How to give your home a luxe look for less

Some clever styling and attention to detail doesn't have to break the bank. Cost and quality are often related - but not all of the time. You can spend millions on renovations and be left ruing poor design choices, for example. Or you can be spending savvy and create the illusion of luxury for less.

Like the sound of that? Here's 10 ways to have your home look lavishly luxuriant, whatever your budget...

1. A dash of paint

Your paintwork provides the backdrop against which your whole interior is judged, so it's hard to overestimate the invigorating effects of a new layer. You may want to debut a bold new colour, or - if you're feeling very brave - try out a pattern, but even a simple re-application will work wonders.

All paintwork starts to chip, flake and fade eventually, and most paint jobs look their age, so this can be a sure-fire route to major makeover.

2. Embrace minimalism

Luxury does not have to mean crystal chandeliers and lashings of gold leaf. In fact, it can be quite the reverse - a pared back, white-washed aesthetic can look modern in all the right ways, while too much clutter can look old-fashioned and lived-in in all the wrong ways.

It's a basic design rule that sometimes less is more, and there's no greater luxury than good taste and styling. Giving your space the Marie Kondo treatment costs nothing, but could instantly make a space feel more curated (and calm!).

3. Bet on green

Excluding bulbous cacti and foulsmelling corpse lilies, vegetation lends a feeling of freshness and elegance to any room. It is almost impossible to feel stuffy when surrounded by living leaves, and a few well-placed plants can give your home the same restorative feeling you get when you step outside into nature.

From simple rubber plants to elaborate orchids, study after study has linked green exposure to feelings of calm and contentment - indoors and outdoors alike.

4. Use layered lighting

A room illuminated by a single diffuse light source will look monochrome bland, so create contrast by texturing your rooms with multiple light sources, trained on focal points like tables or beds.

Householders never have enough mood lighting. Drop by your local megastore, pick out some lovely-looking but budgetfriendly lamps, and distribute them evenly around you home. You could even invest in a dimmer switch - a status symbol as well as a practical gadget.

5. Cushions and curtains

Fabrics are your best friend when trying to look lavish, and long, floor-length curtains lend a room a soft, well-furnished feel. Flashy finery and throw pillows are synonymous with indulgence, and are comfy to the skin and the eyes. They can be expensive but they don't need to be - choose wisely and bog-standard cushion covers and high-street drapes will serve your living room just fine.

6. Low colour, high texture

Using a coherent colour palette looks elegant, tasteful and thought-through, so add contrast and interest by mixing materials instead. Try laying a fluffy woollen rug over a hardwood floor, beneath the metal legs of a plywood table, stocked with ceramic pots or ornaments.

Luxurious spaces do not happen by accident, so the more co-ordinated a space seems, the more upmarket it will feel.

7. Mirror, mirror

Mirrors have been a long time goto for designers looking to create a sense of space, and a large unit can add a tremendous sense of depth to even the pokiest shoebox.

Hanging a mirror opposite an entrance can make a room appear almost literally twice the size, while mounting one opposite a window will send natural light bouncing around the space. If a room looks luxurious, so too will its reflection.

8. Create vignettes

A single matchbox on a coffee table is clutter; a curated arrangement of matchboxes is a vignette. Organised tablescapes can consist of almost anything - seashells, pine cones, bowls of baubles and bric-a-brac - and lend an air of elegance to even the most ordinary living room.

They're luxurious because they're so unnecessary, and a well-placed vignette is a sure-fire conversation starter.

9. Mount your television

It looks satisfyingly hi-tech, removes an electronic eyesore by banishing tangled wires, and echoes the aesthetic of a highquality hotel. We advise professional installation for all but the most sure-handed DIY-ers, but the bracket itself needn't cost more than €40.

10. Invest in a party piece

It can be literally anything - an ornate work of art, a statement chandelier, an heirloom or antique - just one extra item of interest to add that most coveted luxury: individuality. It's not about cost, it's about standing out from the domestic crowd.