11 Things To Remove To Make Your Home Look Expensive #LittleHouse, #CozyLiving, #TinyHome

Most people try to fix a room by buying more stuff. New furniture, new decor, but that is usually not the problem. Your home is probably closer to looking great than you think. It is just buried under things that make it look cheaper and more dated than it actually is. Dieter Rams, the designer who inspired how Apple products look, put it best. His rule was simple. Less but better. Not less for the sake of it, but removing what doesn't earn its place so what's left can actually shine. That is what we're doing today. I'm going to walk you through the things that are holding your home back, and what to do instead, so your space finally looks as good as the effort you've already put into it. Think of your entryway as a handshake. It is the first impression your home makes, and most people are blowing it. A pile of shoes by the door, jackets and bags hanging off every surface. That is the first thing anyone sees when they walk in. And the thing about clutter is that you stop seeing it. You walk past that shoe pile every day, so it becomes invisible to you. But your guests? They see it immediately. Clutter isn't just stuff. It is a to-do list for your brain. Every misplaced object is a tiny reminder of something you haven't dealt with yet. And that visual stress doesn't just feel messy. It makes everything around it look cheap. The root cause is almost always the same. Things that don't have a designated place, so they end up on whatever surface is available. So the fix starts with giving everything a home. If something doesn't have a place to go back to, it'll always end up on a surface. And if you don't have enough closed storage to put things behind a door, that is the real problem to solve. Not buying more organizers. Then you need to edit. In the entryway, keep 2 or 3 coats or bags out max. Everything else goes behind a closed door. For shoes, a slim closed cabinet like the IKEA style works even in tight hallways. It hides the mess without taking up floor space. Use a bowl or tray to group the small stuff like remotes, keys, and everyday carry. When loose items are corralled together, they read as one intentional arrangement instead of 10 scattered objects. Now if you've got plastic storage bins and boxes sitting out in the open, those need to go too. Clear plastic bins are the worst because they look cheap and put your clutter on display. Bins and boxes belong inside closets, not out in the open. If you need more closed storage, a sideboard or dresser works in living rooms and bedrooms. A tallboy, hutch, or freestanding cabinet is great if you're tight on floor space. And if you're on a budget, a vintage piece from a flea market can do the same job for a fraction of the price. For something out in the open, woven baskets are a great option. Or double duty furniture like a storage ottoman. Bathrooms are another culprit. All those store bottles with loud labels and mismatched branding are visual clutter many people don't think about. Swap them for simple uniform soap dispensers and the whole space immediately feels calmer and more intentional. If your home is feeling genuinely chaotic right now and you need a full reset, I have a video on decluttering that walks you through the whole process step by step. I'll link it here and in the description down below. Imagine buying a jewelry box even though you don't own any jewelry. And then, rushing out to buy some just so you can fill it up. It doesn't make any sense, right? But I see this happen in living rooms all the time. Here's the thing. Open shelves and bookcases aren't storage. They're display units. You get them because you already have things worth showing off. Books, ceramics, records, collectibles, whatever it is. But a lot of people do it backwards. They buy the shelving first, realize the shelves look empty, and then rush to a big box store to grab a bunch of random objects to fill them. And that is how you end up with shelves that look like a clearance aisle instead of something considered. The 3-5-7 rule is a good guide here. Group items in odd-numbered clusters at varying heights and layer them in front of and behind one another instead of lining everything up evenly. Then, leave a healthy amount of empty space around each grouping. And be honest about what's actually earning its place up there. Things on display should be either beautiful, functional, or meaningful to you. So go ahead and display your guitar, your records, your ceramics, and your collection of books. If you genuinely enjoy looking at it, chances are your guests will too. And while you're at it, if there's something on a shelf or a surface that you're only keeping because of guilt, let it go. Guilt isn't a design principle. If it's not adding something to the room, it is costing you space and energy whether you pay $10 or $100 for it. If you've got a cushion that says Home Sweet Home, or a bathroom sign that says Live Love Poop, or your dining room has a sign that says Eat, it is time to let them go. Everyone knows the dining room is a place to eat. Word art is just cliche at this point, and it makes your home look generic and dated. Generic art has the same effect, like