10 Ways to Create Designer Interiors on a Budget

With careful consideration, research, and planning along with some helpful styling tricks, it’s actually really easy to create a luxe-looking interior for less. Lucky for you, there is an ever growing number of affordable furniture and lighting brands that can help create an interesting and beautiful interior without resorting to copies of big-name items.

Don’t forget that it’s not just about the objects and furniture you own but the overall design of a room as a whole. Finishes like paint, wallpaper, flooring, and fabrics can emphasize quality beyond their price, adding to the overall look and making the interior scheme more convincing. Keep scrolling for more tips on how to craft a designer home interior on a budget.

1. Take your time.

Take your time to develop a good theme for your room or entire interior look. Browsing quality interior design magazines and websites will provide initial inspiration and will focus your ideas. After a few hours, you should definitely know which designer looks you love and those you hate. Then, assess what makes the look successful. Is it the use of chrome? The abundance of earthy textures? The slick use of color, or perhaps a combination of several factors?

2. Create a mood board.

Once you have an idea of your design style, bring your inspiration to life with a mood board using cut out images or ones downloaded from the internet. Online research is the fastest way to see where you can find pieces with similar detailing, finishes, or shape. And there are now a number of online aggregators that show products from a huge number of manufacturers.

3. A little bit of DIY goes a long way.

While expensive designer looks use costly materials and finishes, there are often much cheaper alternatives that will provide 90-percent of the same look. All you need to do is spend some time and look for items that have the same feel as a designer piece — be it a lamp with a chrome base or a basic bentwood chair given a great paint job. Powder-coating drab metal components in smart metallic finishes or bright colors is another way of converting everyday items to look more expensive than they really are.

4. Look for bang for your buck.

Stone is generally a luxury material, but there are certain varieties you can get at a quarter of the price of more expensive types. Similarly, the luxurious look of gold detailing can be achieved with polished brass and printed wallpapers with a touch of gold foil. Both create a sense of luxury at budget prices.

5. Invest in showstoppers.

It’s often wise to invest in a couple of showstoppers that lift the level of your room or interior. These can be materials like a stainless steel counter or a solid timber floor as much as objects like furniture, lighting, or art pieces.

The general aim is to lift the more ordinary objects up to the level of the key pieces. Quality taps generally cost only marginally more than the standard varieties and can add a touch of “designer” to a plain and simple bathroom or kitchen. Good handles on doors and kitchen cabinets achieve the same effect. It’s all a matter of choosing where to skimp and save and where to splurge.

6. Buy vintage.

Buying vintage doesn’t appeal to everyone, but a good secondhand item will instantly add a chic element to your interior. Thrift shop finds are a great way of adding charm to an interior and are generally pretty cheap, too.

Some items may need a little bit of care: a clean, a new paint job, a modern lampshade. But the essence remains that they are a personal and unique feature that doesn’t cost a fortune.

7. Group objects together.

Displaying multiple objects of the same type is an interior designer’s “trick of the trade” that can be appropriated by the budget decorator and recreated with cheaper items while still achieving a great outcome.

8. Scale is important.

Remember: Scale is a highly important part of interiors. Large furniture clutters up small spaces in an unnatural way and makes everything seem out of scale. Equally using small sofas in a large room will look like a sorry excuse for a sofa — so don’t opt for a two-seater to save money when the room really demands something bigger.

9. Look for showroom sales.

Remember that you can save a lot of money by buying fabric remnants and ends of wall paper rolls. Keeping a keen eye out for showroom stock sales and discontinued models is another good idea. You can save up to 50 percent this way and still get the real thing.

10. Get inspiration online.

Look to Pinterest and interior design websites for inspiration and advice. Scour affordable homewares to find designer-look furniture and homewares at affordable prices. Another great for sourcing vintage designer furniture or items that can be easily upcycled is eBay. It all comes down to finding a look you love and asking how you get it for less.