:21
there are a lot of options to do it
5:23
inexpensively you can mix sand with
5:25
paint as well so think about adding a
5:28
little texture to your cheap items to
5:30
give them a more high-end look number
5:33
three is to stick with solid neutral
5:36
colors for your decorative accents there
5:40
are lots of really cute decorative
5:42
accents at the dollar store and Five
5:45
Below but a lot of the times the color
5:47
gives them away either they have a
5:49
really poor paint job that makes them
5:51
look a little bit cheesy or they're in
5:53
bright colors that you don't really want
5:57
you know you may find a really great
5:59
planter but it's like teal or it's
6:02
bright yellow or it's orange go ahead
6:06
and either paint these items so that
6:08
they are solid neutral color or the next
6:11
time that you're going into the store
6:13
Target only those so you want a white a
6:16
cream a tan a beige a black matte is
6:19
even better so if you can find something
6:22
in a matte finish even better or you can
6:25
go for something with a metallic finish
6:27
that would work as well so a gold a
6:29
bronze a silver um you know a copper
6:33
anything like that would work great just
6:35
stay away from the bright colors because
6:38
they really are a Hallmark of cheap
6:40
decor and you're going to have a harder
6:42
time mixing it in with items that you
6:44
already have in your home something that
6:47
often happens when you have cheap
6:51
production is that the patterns don't
6:53
actually match up seamlessly I'm sure
6:56
you've seen this with clothing before
6:59
where the seams really don't line up and
7:01
so you have a you know half of a bird
7:04
here and the other half up here instead
7:06
of them coming in seamlessly with one
7:08
another this is something that you can
7:10
avoid if you just go with a neutral
7:12
solid Al together tip number four is to
7:16
repot your artificial plants for a more
7:18
Luxe look so usually when you get cheap
7:23
uh artificial plants or trees they come
7:26
with a teeny tiny little pot as a a base
7:30
and this is just one it's out of
7:33
proportion and it will stand out and two
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it tends to have your items um look
7:39
lower to the ground and therefore
7:41
smaller which also makes your Decor look
7:44
cheap um so instead go ahead and repot
7:48
these items you when you get a larger
7:51
planter you can pad the base if you need
7:54
to to help elevate your plant or your
7:56
bush so that it gives the appearance of
7:59
being much larger than it really is the
8:02
bigger the better frankly when it comes
8:04
to plants and Decor you want something
8:07
that is robust that can fill out a
8:09
corner that can fill out a planter box
8:12
something that looks too small for the
8:15
Space is really just going to throw off
8:17
your entire design so make sure that
8:20
when you buy your artificial plants if
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they are in a teeny tiny little pot go
8:26
ahead and repot them another reason to
8:29
repot B them is because you have the
8:32
opportunity to then choose a neutral
8:35
solid that's textured so when you go to
8:40
pick out a planter for that go for
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something nice like a terracotta planter
8:44
go for something that's Stone wear that
8:47
has a nice texture to it but is
8:49
otherwise neutral you can even go for a
8:53
nice higher end plastic planter that's
8:56
also textured that's actually what I
8:58
have back here for the this for the tree
9:00
in the background here I will show a
9:02
picture of the actual planter itself
9:05
this again I I've mentioned this before
9:07
the tree was a cheap find it was
9:09
probably not originally cheap but for me
9:12
I got it at Goodwill for like seven or8
9:14
doll but the actual pot I invested a
9:18
little bit more in and it's very big
9:21
very heavy even though it's plastic and
9:23
it just gives it a much more high-ends
9:25
look so make sure that you repot your
9:27
artificial plants for more
9:30
look next is to layer your textiles for
9:34
a more expensive look so when I say
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textiles I mean things like your
9:41
blankets your inexpensive throw blankets
9:44
that you may find at let's say Five
9:46
Below Five Below is also really great
9:48
for rugs but they're usually a 5 by
9:51
seven size which is on the smaller size
9:55
so think about layering these things up
9:57
you can layer them on your doorstep so
9:59
you can use a
10:01
5x7 as a layering rug on your doorstep
10:05
and then you put your door mat on top of
10:07
it which is odds are a bit smaller than
10:09
that for a nice layered look and you
10:11
have a really highend look when you do
10:13
that layered doormat thing you can also
10:16
layer your rug on top of a carpet if you
10:20
want to create let's say you're doing a
10:22
little cozy reading Nook and you have a
10:24
little row you can layer that on top of
10:26
a carpet um to create a nice nice little
10:30
seating area that looks high-end you can
10:33
also layer on your smaller blankets on
10:37
top of your sofa or layer it on top of
10:41
your bedding that's already um on your
10:44
bed so if you want to use a smaller
10:46
blanket that's of course not going to
10:48
fit a king-sized bed or a queen-sized
10:50
bed instead it's really meant to act as
10:53
a throw blanket you can just throw it
10:55
over the edge of the bed or fold it over
10:56
the end of the bed and have a really
10:59
nice look and this is a great way to
11:01
disguise in some of these cheaper items
11:05
with your more high-end Decor last but
11:08
not least is to swap out your Ps and
11:10
knobs on your furniture for higher end
11:14
versions so a lot of the time when we
11:16
buy inexpensive furniture from Walmart
11:19
or Target or Amazon the handles that
11:24
come on them are plastic and they look
11:26
really cheap and one of the easiest ways
11:30
to give your furniture a higher-end look
11:32
is to swap them out for some real metal
11:35
handles and pulls these are again it's
11:38
an inexpensive investment to upgrade
11:41
your handles you're this is just going
11:43
to take you a minute to do you all you
11:45
need is a screwdriver to do it make sure
11:47
you measure your poles the width of your
11:49
poles so that your holes line up go to
11:52
Amazon find some gold poles go to Home
11:54
Depot they're inexpensive there you
11:56
might get them $2 a piece at Home Depot
11:59
look for something that is just a little
12:01
bit stylish one you want something
12:03
that's actually metal and two look for
12:05
something that maybe has some kind of
12:06
Engraving or embossing or some kind of
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uh fluting or tapering to it just
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something that gives it a little bit
12:14
more of an elevated look and swap those
12:17
out for the ones that came with your
12:19
dresser or your desk or whatever you
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have swap them out and you will
12:25
instantly have a high-end look for an
12:28
other wise cheap piece of furniture you
12:32
can really make your personality shine
12:34
when it comes to knobs and pulls you can
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look for a vintage find you can go for
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something super Sleek in matte black you
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could go for um some of the knobs have
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um are made out of marble or other types
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of really pretty Decorative Stone there
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are a lot of different options you can
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also especially find really cool unique
12:57
knobs on Etsy so you can find little
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geod knobs and things like that the the
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sky is the limit when it comes to knobs
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and pulls so don't limit yourself to the
13:10
cheap plastic stuff that came with your
13:12
drawers moreover if your drawers did not
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come with PS at all this is again an
13:19
easy job you're just going to bore a
13:21
quick with your uh cordless hand drill
13:24
you're going to bore a quick hole and
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then you can screw in handles or knobs
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and and upgrade the look of your cheap
13:31
furniture that's it for this video I
13:33
hope you found it helpful don't forget
13:35
to visit me at Dian decore.com I post
13:38
all about home decorating tips and
13:40
tricks over there I thank you so much
13:43
for watching and I'll see you in the
13:44
next one bye
13:47
[Music]
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