those highland cow prints I've seen in almost every Airbnb I've stayed at. Your space should feel like yours, not a stock photo. Good art doesn't have to cost a fortune. Places like Juniper Print Shop, Designio and Etsy have plenty of affordable options. Support a local artist if you can. Vintage and flea market finds are another goldmine. I've picked up beautiful frame pieces where the frame alone was worth more than what I paid. And if you really want to go the free route, the National Gallery and other museums offer high-resolution images of their collection that you can download and print on canvas yourself. I actually have a curated collection and guide on this if you want it. I'll link it in the description below. If you're ever unsure about sizing, the two-thirds rule is your friend. Whether the art is above a sofa, a console, or on an empty wall, it should fill roughly two-thirds of the width of the furniture below it, or two-thirds of the available wall space. Anything much smaller than that, and it risks looking like an afterthought. If you're in doubt, go with one large piece rather than a bunch of small ones. I'm not against gallery wall, because done well, they can bring so much character and personality, but they're harder to pull off than most people think. It's also completely fine to have an empty wall while you're looking for the right piece. That is better than rushing to fill it with something you don't even like, because then you're just living with the reminder that you settled. You can spend thousands on a beautiful TV console or a work desk, but if there's a rat's nest of cables hanging down the wall behind it, that is all anyone sees. It is one of those things that is easy to ignore, because you're used to it, but is also one of the fastest fixes in this entire video. Below the TV or above entertainment unit, route cables through the wall if you can, or use paintable cord covers that blend with your wall color. Most people don't realize these exist. They're cheap, they take about 20 minutes to install, and the difference is night and day. If you've got a cluster of plugs and power supplies slacked next to a TV unit, under a nightstand, or by the sofa, a cable management box keeps everything contained. You just drop the power strip and all the excess cable inside, close the lid, and it looks clean. I use these all over my house. At a desk, a simple cable channel that mounts underneath keeps everything off the floor and out of sight. You can find them for under $20 on Amazon. And if you need to run a cable across the room, say from a router to a TV on the opposite wall, get a floor cable runner that matches your flooring. It blends in and beats having a cord taped to the skirting board. For chargers, use cable clips or holders on your desk or nightstand so they stay in place when they're not plugged in. Nobody wants to charge your cable sliding behind the furniture every time you unplug your phone. You can find these for cheap on Amazon, or if you have access to one, print them yourself like I did using the BambooLab P2S 3D printer, who's the sponsor of today's video. I've been using it a lot lately for those small everyday problems that don't really have a good off-the-shelf solution. Like this cable clamp for my desk, which keeps my charging cable accessible instead of constantly falling behind it. It's actually quite a clever design. You slot the cables into these small tubes, slide them in, and they lock into place with a spring mechanism. And if you want to remove it, you just pull the tab and it comes straight out. And because we travel a lot, I printed this compact pillbox and floss case as well. These are the kinds of little things that normally just float around your back or countertop, so it's nice being able to make something specifically for how you use them. And the whole process is very simple. You just find a model on Makerworld, open it in BambooStudio where you can customize colors and settings, hit print, and that's pretty much it. You don't need to know 3D modeling or anything like that to get started. I've been using the BambooLab P2S with the AMS2 Pro, which handles up to 4 filaments and keeps them dry, so you get much more reliable multi-color prints. And what I like about the printer itself is how straightforward it is to use. The 5-inch touchscreen interface is very intuitive, the print quality has been really consistent, and everything is calibrated automatically so I don't have to worry about a complicated setup process. I think that is what makes it so satisfying to use. Instead of trying to find a generic product that kind of works, you can just make something specifically for your own routines and your own space. I'll leave a link in the description if you want to check it out. Scroll through Instagram and you'll see those sofas and beds buried under cushions presented as aspirational. But in real life, you only need 2 or 3 cushions, maybe 4 or 5 on a big sectional. After that, they're just annoying. And the ones you do keep shouldn't all be identical. When every cushion is the same size, same fabric, and same color, the sofa or bed just looks flat. Mix up your sizes, patterns, and textures, but keep them within a cohesive