Interior Design Mistakes Making Your Home Look CHEAP #artsanddesign #decoranddesign #interiordesign

Hi everyone, it's Nick. Welcome or welcome back to my channel. Okay, in today's video, we are going to be talking about things that are making your home look cheap. Now, listen, every time I do one of these videos, people get offended, but just remember, like, don't take it personally, okay? I'm not making fun of you. I'm making fun of things, okay? Things are funny. Humans, well, they're also funny, but I'm not making fun of you in this video. So if you see yourself in this, don't fret. You know, this is, welcome to the internet. This is just what we do here. Think of me as just an anonymous friend who is just giving you some advice on how you can avoid making your home look cheap. Now, I'm also not just gonna leave you high and dry. I'm gonna give you some ideas on how you can make it a little bit more personal, a little bit better. Yeah, that's what we're gonna do. Okay, let's get going. Okay, first up on my list is going to be flat pack furniture overload. Okay, I love Ikea. You love Ikea. I've done about 40,582 videos on Ikea on this channel. So like, you know, I'm not above it. And I love Ikea. I think it's great. But I think sometimes, you know, when you go to Ikea and you look at a room and you're like, oh, this is really elegant, really cool, but something feels off. Something doesn't quite feel right. I can tell you why that is. It's because when everything is really particle board and manufactured and cheap, it just sort of looks the part, even if you're doing all the right things. And they are. Ikea has like professional stylists and designers that do their little showcase up there on the first floor. Right, they do a really good job. But in the end, they're working with everything being Ikea. And yes, Ikea sells some higher end things, some lower end things. But when everything feels like it's all flat packed and everything is veneered and everything is made of MDF and it's just all particle board, you can tell. And so I think sometimes what people do is they forget that Ikea isn't necessarily a place to buy everything in your home, but is instead a place to get specific items that you can work into the rest of your space. But then adding decor from, let's say, vintage shops or things you've collected in your travels, personal items, things from your hobbies, right? Art that you've maybe collected from local artists or you've DIY'd yourself or whatever because you're maybe more talented than I, all that stuff mixed in to Ikea looks 10,000 times better because oftentimes those things are gonna be higher quality, they're going to be personal to you, and therefore it's not gonna feel like an Ikea showroom. So yes, I think that Ikea is great. I think there are lots of hacks on here on YouTube and Instagram and the TikTik and all the rest of it. And all that stuff is fine and good. But I think in the end, it's important to remember that Ikea should be mixed in so that it doesn't just look like an Ikea showroom because that never looks good. It's very much a college dorm vibe and I think you're ready to pass that. I believe in you. So just mix in Ikea, yes, but we're incorporating in other items that are much more personal and higher quality. Ideally, if you can afford it, of course, no one needs to go into debt for this stuff. It doesn't really matter all that much. But incorporating that stuff in makes it far more personal and it's gonna not feel as cheap. Okay, next up on my list is gonna be too many fake plants. Now, I'm not the fake plant police. A lot of people in the comment section, the plant gays especially, will be down in the comment section and they will tell you that fake plants are a horrible travesty on the world. I'm not gonna be that guy, okay? I don't really care. I'm not a big plant person. As you can see, there's nothing living behind me and I like it that way because I would kill them anyway. I do have a hosta that's been going strong on my patio for a while. So I'm pretty proud of myself, even though those are like pretty impossible to kill. But listen, too many fake plants is a problem because I think a little bit of fake plantage isn't bad. I think like, I'm not completely mad at it, okay? If you are like me and you're just like, well, you know, I wanna put a plant in the bathroom maybe or in a room that doesn't get a whole lot of sunlight or I'm really never gonna take care of it or you're investing in something higher quality, like something that you can't see the little flecks of plastic on the leaves. You know, go for it. I'm not completely mad at it. Is a real plant better? Of course it is. But I'm not gonna be the fake plant police and tell you that you can't have one. I do think that when everything is a fake plant, I think we can tell. You might not think we can tell, but people can tell. And they're obviously not telling you, which is why I'm the anonymous friend on the internet that can tell you that we can tell. So I would advise maybe if you love plants and you wanna have a lot of plants in your home because they provide life and oxygen, maybe, I don't know, I'm not a botanist, then go for it. But I also think that if you're gonna throw in a fake plant, maybe just throw in one. But when everything's fake, we can tell. And fake plants are definitely something that I personally would avoid, even though an influencer is gonna tell you that there's a super realistic olive tree on Amazon. I don't know if there is or not because I don't own one, but I think this is something that should be purchased in person, okay? Some