19 Little Things That Do A Lot To Make Your Home Look More Expensive

Did you know there are little tricks you can do to make your home look more expensive? As a real estate agent I know all little things, cheap ways to increase home value. You’ll be surprised about the low cost and ease of using these ideas to make your house look more expensive. So, give a read of my guide on how to make your home look expensive.

Improving Your Home’s Aesthetic Sentiment Will Make Your House Look More Expensive

The best way to add value to your home is by increasing your home’s aesthetic sentiment. Aesthetic sentiment is the feeling you have upon viewing an image. When selling a home, it starts with the photos homebuyers will view online. You can pile onto the visual by adding the right touches for a positive environmental aesthetic as homebuyers tour your home.

Increasing the visual and environmental aesthetic of your home will make a house look more expensive. People want what they envy. They want something attractive, fitting, and desirable. You can nudge homebuyers to want your home more thus getting those same homebuyers to pay more for it.

19 Tips To Make Your Home Look More Expensive

1. Replace Light Fixtures

One of the many cheap ways to increase home value is by replacing the original builder grade light fixtures. Builder grade light fixtures are basic and look cheap. Replace light fixtures with something more trendy and decorative. Look for a light fixture which goes well with the overall style of your home.

Lighting can make a house look more expensive. Here are some tips for adding value to your home using lighting.

• Matching Color Temperature: The color temperature of a light bulb refers to the color of its illumination. More orange colored lighting is warmer and the more white coloring is like a white daylight. Go with whichever you think is the best end of the spectrum for your home but just make sure you are consistent throughout the home.
• Exterior Lights: Consider replacing weathered or basic exterior light fixtures especially if it is likely you will have some home showings in the evening or at dusk. Some carefully chosen exterior light fixtures will improve your home’s exterior appearance.
• Stairwell Sconces: This one can take a little more work to do, but could be worth it. I always think that two or three sconces in stairwells always make a home look more expensive.
• Adding Light To Warm Space: Under cabinet, over cabinet, and stairwell lighting always makes a home look more expensive. There are so many solutions to add light to these areas. From the complex to the inexpensive but effective stick-on, there is a solution for every skill set and budget. And, it will make your home look more expensive if installed properly.

2. Mix It Up In The Bedroom…And Anywhere Else You Do The Thing You All Do

We do this weird thing with furniture. We buy it in perfectly matched sets. But, people are more attracted to the imperfect. What adds value to a home is spontaneity. I’m sorry to say to you that your perfectly matched bedroom set is not spontaneous.

Finding that perfect amount of imperfection is difficult. But, the effect on making your home more expensive is massive. The right mismatched furniture, which is that which is off by just a little bit, offers a conflicted but overall more attractive aesthetic sentiment to a room. Here are some ideas to help you make a room look more expensive by using the right furniture.

• Dining Room – If you have a dining room with a large table four of the chairs match each other by the other two don’t because those two match each other.
• Bedrooms – Break up perfectly matched bedroom sets.
• Office – Make your office both fun and protective. Set a style & tone with your home office.
• Living Room – Mix up materials and colors of furniture pieces. Perfectly placed tables are a great addition, too.

3. Monets Bring You Money, But Other Artwork Will Do

Original artwork is one of the best things you can do to make a room look more expensive. Your Board ‘n Brush sign that says Welcome, Blessed, or Get Naked is boring and does not make your home look expensive. Instead, this everyday decor makes your home look typical. Framed original artwork, oversized canvases, and sculptures make a home look more expensive. Adding visually interesting things on your walls is one of the easiest things that add value to your home. If you actually tried to find some original artwork, I bet you would find it will be easier and cheaper than you think.

4. Money Does Grow On Trees, And Other Plants, Too!

Live plants in eclectic planters will make your house look more expensive. Live plants give a home life. Green is a calming color. Use a variety of containers, and some mismatching is okay. Large free standing planters on legs look great in large open areas with wood floors. Don’t forget to put some oversized planters outside, too.

Additionally, fresh cut flowers and flower arrangements are an outstanding touch. I know that can get expensive, but damn does it bring some magic to make a room look more expensive. Consider getting some floral arrangements with real flowers placed through your home.

