What kind of space do you want to live in? Check out our guide to add a touch of luxury to your home
I was recently asked, “what things would you change about your current home if you could?” and the question set my mind into overdrive. I thought back to the luxury apartments I rented in my younger days – and then begun to think deeper about what it was I liked so much about those places compared to where I am now. It wasn’t long before I’d made a shortlist of things I wanted to change about my current home. Perhaps you, too, would like to add a little luxury to your home? Here are our six best tips, some of which can be done with minimum effort and money.
Update Your Bathroom
The bathrooms were the rooms that seriously made me feel like I was living a life of luxury when I began renting my first city center pad. From the automatic sensor-activated designer faucets – mixer taps, of course, so you can always be sure that the water will be the exact temperature you want – to the Fontana Napoli Gold Finish shower set, everything about those bathrooms was luxurious. Huge mirrors covered the entire walls directly adjacent to the main entry door, making the rooms seem so much larger than they were while also having obvious utility value.
In one of my later homes, I had a double-bath with jacuzzi jets in my en-suite bathroom. I’m told that’s more “bachelor pad” than luxury, though, so maybe you would prefer a free-standing tub? If you have the space for it, these can really add a touch of sparkle to your master bathroom.
Decorate Your Walls
Everybody does this, but choosing a style and sticking to it throughout your home is what will make it feel genuinely luxurious. Plain white walls work well in apartments, especially if you add some artwork to them later. A white backdrop offers the highest level of contrast between your art and the surrounding space and gives your rooms a feeling of cleanliness too. Be prepared to add a splash of paint on the walls every few months, though, as handprints and just general scrapes and marks are much more apparent on white walls.
Don’t fancy the plain white look? Choosing cool wallpapers is another excellent way of making your home seem comfortable and luxurious. Look for exciting patterns and designs in colours that will complement your furniture and artwork. The best part is that today, you can easily browse samples online or even request customized one-off designs.
Add Some Artistic Flair to Your Luxury Home
Angelo Accardi is a fascinating artist I have come across recently. This Italian artist focuses on the study of man and the space he inhabits. His work combines surreal elements with realistic backdrops of urban landscapes, with a sprinkle of artist influence inspired by his outlook on our world.
His pieces won’t cost the earth, and he has multiple unique collections available that I’d recommend you browse through if you are looking for the ideal artworks for your luxury home.
Replace Your Light Fittings
Some peoples idea of luxury light fittings might be the latest multi-coloured, voice-activated bulbs you can buy that are controlled via Google Assistant or Alexa. These are nice to have, and the younger generations just can’t get enough of this “smart” technology.
Personally, I think the bulbs themselves are just 10% of the complete picture. Choose designer light fittings for your walls, tables, lamps, baby cradle – don’t restrict yourself to just basic ceiling fittings. Having multiple different light sources around your rooms is what luxury is all about – not simply swapping out the bulbs.
Your Couch is More Than Just a Place to Sit
Ever wondered why the sofa’s you see on television adverts are so expensive? Go out and look at them, try feeling one and sitting on them, and you’ll soon understand. Cheap out on your couch, and you’ll quickly regret it – save up your money and buy a couch with a classy design made from premium materials. Those white-walled apartments we talked about? Black leather sofas will fit nicely into that kind of environment.
Patterned sofas may fit better with your idea of luxury, but be sure that it feels right too – you’ll know immediately after you touch the fabric whether you think luxury or mediocrity.
Upgrade Your Kitchen
Every woman wants their dream kitchen, and why shouldn’t you get it? The Quooker tap is a new item intended to add some luxury to a kitchen by allowing you to get filtered, chilled, or boiling water from a single faucet. Nothing speaks luxury in a kitchen than an island, though – you may think you don’t have space for it, but if you were to relocate your sink and hobs to the island, how many existing units could you remove to make more space? Sunken electrical sockets are another great luxury accessory worth adding to your dream kitchen.
Stacked integrated appliances can help with this, too – perhaps have your dishwasher fitted directly underneath your grill/oven/microwave combo appliance, with an integrated fridge freezer in another part of the room. Unless your kitchen is of the very tiniest variety, you can make it work.s
Remove Clutter
And finally, here’s one that won’t cost you a dime; remove or store away everything you don’t need to use immediately! Look for furniture with integrated storage, use flat cables and powerline networking to spread the internet throughout your home without the need for wires or endless wi-fi extenders. If you have a lot of stuff you want to hang on to but don’t need immediately, investigate renting a storage unit – it can be cheaper than you think. There are so many ways to do this that I will leave it to you to search google for your ideal solutions!
Photo by Florian Schmidinger on Unsplash
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