things just need, because you need to see the leaf. You know what I mean? Like if I would buy a Christmas tree, I need to see that tree. Like I'm not here for, 99% of them are crap. So I wanna really inspect that to make sure that it actually looks real. Some of them are good. Some of them are not. Definitely check them out in person. But yes, obviously, if you can do real plants and they're just gonna make sense for you in the space, then go for that. That's obviously ideal. But not too many of the fake plants, I think is the way to go. Okay, next up is gonna be mass-produced canvas prints. I've done a few of these videos on things making your home look cheap, and I don't think this one's made the list before, which is shocking because I completely hate mass-produced canvas prints. Here's what I have a problem with. I have a problem with a few prints in particular. I have a problem with the, whatever, the Highland cow that Ikea comes out with. I have a problem with the Amsterdam print they come out with. I have a problem with the Audrey, no, Catherine, what's her, is it Audrey or Catherine Hepburn? One of them. I think it's Audrey. It's Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's. Okay, so we've got the Breakfast at Tiffany's print. You know the one where she's looking over the shoulder? Mm-hmm, we've all seen it. It's in every B&B, it's in every rental unit because it's cheap and it is large. And for a lot of people, that's what they're looking for. They're looking for it to cover a lot of real estate, but they wanna spend about 8.99 on it. I personally don't love this. And I just think that in the end, keep the white wall white, like just don't even put a piece of art on there. That white wall is better than an Audrey Hepburn print. Okay, I'm just gonna say it. Now, if you would like to buy an Audrey Hepburn print and then DIY some sort of solution with some spackle or something that you've seen online, then go for it. But I think DIYing yourself, buying from local artists, which is ideal if you can afford it, buying a print from somewhere, I would actually say buying a print that means more to you, like an album cover that you really love or something from like Desenio or one of those sort of online companies. I think that's better than just going with the mass produced ones that we've seen a thousand times because you're not fooling anybody. You know what I mean? Like I've seen that like Ikea now has like, they have a Mona Lisa. You guys, they have a Mona Lisa. No one believes you have the Mona Lisa in your living room. So it's clearly, cause no one does. So it's really silly and stupid. And honestly up there with live, laugh, love energy. I know we love to make fun of that. And of course, as we should, but I don't think people make fun of and shame the mass produced print as much as we ought to. Okay, next up on my list. It's going to be pop of color throw pillows. I'm looking at my, whenever I like say something online and then do you ever like see that I glanced into the finder to be like, do I have that in my background before I make fun of it? No, these are not super pop of color. Okay, here's my problem with the pop of color. I'm specifically referencing when people get a completely like neutral couch, beige, gray, whatever. And that's overall, I think a solid move, okay? Because even though I kind of regret my cream sofa, but that's another here or there. Because I think that getting a sofa that's like neutral is probably going to last you a lot longer than getting one that's like, you know, jewel toned emerald or something. You know what I mean? Or peacock blue or something. You know, if that's your style, go for it. But like generally speaking, I think a neutral couch is probably going to last you a whole lot longer, especially because they're super expensive and you should be investing in quality. Please see recent videos that I have talked about this matter. But here's what I have a problem with. You get a neutral couch, okay? And I understand that makes total sense. I'm with you there. And then all of a sudden you're like, you know what this place needs? This place needs a pop of color. And so what do you do? You go out and you go to Home Sense Home Goods and you go, oh look, here's a teal cushion or here's one in bright orange or here's one in gold or here, you don't know all the colors. And you pick one and you're thinking, okay, now I've got that pop of color. So now it's a game changer. Now it's got color, it's got pizzazz, it's got personality, but I'm afraid it does not. I don't love the pop of color. I think it just looks really cheap and cheesy and fake and stupid. And I don't think you should really do it anymore. Here's what I think you should do instead. Number one, invest in a couch. If you are in the couch market that already has pillows built in and you don't need extra, extra, extra throw pillows, right? You don't need extra throw pillows. There's no rule that says that you have to have one. Second thing, if you are gonna put in throw pillows, I would personally, definitely go and look at your entire color palette for your entire space and look at creating a, you know, incorporating in a color palette that uses all sorts of different tints, tones and shades of different areas of the color wheel. So what I mean by that is if you're gonna have teal, make sure that you look at all the different areas of teal. It could be like white with a slight little teal or blue or green undertone to it, right? It could be a shade that's just got a little bit of a darker tone to it. And you've got all these little