How To Make Your Home Look Expensive On A Budget

Your home can look so much more elevated if you just make a few tiny tweaks. I actually want to show you how I personally strategize in my own home to make it feel more elegant because elegance is my preference in aesthetic and I want to show you how I reason behind the scenes. So come with me. A lot of people underestimate the hallway. They kind of use this space as some form of no man's land where you literally have all your jackets and shoes laying around like there's not really a lot of thought about the hallway or the entrance. But think about it this way. This is actually the first thing your guests are gonna see about your home. And you know, first impressions, they do matter. So if you want to send like some form of elevated message about your home then you have to put some thought into your hallway. I have placed a round table in mind because we have a square hallway so I felt like, you know, a round table will fit here perfectly. Plus, a round table always gives that kind of hotel lobby feeling. We don't have any clutter in our hallway. Our shoes, our jackets are hidden elsewhere. And by the way, Teddy's stuff too. I've placed them neatly in a little basket. But a hallway also has to serve a function. Okay, hide your jackets, hide your shoes. But what about when you actually have to get dressed? Definitely bring out some nice elevated looking chairs for that. Design it in a way that it's not just pretty but also functional and comfortable. One thing we've got to talk about is how to actually elevate yourself when you're at home. And I'm talking about what you wear. Because look, when I'm at home, I generally love wearing cozy and coordinated sets. And my favorite brand for that is actually LilySilk. And yes, they are sponsoring today's video. But actually, they are a brand that I always use on my free time because the quality of their garments are so good. The reason why I partner with them for many years is because they consistently deliver elegance and luxury at a very reasonable price point. Like their quality is honestly as good as high-end designer brands. But without the designer brand price point. I mean, look at this one. A white beautiful cashmere set looks so elevated when you're wearing it at home. While it's being very soft, cozy, and comfortable. Like this could be a designer brand. Recently, LilySilk has also introduced a new material called silk terry. Which is a blend of silk and natural cotton terry. Now, it's plush. It's very breathable. And it's perfect for lounging. And by the way, check out this baby blue set and the pink. I mean, how gorgeous is this? All right, but you got to know about my favorite, favorite fabric. And this is what LilySilk does so well. Silk jersey. Ladies, if you have to choose just one material to wear at home forever. This will be it. It is silky. It is stretchy. It drapes beautifully. And it moves with you. And it's also very soft and very flattering to wear. And the best part, it's lightweight. And it's never going to make you overheat. Because you know, the mixture of silk with jersey is slightly cooling. And by the way, have you seen that Selena Gomez loves LilySilk too? Here are some photos of her wearing some LilySilk items. Having said this, I know you want to elevate your home. But just don't forget to elevate your home wardrobe too. I would suggest you go now to LilySilk's website. And just check out everything that they have. And you know, with the Black Friday and Christmas sale happening. You're going to get some of the best deals of the entire year. So don't miss. As most of you probably know, I am from Europe. I'm European. And here in Europe, we struggle with this one thing. That really does bug me. So that's a big minus living in Europe, by the way. And that is that we have very limited space. Oh yeah, we're not like America where space is more abundant. Here in Europe, we really have to cram ourselves in, okay? Especially if we live in the city like I do. But one thing that many of us are unfortunately forced to do is to have our kind of living area as a multi-purpose room. When you have your TV area as part of your guest area, that can sometimes make a home feel less elevated. Let's put it this way. There's just something about the effect of the TV that actually does kind of downplay the elegance. That's all I'm talking about. I'm not saying you shouldn't do this or now it's a cheap experience. No, I understand that most people, because of lack of space, you're actually forced to have your TV in the common area where you bring your guests. But think about if there are clever ways how you can kind of hide the TV. Maybe like this or like that. I think that can be worth considering. Now, look, if you have the space, I definitely suggest that you separate them both. And that's something that I have done in my own home. Whenever I have guests over, they simply go to the guest area where I have all my sofas, my little tables where I can really entertain. And then when my husband and I are watching TV, we're doing that in a separate room. As you can see in my house, we have placed almost like a bed looking sofa in the entertainment room. I mean, I wouldn't Netflix and chill on the sofa, okay? It's not made for that. This is the perfect sofa for entertainment. It's visually different as well. Plus, you know what I also think it is like when you receive guests, not everybody wants to kind of come and sit in your private area. Like come and sit on your sofa where you can see, oh, there's like breadcrumbs from when Anna was like eating in front of the telly. I guess it just feels sometimes like a bit of an invasion in your private space, which is why I think it's better to just separate them both. I don't have a lot of clutter in my home. Aesthetic alignment is important. So here we're talking about reducing