5. Organization Will Make Your House Look More Expensive

Everyone wants to live in a clean, well-organized and free of clutter. Due to this, homebuyers will pay more for a home like this. Closets, cupboards, and drawers shouldn’t be bursting at the seams with your loot. Instead, thin out the unnecessary items and rid yourself of the extra baggage.

6. Replace Builder Grade Bathroom Vanities

Replacing a cheap, builder grade vanity is easier and more cost-effective than you probably think. Upgrade your bathroom vanity with something that is more luxurious and sophisticated with some detail. Select a great looking sink and faucet, too. And, while you are at it, dump that builder grade mirror. Replacing boring builder grade bathroom features is one of the best answers for how to increase the value of your home.

7. Fancy Front Doors Make A Rich First Impression

Replacing your front door with something more impactful is one of the things that add value to your home. Don’t have the same standard door everyone else has. On the other hand, you could always glam up your existing front door. Paint the door a fun color or add an elaborate door knocker, handle, or kickplate. Also, don’t reattach the storm door or screen door because they look cheap.

8. Spotless Clean Garages

A well-cared for garage will make your home look more expensive. This is because most people expect the garage to be a bit dirty. Surprise homebuyers and get them opening their wallets to buy with a crisply clean garage. Purchase some racks. The right storage solutions will keep your garage from being cluttered. Freshly paint the walls and ceiling. If you really want to go for the gold, apply an epoxy finish to the floor. Upgrading the lighting in the garage is a great improvement, too.

9. Rich People Don’t Watch TV All Day

Increase home value before selling by putting less emphasis on TV. Too many televisions make a home look cheap. Make your home look more expensive by putting away the rarely watched televisions. For those that can’t be put away find a way to make them less noticeable. Nothing makes a house look cheap like a television over the fireplace, but we all do it. However, a great solution to enrich the room is a wall mounted television cabinet.

10. Add Bathroom Amenities

Luxury bathrooms have amenities. Huh?

Think about the last time you attended a really nice reception or visited a high end hotel or restaurant. Remember that tray of folded cloth hand towels to dry your hands? And, they had the best soap you ever felt in your life. It all made the experience of using the bathroom feel a little fancy. Replicating this in your home is one of the cheap ways to increase home value. Here’s how to do it:

• Reusable hand towels – buy some, fold them neatly, and set them in some type of little tray or in a box.
• Really nice soap either in its own dispenser or a dispenser that looks expensive.
• Add more towels – I am a fan of the wall mounted wedge-rack. I call it the wedge rack because you like wedge the towels in it. Get new, big, fluffy, white towels.
• Lotion – Leave out some kind boutique hand lotion product, too.

11. Ugly Bedding Looks Cheap

Re-dress the beds in your home. Light bright pillow cases and under sheets and a high quality top blanket, quilt, or comforter. Some extra pillows or the right throw blanket can be great additions, too! Dress up the kids’ beds, too. Your kid’s t-rex, Dora the Explorer, or Thomas the Tank Engine sheets are not making your home look more expensive. Focus on these characteristics to dress up a bed for a more expensive look:

• Use a color palette matching the rest of the room
• Look for trendy designs or keep it more simple with solids
• Make the beds military style and military tight (under sheet over the top cover)
• Under sheet should be a high contrast color to the top cover
• Plenty of pillows, stuffed & fluffy, and appear new (original color is bright)

12. Ugly Kid Bathrooms

I know I just covered bathrooms, but your kid’s bathroom needs addressed. Sorry, but that Thomas the Tank Engine shower curtain makes your home look cheap. Sorry, but it does. Remove the whimsy from your children’s bathroom and add some sophistication. Follow the tips in item 10 for advice on how to do that.

13. Builder Grade Door Knobs & Cabinet Pulls

Do you have any idea how cheap and easy it is to replace that cheap brushed nickel door knob with on your interior doors? Replace interior doors with something with more pop like a dark bronze, oil rubbed, or matte black door knob. This is especially true if your interior doors are white. Also, if you really want to get into replace the hinges, too.

14. The Right Rugs Will Make Your House Look More Expensive

The point of having nice expensive hardwood floors is so you can spend more money on rugs. Get the right rugs. The right area rugs are one of the best tricks to make a small home look expensive, too.

Good design and color, but most importantly is the size. Yes, size does matter. Here is a guide to buying the right size area rug in your home.

