A Beautiful Life | High End Home On Any Budget

Oct 15, 2014

Hello, it's so great to be back after a wonderful long weekend spent with family & friends, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving and it was awesome! Today, I'm sharing my second installment of "A Beautiful Life" and writing on how to create a high end look for your home without breaking the bank. We're currently in the process of updating ours and I have lots of fabulous and practical advice to share with you. For each category listed, you'll find inexpensive tips on how you can do it for less!



Clean and happy home // Prior to starting a decorating project... I love giving our home a fresh coat of paint, shampooing the carpets, cleaning our upholsteries and re-sealing our kitchen floor grout + back-splash if need be. We typically do this every couple of years, and for us, it's definitley worth the extra money. Even when we were renting we replaced the kitchen lino, added new kitchen cabinet knobs, repainted and added our own drapery. It makes all the difference!

Paint old furniture // This is a tried and true favourite! There's nothing like painting an out of date dresser a gorgeous creamy white and adding gold or brass hardware. I'm always amazed at the result! For my projects? I use Benjamin Moore paint and Restoration Hardware knobs. My favourite is their traditional violet glass knob. Perfect for a bedroom or vintage armoire. Plus, talk about affordable!

Wallpaper // Adding gorgeous wallpaper to a feature wall gives instant appeal and definitley lends a more high end look. We're hoping to add a wallpapered wall to either our dining room, or around the fireplace. However to keep costs down we'll be choosing a stencil instead of going with traditional wallpaper. The plan is to paint our room white and then add a sheer metallic grey damask stencil to our feature wall. I can't wait, I've seen it done and it looks amazing!

Pillows // We just bought all new pillows for our couch and I love them. They add instant luxury and coziness. However, they can also get ridiculously expensive, our trick? We bought several neutral ones from Ikea and then added two high end pillows for a final touch of pizazz. Totally worked and we saved money as a result. Fab, right?! 

Frames // I love scouring flee markets for gorgeous frames and then either painting them white, or covering them with a silver or gold leaf treatment. So easy and it looks like you spent a ton of money on fancy, schmancy mirrors!

Curtains // They can get so expensive, especially if you're looking for something luxurious and that will create a statement. We currently have very simple ones from Ikea, in white, and we're planning on doing a dip dye treatment to give them a more custom look. From what I can tell, the treatment looks ridiculously easy and I know it will add the perfect amount of drama to our living room!

Art // I love framing beautiful fabrics, typography, black & white photos, vintage postcards or even old handwritten letters. Skies the limit, you definitley don't have to spend a ton of money to create a gallery wall in your home. My favourite trick? Is to mix frames & mediums, here's an example of a wall I love!

Investment piece // When it came to choosing our furniture we went for a good mix of high & low. I believe, every room needs at least one great investment piece as it instantly elevates the look of the entire space. For us, that meant a high end coffee table and a designer sofa (ours is a dark greyish colour). Both of these items do so much to give our home a more high end feel.

Can you tell I'm really home obsessed lately? We've really been getting into it over here! But how can you not? It's so much fun! I'll see you a little later this week for a favourites/wishlist type post. Otherwise, I'm taking it easy and currently on antibiotics, ugh, my cold turned into a terrible infection with some very scary complications. So lots of rest for me!! xo

15 sweet notes:

  1. Sooo about the frames, have you posted a DIY blog about silver and gold treatments? I always buy the distressed look and have never painted/designed frames myself and I would LOVE to know how to do it...and of course I want to learn from you because I adore your style <3

    janmloves.blogspot.com

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  2. Mirrors, right?! They make a room look absolutely beautiful. As for posting a DIY? I haven't, but here's a fantastic one that I've used... you can buy either gold or silver liquid leaf paint at any major craft store! http://camillestyles.com/living/transformed-mirror-goes-gold/ And, for white? I just use spray paint from Home Depot! xo

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  3. Love those statement honeycomb-like mirrors. You have such wonderful taste!
    -E

    amie-eo.blogspot.com

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  4. These are great tips! I always sew new covers for my pillows. usually from remnants at the fabric store or left overs. Its the easiest way to have a new look!

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  5. I've been really into beautifying our home lately - I loved reading all this!

    Courtney ~ Sartorial
    Sidelines

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  6. Aren't the honey-comb mirrors adorable?! They're from Ikea and I'm hoping to add them to our bedroom wall/above the bed! xo

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  7. Oh V, I love your home posts! I definitely need lots of repeated inspiration to keep up with working on our place - when it comes to creature comforts, all I really need from my home is a comfortable couch and bed. But I know a place can be so much more than that and I love other people's beautiful homes... so I need to put the work into ours, too. I love those knobs from Restoration Hardware, so gorgeous! Definitely going to be looking at their site when we replease the handles on our cabinets. Soon-ish ;) Happiest Wednesday, my friend! Must email you soon to set-up a date.
    xox,
    Cee

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  8. I'm a bit of a home-decor idiot, so I LOVE these tips! I always say I want to spruce up our house, but then I never get around to actually doing it. I get so overwhelmed! But I may just have to start small, with one of these ideas!

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  9. Haha, yup, your little interior decorator is making an appearance on the blog.

    I've actually had my eye on those hexagonal mirrors for a month or so now, and am hoping to pick up a few once I move. I'm trying to save money for moving, but it's soooo hard not wanting to nab a few things here and there with the excuse of wanting to make my new place look better. Sigh...

    The Dragonfruit Diaries

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  10. such a great post veronika, it's obvious you put a lot of time into it and i love how relatable all of your tips are. oh and your couch?! SWOON!

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  11. Isn't it funny how such a little addition to your decor, like a knob, can make such an impact? This is a great post, packed with ideas! I can't wait to see your stencil project. Hope you are feeling better soon!

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  12. Thanks for sharing such great tips! Your home looks beautiful!
    http://www.hiteastyle.com

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  13. Oh Veronika...I can't believe that you're having to deal with health issues yet again!! I'm so sorry!! Take good care of yourself, my dear...as exciting as they are, your home projects will wait until you are feeling better!! (On the other hand, maybe they are just the distraction that you need right now?!) Robin and I had originally planned to paper the long wall in our condo with something that looked like distressed plaster, but the cost was prohibitive...so we created a similar effect with paint!! It took us 10 hours, but we LOVE the result!!


    www.StyleIsMyPudding.blogspot.com

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  14. i love this post! We are currently apartment hunting. And I can't wait to redecorate!

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  15. Awesome, thanks for all the tips :) I'll try to make time to try these.

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