The Refined Life: Five Fancy Decor Tricks for the Not-So-Fancy Home

by DixieSomers

It can be tough to dream of fancy, refined home décor when you live in a cramped little apartment, or a tiny, plain home. If you love the world of pearls, diamonds, and champagne, you can still copy these themes in your home décor even if you don't own any pearls, diamonds, or you can't afford to drink champagne. With a plethora of DIY tricks in your pocket, you can quickly turn your lack-luster home décor into a think of beauty and class. If you want to give your home a little upscale flavor without dishing out the dough, read on for a few sneaky projects you can do on your own to make the home look much fancier than it actually is.

the refined life five fancy decor tricks for the not so fancy home, home decor

FRAME OF REFERENCE

You don’t have to spend a fortune to make your poster and picture frames look classy. One of the best ways to add some life to boring frames is to simply paint them with gold or silver spray paint. This is a quick, easy way to add a touch of class to any room. Spray paint might not seem like the fanciest look, but if you can find a sparkling gold or silver, this will add a subtle but beautiful touch to your boring frames. This is also a good technique for plain mirrors that you have hanging around the house—cover the class and spray the mirror frame to create a mirror any queen would want to look into.

REPLACE OUTDATED HARDWARE

One of the simplest, quickest ways to make any room appear fancier is to upgrade the hardware in the room. This means changing out the old handles and knobs on a piece of furniture to make it look more polished and updated. This is an especially good technique to use on kitchen cabinets or bedroom dressers. Depending on the style you are going for, you can class up any piece of furniture or any door by using old glass knobs. If you like a classic, vintage look, you can find plenty of unique and delicate knobs and handles at thrift shops, antique stores, and even some modern stores with a vintage twist. You can completely transform a room just by replacing the handles and knobs with something more sparkly, whimsical, and fancy.

TAKE A DIP

One of the hottest new modern design trends is the paint-dipped look. In this look, a piece of furniture is painted from the top down, leaving the bottom quarter or third of the piece unpainted. This makes it appear as if the piece has been dipped in a giant paint can. You can use this paint dip technique on almost any piece of furniture you wish, including things like desks, chairs and dressers. A popular trend is to “dip” the bottom of the furniture in gold paint—making it look like your chair legs or dresser drawers are made of gold. If you want a truly classy look, dipped in cold is the way to go.

UNCOVER THE HARDWOOD

If you live in an older home, the chances are that the original hardwood flooring is just waiting to be uncovered. You can tear out the existing flooring and varnish the old hardwood flooring to create a classy look that is much fancier than your old frumpy carpet. Once you varnish the old hardwood flooring, you can add nice rugs wherever appropriate, and enjoy the gorgeous shine of your “new” floor. Your guests will be impressed with how classy your entryway, living room, or dining room looks once you ditch the carpet and uncover the hardwood.

RE-UPHOLSTERY MAGIC

One of the easiest ways to instantly transform a room is to recover old furniture that is bland, outdated, torn, or even if you just don't like it. Even if you are not particularly handy, recovering chair cushions isn't rocket science, and there are hundreds of tutorials available on Pinterest and Youtube, depending on what type of furniture you are covering. Once you have the right measurements, go to the fabric store and pick out a pattern that will make the furniture and the entire room look newer, classier, and cleaner. You'll be surprised at how much a little piece of fabric can transform an entire room and make it look much fancier than before.

These five techniques are all powerful ways to make your house classier. Make sure to constantly be on the lookout for ideas like these to keep your home looking modern and fancy. It will be well worth it when your guests rave about the updates that you have accomplished with your own hands. Information for this article was provided by the professionals of Henry Walker Homes who specialize in designing and building Lehi homes.

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1 question

Just saying, otherwise it is very very nice on Jun 17, 2018

what kind of gold paint and where did you buy it?

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2 comments

Katie Hanson (1100 Sq Ft) on May 20, 2014
wow, that gold dipped dresser is gorgeous! i am about to refinish a side table for my living room... i think i'm going to try that with the side table!! - and maybe also with some old wooden candlesticks i just picked up at a garage sale.

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Rose on Jun 20, 2015
The VERY shiny refinished hardwood floors make it look like a million bucks!!!! What type of varnish/urathane was used?

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