• Living Room – If you couch is against the wall, the rug is too small if the front legs of the couch and the front legs of adjacent armchairs or another couch can not sit on the rug. If you float your furniture (this means it is not against the wall) the rug should contain all legs of all of the furniture in the central seating area along with having some exterior perimeter on the outside, too.
• Dining Room – A correctly sized dining room area rug will extend 20 to 30 inches from the edge of any shape dining table.
• Bedroom – If the room is large, the area rug should be large enough to include the entirety of the bed and any side tables with a little left over to look balanced. In a small room the rug should be placed perpendicular to the bed, cover the lower ⅓ of the bed and equally downward from the bed and extend about two to three feet on either side of the bed.
• Outdoors – Huge. Cover the area as much as possible leaving just two or three feet at the perimeter uncovered by the rug.

15. Set The Mood With A Rich Ambiance

You can increase the value of your home by creating an inviting ambiance when homebuyers tour your home. These are things you can do to manipulate the environment are also things that add value to your home.

First, turn on every light in the house even if it is noon on the sunniest day of the year. Do hotels turn off the lights in the lobby on a sunny afternoon? The answer is no, they do not. Second, the temperature should be comfortable and noticeable. On a hot day, have the air conditioning running but don’t freeze your people out. 67 or 68 degrees is good. In the winter, have that heat on so people feel all nice and cozy. Low 70s should do the trick there.

Lastly, find a third type of sensory stimulation. Light music playing throughout the home is pretty charming. A fireplace turned on is also a nice touch. Be careful with trying to put a smell in the home. This can be very effective but it is also easy to go overboard, too.

16. Eclectic Furniture Makes A Home Look More Expensive

Eclectic furniture with some mismatching is a pretty potent way to make your home look more expensive. Oversized sectionals, perfectly matched bedroom sets, and bunk beds are all pieces which make your home look cheap. Instad, mix things up a bit more. Here are some ideas.

• Mismatched dining room chairs at larger dining tables (4 of the same, and 2 of the same but the 2 are very different than the 4)
• Mix materials. An example would be a plush fabric couch and armchairs made of pressed cane webbing or wicker.
• A brightly colored furniture piece can really make a room eclectic.
• Accessorize a room with a variety of items, pictures, and artwork.
• Don’t forget to be a little eclectic with lamps, too.

17. Rich Paint Colors

Use paint colors that make your home look more expensive. Shades of white show off a large, crisp, clean space and are an excellent idea for a base color. Accessorize walls, cabinets, or board and batten designs with bolder, deep colors. Earthly colors like browns, blues, and greens are always great choices. On the other hand, vibrant shades can also work wonders, too.

I would encourage steering clear of some colors when trying to make your home look more expensive. This would include pinks, yellows, and bright oranges. Be thoughtful about reds, too. They can work, but think it through for sure.

18. Window Treatments

The right window treatments will help make your home look more expensive. For drapes, you want lined materials. Unlined drapes look cheap because they are cheap. Linen, cotton, and finer polyesters look classier. A nicer rod properly bracketed to the wall and some fancy finials will help add luster to the window, too. Drapes should be full length with plenty of fabric to produce lots of folds or layers.

For windows without drapes look for higher end blinds. Multi-directional cellular shades can look good but are pretty pricey due to often being custom made. Wooden blinds are always a good choice, and spring for a wider slat. Roller shades can be done nicely, too. Roman shades are down the list for me. Absolutely avoid the miniblinds because they just look cheap.

19. Less Is More In The Garden Beds

Another way to add value to your home is with the right landscaping. Less really is more! Think of a newly built restaurant or hotel. The garden beds are planted but by no means are overwhelmed. Focus on perennials with a lush, deep green color. Also, spend a little more for a bit larger plants. Take it easy on the symmetry; the eye doesn’t like symmetry as much as we all think it does.

Conclusion

With a little forethought and diligent selection there are many things you can do to make your home look more expensive. Adding some engaging sophistication through the careful curation of the right look will make your home look more expensive. In turn, homebuyers will offer more for your home.

Turning up the aesthetic sentiment of your home is one of the services the Quadwalls Real Estate Team does for its home sellers. If you are thinking about selling your Indiana home, contact us. We offer low real estate commission fees in Northwest Indiana with our full-feature home selling service.