tints, tones and shades that are happening in the space and you're using them throughout the entire space. So we're not doing pop of color pillow. Now we're actually creating a real color palette that has nuance, that has lots of different colors that are sort of in that area of the color palette that you've selected. And that's gonna be far more successful. So yes, don't be afraid of color, he says within obviously brown-ish, different shades of brown background. But there actually, there's some color here. People don't think it, but there's some orange, there's some brown, there's some brick red, like, you know, different color. I'm being generous to myself, obviously. But you know, there's different colors that are in there, in a palette that aren't necessarily just all cream or gray and then boom, teal pillows, right? So we're incorporating different variations of teal, blue, whatever, green, whatever you select for your entire color palette and work from there. Okay, next up on my list is gonna be tiny rugs. Okay, tiny rugs are a problem that I have talked about many, many times. You know, is there a Nick Lewis video if I don't talk about tiny rugs or color temperature? I don't know. Tiny rugs are a problem because they are not scaled to the rest of the room. Okay, that's pretty much what it is. I know we always talk about like the two rules and then we kind of drill down the basics of the two rules. And here they are. Number one, you can put the front two legs on all the furniture pieces on the rug. So this makes sense for most people's rooms. Honestly, like the room that I'm in right now, it just makes sense to have the front two legs of each of your furniture pieces, that's your side chairs, your sofa, whatever on the rug. Or what you can do if you want something really luxurious and it makes sense for the size of the room. I personally think that most people's rooms like the room I'm in right now, it doesn't make sense to have all the furniture legs on the rug, which is the other option. Again, it makes tons of sense if you've got a really big, beautiful space, then that's fabulous, right? If you've got a really big room, a really big living room, most people don't, but maybe you do, in which case, fantastic. Get a really big rug that makes sense for all the furniture legs to be on it. You don't wanna carpet the whole room though. That's not the idea here. So if your rug is too big, which usually doesn't happen for most people, but sometimes it does, it's because you're actually just putting a rug that fits the entire room and you essentially are just carpeting the entire room. You should still see hardwood around it. It just, what we're trying to do here is layer in different elements of design to create a more nuanced design for the room. Okay, that's what we're trying to do. And so by having a larger rug that has all the furniture legs, or at least the front two for all the furniture legs, you're creating sort of a platter in which all the rest of the furniture sits on. And so we're creating layers from the ground up. That's really what it's about. And it just looks silly if you didn't do that. If you just have a little tiny dinky rug in the center, it looks cheap because it looks like you either are not aware that your rug is too small or you tried to make it fit because it's the rug that you had and therefore it kind of just looks cheap. I get it, like larger rugs are more expensive and that's, you know, I don't like that either. I wish larger rugs were the same price. I wish it was like clothing where a small shirt was the same price as an extra large, but you know, that's not how rugs work, okay? So I wish a larger rug was also cheaper for you, but it's not. You can also layer different rugs if that makes sense, but that's a little bit more of an advance moving outside the scope of this video, but I would just say, save up, get yourself a larger rug. You honestly will not regret it. And get something that's a little bit like your style, but maybe, you know, if you're worried that it's gonna date, get something fairly like neutral and simple. I would say go for simple, not necessarily neutral in color, but simple. And that'll be a nice rug that will last you for a very long time. Ideally and probably will would be your best bet for the first rug. Okay, next up is hollow core doors. Hollow core doors are making your place look cheap. I understand if you have them and I'm not saying, you know, rip out all your doors because that's expensive and time consuming and a whole big project, but I'm just gonna throw them in this video because it just fits here, I'm sorry. A hollow core door, what does that mean? It means that if you actually look at your door, I'm talking about an interior door, not your front door, not your back door, okay, but your interior door to like rooms, okay? If you knock it and it's got a little ping, ping, ping, ping, okay, that is a hollow core door. What that means is, is that inside, there's nothing going on, okay? So it's literally just a piece of sort of manufactured wood that's on the outside and it's created this little wood veneer sort of shell, if you will, and then inside there's absolutely nothing. And so what that does is they're light, which is great, and they're cheap, which are the big two advantages for why you would choose that. Alternatively, you have a solid core door. Solid core door means that it is one solid piece of wood. It might not necessarily be one big like walnut slab, it might not necessarily like, you know, like a plane of wood just, you know, slices off there, but it is solid, meaning when