color palette. An easy formula I like is 2 to 3 cushions, in different shapes or sizes, with one of them in a solid color. If your cushion inserts have gone flat, swap them out. Feather or feather blend inserts are great, but even a polyester insert can look good if you size it properly. The trick is to go one size up so you get that plump, full look. And while you're at it, check the covers too. Faded fabrics or anything that has lost its color or gone scratchy makes your living room feel like a tired rental. Even swapping 2 or 3 pieces refreshes the whole room. Bedroom have the same issue with matching bedding sets. They're affordable and it coordinates, which feels safe, but they make your bed look like a store display with no visual interest. Layer your bedding from different sources instead. An extra set of pillow with different color or pattern, a duvet cover with different material, or just a simple textured throw across the foot of the bed can make your bed much more inviting. If there's one thing that instantly makes a room look like you didn't plan it, it is a rug that is too small. It makes the furniture around it feel disconnected, and the whole space reads as cheaper than it is. A rug's job is to anchor the space, so getting the size right matters more than how much you spent on it. At an absolute minimum, the front legs of your sofa and eggs and chairs should sit on it, and if you can go bigger, all legs of the sofa and chairs to be on it. And the rug should be at least 15cm or 6 inches wider than the sofa on each side, because if it's narrower than the furniture it's supposed to anchor, the whole thing looks off. For a standard living room, that usually means an 8x10 or 9x12. Now dining rooms are a different calculation. The rug needs to be big enough that the chairs stay on it even when they're pulled out. A good rule is to add about 60cm or about 2 feet to each side of the table. If the chairs fall off the edge when someone sits down, the rug is too small. For bedrooms, the rug should extend beyond the sides and foot of the bed where you can comfortably step on it. You want your feet to land on it when you get out of bed, not on cold floors. And if you already got a beautiful but small rug, especially a vintage one, you don't have to get rid of it. Layer it over a larger, plain rug underneath. The smaller rug brings the color and character, and the larger one fills out the proportions. If you want a quick way to get these details right across your home, I've put it all into a free designer home guide with a 45-point checklist that you can use when decorating your home. Short curtains are one of the most common things I see dragging a room down. When they stop a few inches above the floor, they visually chop your walls in half and make the ceiling feel lower. Narrow curtains that stretch flat across the window are just as bad. Instead of softness and drape, you get a stiff panel that looks like a sheet nailed to the wall. The fix is all about getting the right measurements. Mount your curtain rod about 10-15cm or 4-6 inches below the ceiling, not just above the window frame, which is what most people do. Then extend the rod about 15-25cm or 6-10 inches past the frame on each side. This makes the window look wider and means your curtains don't block any light when they're open. For length, the fabric should kiss the floor or have the slightest break. Ready-made curtains usually come in standard lengths, so I always recommend to size up and hem them to fit. So if you've got roughly 240cm ceilings and your rod is 10-15cm below the ceiling, you're looking at a floor-to-rod distance about 225cm. Skip the 210cm curtain and get the 240cm curtains and then hem them. For fullness, you want a total fabric width to be at least double the width of your window. That is what gives that full flowing fold instead of flat panel. If you only got one panel per side and it's looking thin, buy a second panel in the same fabric and hang them together on the same side. If you have windowsills, ledges, or heating units that get in the way, you've got 2 options. Hang the curtain normally but keep it open as a decorative frame. And install a roller or roman blind behind it for actual light control. The curtains can be used in summer when heating is off. Or hang the curtain just above the windowsill, which can work but leans more traditional. And if you already have good curtains but they're looking a bit grimy, take them down and clean them. Most dry cleaners handle curtains, and some will even collect them from your home. A clean curtain on the right hardware makes a bigger difference than most people expect. Take a look at your blinds too. Yellowing vertical blinds or roller blinds that are fraying or pulling unevenly are aging the whole room. A clean roller or roman blind in a neutral fabric is a straightforward swap that will freshen up the whole room. Have you ever gotten in an Uber where the air freshener was so strong it gives you headache? Or sat next to someone at dinner whose cologne you could smell from the other side of the table? That is what is happening in a lot of homes. Just with candles and air fresheners instead. There's a term called nose blindness, where you stop smelling