any form of visual clutter. Truly luxurious homes, they always have a sense of calm in them. You will see that they're rarely cluttered. Surely there are exceptions, but I would say that clutter is more organized and calculated, and it kind of makes sense as part of the decor. But all this random clutter, no, that's like the easiest way of cheapening a house. Definitely put your stuff away and find ways of how to minimize that kind of aesthetic overload that happens. What you also do is that you find clever storage ways. Wherever you can hide something, utilize that. I would personally also be careful with decoration. Use decorations, but let them be slightly bigger. Let them have more space around them. Don't just have a bunch of stuff cluttered, you know, and you think, no, but this is decoration. But the more you think about clean lines, when you think about design, the more that's going to elevate your home. And look, I know I'm going to say now something that probably majority of you have, and I used to have that too. But what about shampoo bottles around your bathtub? Oh my goodness. Or like on the floor of your shower. I used to have it too, and that definitely downgraded the shower. In my house, we don't have a big bathroom on top of it. So that's going to easily look very cluttered. I have actually placed this very clever thing on the middle of my bathtub, and that's where I organized all my things. And I make sure not to have too many items. Ladies, we got to talk about the walls. And sometimes I feel like this element doesn't get enough attention because people are usually more focused about elevating the furniture, elevating this or that, but not so much the walls. Although the walls are actually like the majority of the room, if you think about it, even though it's always in the background, but it does leave an impression. One thing that I personally have is that I don't like white walls. Unless you have like these beautiful, classic and chic French moldings or any form of panels, they tend to really elevate a white wall. White is often associated with rentals or temporarily living. So what color do I use? Well, you can see for yourself in the background. I have been married to this wall color for over a decade. I literally take it with me to every home that I change because I just love this color and I'm going to share it with you because it's one of the best wall colors out there. It's called ammonite and it's by a brand called Barrow and Ball. What I like about this color is that it's not too gray. There is a slightly warm touch to this gray because I wanted something a bit more neutral and gray sometimes can be a bit tricky because oftentimes I've seen people use slightly darker gray and that's not my preference. Personally, I prefer this very neutral that really does blend into the background and if it would be slightly more gray or slightly more dark, to me, it would be just a no-no. Like it can maximum be this dark in my opinion. But of course, color is such a personal choice. So in the end of the day, you've got to do what works best for you. Look, I need to talk to you about the bedroom and we have a lot of things to uncover because number one, that I feel like a lot of people neglect this. We're talking now about your mattress. Forget about the bed base, who cares about that? But your mattress, did you know that that is the most important thing you can ever buy in your life? Simply because you spend a third of your entire lifetime in bed, definitely prioritize this purchase as soon as your finances allow it. Instead of buying that designer bag, let me tell you, you should buy that mattress. Thank me later, okay? Once I elevated my bed, let me tell you what a game changer it has been. First and foremost, less tossing and turning, less body aches, better sleep quality and having good sleep is just a non-negotiable. Before I would sleep on cotton, cotton sheets. I would wake up every single day with like these sleeping wrinkles in my face and on my body. And then I started sleeping in silk and let me tell you, I never wake up with these wrinkles on my body. Why? Because silk reduces the effect of wrinkles and this is going to make you look more youthful. This is actually a non-negotiable if you are serious about beauty and aging. You know, if you buy silk sheets from LilySilk, you're going to get an amazing bargain because actually silk, like proper silk can be pricey. But that's what I love about LilySilk simply because they make these luxurious things so much more affordable yet they don't compromise on quality. Ladies, this is a must for you to get, especially now as we are during Black Friday and Christmas is coming up. Treat yourself this season. This is an investment that you're going to spend 30% of your lifetime in. It is always going to be worth the investment. Trust me. So going back to the topic of elevating your home so it looks more elegant. Let me tell you, a silk bed is definitely going to do that. I particularly enjoy the color white. Sometimes mixing and matching with too many colors can actually downgrade the entire bed appearance. So one thing though, that really does elevate a bedroom, that's a headboard. And listen, I'm not an interior designer here. So there are, of course, exceptions to this Anna Bay rule, but I definitely think not having a headboard for your bed cheapens a bedroom. I'm sorry to say, but that's what I think. And same goes for height of the bed. The higher your bed is, the more luxurious it actually looks like. It reminds more of a luxury hotel type of bed. So definitely don't be afraid of going a little bit higher and skip those really low beds unless that's really your aesthetic. I love buying fresh flowers. Oh my goodness. It has been my favorite kind of self-care routine since the early days of my leveling up. Because when I buy fresh flowers and