you hit it, it feels like it's one solid piece of wood. You can tell when you knock it, if there's nothing going on. The advantages of this are many, okay? So first of all, it just feels more luxurious in your space. If you're like holding a, if you're just like using your doors in their hollow core, they're gonna feel really, really light, and that's not necessarily a good thing. I think you want something with weight, you know what I mean? Like it's like things that have weight feel like they're higher quality because oftentimes they are, and that is definitely true for solid core doors, right? It's also really good for soundproofing, which I think a lot of people don't understand the value because especially in an Instagram world where we're just looking at photos, we don't necessarily think of the tact, like all the other senses, the sounds, the touch, all those things that matter in design or in an interior space. And so for that, I would say it really, really makes a difference. If you can afford it, a solid core door is amazing, but you'd be surprised how many people have huge budgets for the renovation, but yet don't even consider this to be an option. A solid core door is just really good for soundproofing. You know, even if you just did it on your bedroom doors or your bathroom door, well, maybe just all your doors, it really does make a huge difference in soundproofing. It just makes, gives people a lot more privacy in the home. And overall, I think it just improves the quality of the living space. Okay, next up, things making your home look cheap would be floating TV cords. Okay, this is true for all cords. Okay, I don't like any cords, but I want to really touch on the floating TV. So if you have yours on a stand, like I do here, this doesn't really matter very much because it's so close to the media console or whatever that you probably can't really see the cords and they just like fall down the back of the media console and it's fine. But everybody wants to mount their television, which I do think makes sense for a lot of people. I'm personally moving in about four months, so I'm not really all that stressed about the fact that this is sitting on a stand, but I will mount it eventually and whatever, but I'm moving, so I'm not really stressed. But if you're thinking about mounting your television or you already have mounted your television, that's great. But what's gonna happen is, is you're gonna create a little bit of a space. Okay, in this space right here, where do the cords go? Now, if you're really thinking you're doing it the right way and you're not afraid to have a little bit of a project, the best is to route the cords through the wall, right? So you pop the cords in the back, you put them down, whatever, assuming that this is like a wall that you're capable of doing that. If it's an exterior wall, that's a different story. Don't blame me if you drill a hole through the side of your home, that's not my problem. Disclaimer, disclaimer, but basically you go down the interior wall and then you come out the bottom and that's, of course, you plug it in through all of your things, right? And you probably have a little Samsung receiver, blah, blah, blah, whatever, I don't know. I'm not, this isn't a tech channel, okay? That's not why you're here, but like, that's the other option, okay? And you can go through the wall and that's ideal. If you don't have that option or you're renting or whatever, and you're like, ah, but I have these unsightly cords, what do I do? And it is making your place look cheap, I will be honest, because it just looks really half-assed. Then I would suggest these little strips that you get on Amazon. They're not ideal, sure. It's not as great as running it through the wall, but again, here you are. And I would say that's a really great option. So you put those little plastic cover over and you route the stuff through and it just sort of contains the cords and just sort of helps them blend into the wall. Generally, you can, depending on the type that you buy, you should also consider painting them out. So if you have a white wall and it's a white cord thing, then you probably don't need to. Actually, that's not true, you still need to, because the white on these little plastic things are not the same as the whites on the wall, okay? So if you've gone with like a cloud white or a simply white or whatever, and you've chosen something that's maybe got a gray undertone or it's got a creamy undertone, and then you put like this really white, white, and you probably, honestly, if the white, white paper strip that you have is the same color of your wall, you have a bigger problem. That is that you need to paint your walls because walls are not meant to look like they've been just put primer on, okay? But let's say you've got that and it's mismatched, paint out those strips. Obviously, if you also have a green wall or a blue wall, then for sure paint them out because it's really defeating the purpose if you've got this big white strip. It looks better than the cords, but not as great as if you painted them out. Okay, next up is gonna be peeling veneer furniture. Okay, so there's no saving it once it's veneered, okay? Because here's the thing, when you have solid wood furniture and maybe you're buying it new and it's probably pretty expensive, or maybe you're buying it vintage or used or whatever, and you've got solid wood furniture, these types of things, when you get the dings, they usually wear in a little bit better than veneer. And that's, the reason is is because there's solid wood throughout the whole