a scent after about 15 minutes of exposure. So a lot of people think that smell has faded and they light another candle, or add a plug in, or spray something on top, but when a guest step into the house, they get hit with all of it at once. Three competing fragrances, that is just chaos. A fragrance expert once told me that scents are meant to be discovered, not announced. A good home fragrance is similar. It is something you notice when you first walk in and then quietly forget about it. It shouldn't compete for attention. So get rid of the plug ins and room sprays. They're almost always synthetic and overpowering. Pick one scent you genuinely like, whether that is a candle or a diffuser, and let that be the only fragrance in the room. And remember to open your windows regularly if you have access to fresh air. I'm often surprised by how many people never do this, and their home just smells like years of cooking, body odor, and stale air layered on top of each other. No candle is going to fix that. Fresh air is the foundation, and everything else is just a finishing touch. I'm not anti faux plants. I have a few in my own home, especially now that we have two cats, but there's a massive difference between a well-made faux plant and a cheap plastic one. And most people have the cheap kind because they're what's available in big box stores. When buying faux plant, look for something with natural looking leaves and branches with irregular details, like how a real plant or tree looks. The stem should have some texture, and it shouldn't look too perfect. If your faux plant looks overly straight or stiff, that is what gives it away. Dried florals and branch arrangements are another great option. They add warmth and visual interest without any maintenance, and they can be placed on almost any flat surface. But if you can keep real plants alive, they'll always be the better choice. There's an organic texture and sense of life that nothing faux can really replicate. But whatever you go with, if it looks obviously fake, you're better off with nothing there at all. Build a great lighting like the famous boob lights, the chrome vanity sconce, and the fan lights, and the row of ceiling pot lights. Not only do they look bad, they all cast the same flat, harsh light that washes out the room and kills any atmosphere. Swapping a light fixture is one of the easiest and highest impact changes you can make for the least amount of money. sconces in the bathroom can completely change how a room feels. Linen or fabric shades are timeless, and warm metals like brass can work with almost any palette. If you're renting and can't change the ceiling fixture, add enough lamps around the room that you never need to rely on a ceiling light. And if your lampshades have gone beige or yellow over time, swap them out. A new linen shade can make the whole lamp feel like a different piece. One of the biggest things holding a room back is when all the furniture matches. It signals that the pieces weren't chosen for the room. They were chosen because they came as a bundle, and your eye picks up on that immediately because there's no contrast and depth. The best rooms look like they were furnished over time, not in a single transaction. A sofa is chosen for comfort, a coffee table chosen for the right scale, an accent chair added later because one side of the room needed some weight. That kind of staggered decision-making is what gives a room depth and character. If you already own a matching set, you don't have to get rid of all of it. Break it up. Spread the pieces across different rooms so you've got no more than two matching items in any single space. You can also sell or donate the rest, and mix in pieces from other sources. Second-hand furniture from Facebook Marketplace or Flea Market is great because those pieces already have a different history, which is exactly what breaks the matching set look. Now, the key to making mixed furniture look intentional is a shared tone and finish, instead of duplicates. You want pieces that relate to each other. Similar proportions, but different silhouettes. Complementary materials, but not identical ones. In practice, that could mean picking a material or color and repeating it 2-3 times across the room. Oak on the dining table and a picture frame. Linen on the sofa and a lampshade. Brass on a floor lamp. And furniture hardware. That is all it takes to feel cohesive without looking like a catalog. If you're trying to figure out what actually works together without second-guessing every decision, check out our Room Visualizer AI app. You can upload your space and test different pieces, styles, and directions in your actual room, so you're not just guessing based on inspiration photos. I'll link that below if you want to try it out. Another trick is to start with one anchor piece that you really love, and build outward from there. You don't have to do it all at once. In fact, giving yourself time to find the right pieces is how you avoid ending up with another matching set. If you enjoyed this video, check out this video on the psychology behind every beautiful home. And this video on what I'll buy and avoid as a designer. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.