10 Things That Actually Make a Home Look Expensive

I was probably eleven or twelve when I painted my bedroom wall gold. Gold metallic paint — and finding gold metallic paint in the fifties was no small thing. There was no Amazon, no internet to search. I really had to hunt, and I had to get somebody to drive me to a hardware store, where everyone thought I was a very strange child. Then I painted that wall a little bit at a time.

Let me tell you what I learned: gold metallic paint does not cover easily. Whoever moves in after you will discover that. I will tell you that much.

The itch never left. I walk into somebody’s home and sit there thinking of ways to change it. A hotel room — I want to change that too. It is something in my mind, and I cannot stop it.

So first of all, I do not follow the rules. But I do know what reads expensive, and most of it is not about spending more.

1. Light, and lots of it

I like bright. Natural light is a must for me — my whole mood changes in a dark space. Now, a cute little quaint pub, or a restaurant with wonderful chandeliers and candlelight? That kind of dark I am fine with. But in a home I want windows and light everywhere, not a space that never feels bright.

This one costs nothing. Pull the curtains all the way back, clean the glass, and stop blocking the windows with furniture. Rooms full of daylight photograph like money, and they feel like it in person, too — the mood of the whole home changes with the light, the same way mine does.

2. Beige only works with amazing artwork

I am not a beige girl. But beige with fantastic artwork and fantastic accessories? That is a whole different thing — a clean look. I am talking amazing artwork here, a major theme, some black and whites brought in, fresh flowers with real color in them. Done the right way, I am fine with it.

Because here is the thing about staying too neutral: boring. Neutral is okay if it is done high-end and classy, and most people can enhance neutral — they can add colorful paintings and everything else. So keep the quiet walls if you love them. Just do not let them be the whole story.

3. One conversation piece beats the matching set

My own style I would call eclectic — a mix. Right now I am hunting for a cool vintage piece from the sixties or seventies: a living-room table to sit between my two blue chairs. It has to be a conversation piece, something that brings warmth into that little corner.

That is the whole trick: one piece with a past, in a room where everything else matches. A room that came off one showroom truck never looks expensive, no matter what it cost.

4. Floors that look intentional — porcelain counts

You can buy less expensive items that look more expensive. Flooring makes the biggest statement in your home, and there are fabulous porcelain floors that look like wood.

Nobody kneels down to check. What they see is a floor that runs clean and consistent through the space. Spend on the installation being done well, not on the name of the material.

5. Lighting is the ambience

Lighting is so key to any successful ambience of a place. Electrical is expensive, but I do not care what your budget is — put in LED, and put in Lutron if you can. Yes, it is more expensive, but you know what? It is worth it. People notice when you have the higher-end little things.

A dimmer changes a room from lit to designed. Of everything on this list, this is the one people feel without being able to say why.

6. Finishes that match the price of the home

The Wolf and the Sub-Zeros are great. But if you are selling a five-hundred-thousand-dollar house, no one is expecting any of this stuff. If you are at a million and a half, at two million and over, you had better have some of it, because that is what people expect.

Expensive-looking means the finishes make sense together and make sense for the property. A restaurant range in an otherwise modest kitchen does not read as luxury. It reads as one confused purchase.

7. Color that moves out with you

Do not paint walls a dominant color. You love that charcoal-gray wall — the next person does not. They are either going to love it or hate it, and there are some people that walk in and go, oh my God, I have got to paint the walls.

I painted my wall gold, so I understand the urge, believe me. Put the bold color in the artwork, the flowers, the pillows — the things that move out with you — and let the walls stay on the side of the room.

8. Small homes need flow; big homes can afford doors

You have got two groups of people walking into homes right now. The first group wants clean — clean, simple, but still luxury. Clean, simple, luxurious. And they still go for open. If you have two thousand square feet or under, you are going to capture more space visually if it is open. Walls shut off space.

Now, the second group likes the kitchen closed off, and that is great — because probably the next person who buys that place is going to tear the kitchen open anyway. If you are in a five-thousand-square-foot home, or thirty-five hundred and up, you can do the closed kitchen, the pantries, the butler’s pantry. The judgment call is knowing which home you are in. Small homes look expensive when they flow; big homes can afford their doors.

9. The little touches

When people come to my home, I want everything in its place. Fresh flowers. Candles going, with a scent that is genuinely nice. Good serving glasses, good serving pieces. You are bringing somebody into your home, and you want them feeling the way they would in a lovely restaurant or some cozy little club. The little touches are what people remember.

The same touches work on an ordinary Tuesday with nobody coming over. Fresh flowers and a candle cost a few dollars, and they are the difference between a room that is furnished and a room that is finished.

10. Be happy in your space

You have to be happy in your space. I do not think there are mistakes when you are doing it for yourself, because you are living there, not staging a photograph. When it comes time to sell and you want the best price — then you might have to start thinking about tweaking a few things.

Decorate for your own eye while the home is yours — just remember the gold wall, and know which choices are hard to undo. The full list of what I would tweak before a sale is in the interior design mistakes I see most often.

A few of the under-fifty-dollar moves

The same idea carries into every corner of the home at pocket-money prices. A few favorites:

• A bowl of lemons on a clear counter
• Fresh flowers, even from the grocery store
• Warm LED bulbs — one temperature everywhere
• A tray and a candle on the coffee table
• Matching hangers in every closet
• A mirror across from the biggest window

The full list of little fixes gets its own article: the little fixes that make a big difference.