Whether you rent, recently moved into your first home, or just have a limited budget, high-end furnishings, and home accessories can be out of reach for many, especially if you’re just starting out. But that doesn’t mean your place has to look like a dorm room. There are several tips and tricks you can use to give your home more polish. Luckily it takes more know-how than cash to add some sophistication to your space.
Here are ten ways to make your place feel more grown-up.
Add a Plant
It’s amazingly simple, but just adding a living thing or two makes any room feel finished.
Put a low-maintenance plant such as a?succulent, cactus?or philodendron on a side table or nightstand and you’ll give the impression you have your act together. After all, you have to be responsible enough to keep it alive!
Use a Tray on Your Coffee Table
Trays not only keep your clutter under control, they give a polished look to surfaces such as a?coffee table.
Fill a decorative tray with a short stack of hardback books, a box for your remote controls, a set of coasters and a pretty object or two for a grown-up look.
Plus, putting everything on a tray allows you to pick it all up and move it aside when you need the space for entertaining.
Style Your Bookcase
Even if the only books you have are paperbacks and old textbooks from college, you can still organize the whole lot so that it looks pulled-together.
Style your bookcase like a pro?by arranging your books both horizontally and vertically, and mixing in accessories.
Upgrade Your Lighting
Torch lamps and?string lights?may have worked in a dorm room, but they lack in sophistication. Trade adolescent lighting choices for a pair of inexpensive but chic table lamps.
Or, copy one of these?DIY lighting fixtures?to replace unsophisticated ceiling lights. Another budget-friendly idea for your first place is to look for lamps?at thrift stores, then make them like new by?spray painting?their bases.
Add Some Class With a Bar Cart
Organize your booze on a?classy bar cart?for a grown-up look. Add some swanky barware such as an ice bucket or a cocktail shaker for even more sophistication, then just roll it all into the corner after the party.
Save money by?DIYing your own bar cart, and if you’re really handy, try making one of?these beautiful wood bar carts.
Frame Your Art
After college, it’s really no longer acceptable to hang unframed prints or posters on the wall with tape.?You can, however, use unconventional methods for hanging art, such as on a grid of clipboards for a modern take on a gallery wall, or with wooden pants hangers for a vintage-industrial look.
Fortunately, there are several?online sources offering affordable, original art prints. And there are lots of?out-of-the-box ideas for wall art?too, such as objects like plates, textiles?and architectural salvage.
Coordinate Your Throw Pillows
One of the quickest ways to pull a room together is with decorative pillows. Strategic choices can help you camouflage an ugly couch, or add warmth, color and style to a boring room.
Learn to?mix and match patterned pillows like a pro, or go with a completely eclectic mix for a boho chic look.06 Frame Your Art
Hang Curtain Panels
Trade those cheap vertical blinds or plastic roller shades for curtain panels to give your room a more grown-up look.
Curtains not only pull a room together, they help cut your heating bill and add a layer of privacy.
save on hardware by trying one of these?DIY curtain rod hacks.
Use Soap Dispensers?
Leaving dish soap and hand soap in its original promotional packaging adds visual clutter to your counters and frankly, looks a little tacky.
Give your kitchen and bathroom sinks more polish by decanting soap into pretty bottles or soap dispensers.
Matching Glasses and Coffee Mugs
Mismatched glasses and coffee mugs can have a kitschy-cool effect if they’re collected and displayed intentionally. On the other hand, mugs with different logos on them and a hodgepodge of glass and plastic drinking glasses collected over time just looks messy.
BY?VALERIE OTT