I have them around at home, it's not just because of the decoration that flowers give you, but they also give you an energy. And same goes for plants, by the way. Now, plants might give you more of a grounding energy, like a natural effect, but flowers, well, they bring a sense of luxury and femininity into your home. But let me give you some do's and don'ts. Definitely do take a masterclass in simple flower arrangements because you need to understand how to actually make a little bouquet, how to properly trim the flowers, how to make sure they last. You have to remove the leaves before you put them into water, especially if you have a bouquet and you place it in a clear vase. You don't want to have your leaves sticking into the water because, you know, that's going to make the water look kind of unattractive after a while, but it's also not good for the longevity of the flowers. Definitely also change the water, if not daily, but every other day. Because once the water starts looking a bit grim, then it doesn't elevate your home anymore. It just looks kind of gross. Another do is you should definitely experiment with vases. Like I know the clear vases are super cute and definitely have a different stash of those at home in different sizes because you might want to have some long ones, some short ones and then experiment with flower length in which vases you want to have around. But don't end just there because I want you to also experiment with colored vases. Those who come with prints, with colors, with different shapes. Honestly, here I want you to let loose and really be creative. Also, make sure you dust them because nothing downgrades a plant or a flower if it looks dusty. I always dust my plants at home because if not, I mean, they look awful. Lastly, don't have too many flowers and plants everywhere. You definitely don't want it to be like a botanical garden style in your home. Spread it out. Plants, I think you can definitely have several in a room, especially if you place them around, harmoniously in the background. But when it comes to pop of color and flower bouquets, well, think more like one per room or in some cases, a maximum two. But in the end of the day, you also have to think about what works best for you because you are in this space every single day. I think sometimes, you know, styling rules make sense in like clothing because you're actually wearing your clothes in the public and therefore you want to leave, let's say, a positive impression when you are navigating the public. But whatever happens behind closed doors in your private environment, I don't think that is as important to always like follow the rules. So I intentionally break rules all the time, even in my home. Like, yeah, I'm going to have a whole beige room with very little color. And that's because visually for me, it just looks less cluttered and I have more serenity looking at something very light and simple. That's just my thing. It might not work for somebody else who want to like mix and match and have color and prints and this and that. So always think about what works aesthetically and visually for your eye because you and me, we might see the same thing very differently and we might have different associations when we look at something. I want you to know that my intention with this video is not at all to be like, oh my gosh, everything has to look so perfect and elevated. And if not, like, no. My intention here is to kind of give you just inspiration and share like how I do and I'm not an interior designer. Like I just know like what I personally prefer in aesthetics. But we also have to always take into account the human element, the fact that there's going to be imperfections and that's normal. And I want to show you some imperfections in my house. Like as an example, this painting in my dining room actually drives me mad. I don't like it. And one day I'm going to replace it. But so far, I haven't found the perfect replacement. So this project is currently on hold. But like, you're always going to have those elements in your house where you're like, yeah, I'm not sure about that. Actually, that does not work. And that's normal. Remember another thing that I'm planning to replace. I know it sounds very simple. I just haven't found the time yet. Just to replace these flower pots. Like they annoy me so much and somehow I feel like they cheapen a bit my house. Yeah. And I don't like the color of this one. This one really irritates me. Okay. One thing that I'm always trying to hide. So this is my office. And as you can see, it's like set up as an office, but also as my filming studio. But I'm always like terrified if somebody sees this terrible ceiling light. I know you shouldn't have ceiling lights like that around. This is like the most cheap looking thing you can have in your house. A ceiling light like that. But it's just because I have these soundproofing panels. And then it's just been very hard to find another ceiling light. But I've also been lazy. Okay. That's the truth. And so as you can see, like you're going to have elements like that in your home where you're like, ah, okay, this is not like super nice, but you know, it is what it is for the time being. And I'll get to it one day. And I just want you to know it's human. It's normal. So don't beat yourself up about it. If your home is not picture perfect, it's okay. Just have fun with your elevation and your elegance upgrade. Speed is a fun little hobby project. And let it take its time. So in today's video, I didn't mention anything about my walk-in wardrobe. And you know why? That's because I made a completely separate video about it. I've actually learned so much about having a walk-in wardrobe that I'm like, you know, next time I create one, oh my gosh, I'm going to do so many things differently. So I tell you all about it in this video. So go check it out.