panel, right? Throughout the whole piece. And that is very, very, that's wonderful in terms of aging over time. But when people are oftentimes buying furniture to last them six months, a year, two years, and then they're gonna throw it out or recycle it, which is not great for the planet, you know, better just to hold onto things for a lot longer, solid wood tends to wear in a lot better than veneer products do. Now, that's not to say you should never choose a veneer because I totally get it. It's a great way to cut down on costs, that initial cost, because you've got these little strips of veneer that sit over top of, and it's like a wood effect. It's a little piece of wood, but it basically sits over top of something like a manufactured wood product, like an MDF or whatever underneath. And that is what a veneer is. And oftentimes they are peeling, especially the ones that are super, super old school, when it's maybe like a piece of vinyl, maybe it's not even a real wood, like maybe it's a piece of vinyl or something that's put on top, and you can start to see them peeling. There's no coming back from that. And I think the lesson for you here is that for some pieces, if you really want to invest in them and you want to invest in quality, the construction of the materials matter, because again, if it's solid wood, it's more likely that, you know, yes, it will dent and scratch, but it will not peel, and you will not necessarily see all the MDF core or whatever underneath, like you will with some veneered products. So if it's veneered, it's probably gone too far. And depending on how ugly and worn it is, this is a lesson learned that I think for the future, buy quality next time, if you can. But again, on the vintage market or the secondhand market, there are actually lots and lots of pieces that are quite affordable, even compared to some new veneered stuff that will not last as long. Sorry. And next thing, making your home look cheap in the same vein is gonna be overly worn faux leather. This now, I feel like the industry, let me know if you guys agree, I feel like the industry is rebranding this as vegan leather. I'm skeptical. I get the idea. They're like, ooh, vegan leather. That sounds cool. It appeals to the vegan market and the rest of us can feel better about ourselves because an animal didn't die in the making of this couch. I understand. I get it. But let's call it as it is. Remember when it was called pleather or it was called vinyl? Like it was just like, it's basically I think all the same thing. I mean, they can dress it up and call it whatever they want. But basically what we're talking about is it is a fake manmade material that is designed to mimic leather. Now, some of them might be high quality, okay? That is, your mileage may vary. So feel free to go in and kind of explore on whether or not, you know, you trust the brand, you wanna touch and feel the product and all the rest of it. And ideally, if it's been around for a long time, these materials, you can actually track to see how well they've been worn for like five, 10 years. Cause some of them can be really good. Some of them are not, right? So a lot of the ones that came before, the pleathers of the past, you sort of, which is like plastic leather, basically, which is vinyl, right? It's like you sit on them and they wear out and you can see that, right? They start to wear out. They start to look really ugly. And again, this is just a lesson on buying quality. Now, real leather, real, you know, top quality leather, and there's different variation grades of leather. Please do your research. When you buy quality leather, it'll wear in over time. And that I think makes, it just looks like it's got this beautiful patina and actually it looks lived in and actually looks really wonderful. And I think the leather that has been worn for years and years and years, it sort of breaks in. It's like a leather jacket. You know what I mean? It just breaks in over time and it actually can feel really, really good. Now, of course, if you do not like to consume or use animal products, there's lots of options out there for your couch that are not pleather leather or anything else. And you can go in and just use like fabric or whatever. There's lots of great options, right? There's linen and cotton and wool and all. Well, wool? I don't know. Again, you're vegan, you figure it out. But I would still say that if you're pleather, you be careful because overly peeled pleather furniture is definitely, it's just giving my brother's bedroom in 1994 is what it's giving. That little den living room area downstairs, it stank of old weed. And it was just, the pleather was pleathering and it needed to go. And it was, that was the situation. And the peeled veneer furniture, of course, you know, was there. You don't want that, okay? You don't wanna be my brother and it's not 1994. You don't wanna be. Sorry if he watches this video, but I don't think he watches. No, he doesn't watch my channel. Who am I kidding? Don't be that, okay? So time to just upgrade. And for next time, we're going to consider buying higher quality products that wear in overtime. Good luck. I've got lots of content on my channel that will hopefully guide you. Okay, so that's it for me for today, guys. I hope you really enjoyed this video. I'm gonna link here to my playlist on things making your home look cheap because believe it or not, I have talked about this before a few times. So feel free to check out those videos and I will see you all in those ones. Thanks a lot. Talk to you soon. Okay, see you in the next one, bye. I can't believe I said that.