To ask what makes a home look luxurious/posh/modern?

[minniemummy0]

No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to get our home looking as nice as some of my friends. There’s just something I can’t put my finger on. So far I’ve worked out some common things - such as new, clean, plush carpets, or candles burning. For some reason they all seem to have an L shaped sofa. What makes you really feel “wowed” by someone’s home??

From my experience, spending a lot of money on a home makes it look luxurious. We are slowly doing up the flat, and will have spent half as much as we paid for it doing it up. On top of that keeping it very clean. Luxury does not scream from a dirty home.

The only people I know who can pull this off are absolutely loaded and both husband and wife are equally committed to always been perfectionists in terms of cleaning decorating and spending a shed load of money on their homes. Many of them do this more or less in one go so it’s easier to get a more seamless look that flows.
My SIL has pulled this off they both earn shed loads of money, their home is beautiful and stylish but like an absolute show home. She works full time and is a super neat clean tidy freak (I think she struggles to relax) with nothing ever out of place be it a piece of recycling (wine bottle) at a party or a slight drink spill on the work surface (even at a party/when entertaining). Her mum, sister and brothers are the same and all work together frantically clean and keeping things tidy.
Her two kids don’t leave toys laying about either everything is contained in their playroom. They decorate and replace things fairly regularly and I think she has good taste and maybe gets some ideas from Pinterest. I really like her but don’t really feel that comfortable or relaxed in their house.

Following

You'll never get that expensive finished look if you've got chips in the plaster or three layers of emulsion on the skirting boards

This I absolutely disagree with. You'll never get "new build" look but in all but the most high end of developments that's not something to aim for if you want luxury.

High skirting boards with 200 years of paint layered, sanded redone is absolutely perfect in my view.

Whatever you do make it real. So if you like wood furniture buy wood furniture not faux laminated stuff. If you like leather make it the real deal, no fake plants, marble, stone, flowers etc.

Don't underestimate your inability to seen your home the way others do. I always feel this way, even now we've spent a bomb making our living room look lovely - it will just never look the same through my eyes as it does everyone else's as I am holding myself to too high a standard. I feel that when you live in a house, you notice so much more.

I would be willing to bet that lots of your friends admire your house just as you admire theirs.

For me, a decent sofa was my starting point and then we just bought cheap IKEA stuff and mixed it with second-hand g-plan style furniture to what we could afford. A nice rug helps, too.

We have just had our hallway, kitchen and living room all in the same laminate flooring with all new skirting boards throughout. The upheaval was awful, but worth it. The old skirting was badly put in and had lots of gaps where it met the wall. The finish on the new skirting for example, has made such a difference on the whole look and daft though it sounds, brings everything ‘together’...I think it’s sometimes finishing touches that can also make a difference.

They decorate and replace things fairly regularly

Now that is very odd behaviour. So if this woman has some antique furniture in her possession, she gets rid of it too?

Lol

Candles are awful - except table candles if appropriate.

My colleague redecorates annually. WTF? I have known her for 15 years and in that time she has had 7 sofas. Her decor is of the blingy variety.

She also does not let pets in the sitting room. Poor dog peeps mournfully round the door from a distance. It's not a welcoming home.

I think a lot of this is about taste and your home reflecting who you are. I can get a pretty good idea of the social class of someone based on their taste in interiors.

Genuinely middle class people will not see “luxury” as something to aim for. For too many that look is TOWIE-esque and tacky.
Their homes will have character and style. There will be nice rugs like kelims, runners, floorboards, walls of books, tasteful expensive sofas etc etc. Beige it will probably not be. Nor grey.

I think it's the 'off the peg' newness that also can equate with naff. You go into a home and there is no sense of the owners personality, no lives lived - jut empty decorated to the hilt space.
Home is sanctuary and should convey personality.

We learnt a useful lesson late last year when, after a few years of saving etc, we finally had our interiors professionally painted and had much better quality carpet and underlay laid.

Our furniture is from places like Ikea and Harvey's but, I have to say, it's made our house look like something out of a magazine now, without having to change any pieces.

I'd advise anyone wanting to makeover their home to spend money on the paintwork and carpets, as it will make everything else look expensive!

For all those suggesting wooden floors, we have saved literally thousands by putting carpet down, as it takes so much less heat to keep the house warm!!

I always dream about a glam beautiful home. We have ancient sofas from my nan's and mix and match everything. We have kids craft on the walls and plants all over. We have so much random decor and 'stuff from travels.

Funny because everyone loves coming to our house :s

The color schemes is a massive one for me. And the types of accessories.

For example, you would never see a canvas picture in a "posh" house.

As general rules away from personal taste you'll get a pleasing look if you keep things in proportion, so not over or undersized decor or furnishing, and being sympathetic to the structure of what you have and the way you live.

DM's Georgian house has high ceilings and squarer more open rooms that make hers more forgiving of busy wallpapers, pictures and clutter. Things can be more wonky and mismatched because the whole house was hand made materials so nothing was created perfectly square. It's not a modern aspirational look but it gels and is comdortable until she picks up some random piece of modernity that jars. Sadly the house was once extensively renovated in an era when period features such as fireplaces were not valued and much was lost over the years.

Mine is a 1980s estate with a nod to early 20th centry style. The ceilings are too low to be too bold, and colours have to be chosen well to maximise light and space. It clutters easily and can be dwarfed by oversized features. Our lounge is long and narrow, and replacing the modern hole-in-the-wall fireplace with a larger but simple style of fireplace fitted in the room better, breaking up the length and reducing the tunnel effect.

Personally I prefer a cosy home look that looks comfortable and practical to live in over modern, minimal looks. They can look great, but it is difficult to make it work as a practical home rather than an aspirational show home. I think a key thing is that items look chosen out of love rather than chosen en-masse to fit a look.

My goal is to find suitable furniture to allow us to get out our nicknacks from various travels. The DCs are now old enough for them to emerge from the loft to be diplayed safely.

Colours must be cohesive, I agree chills. All our rooms flow into each other and it was deliberate. Gloss paint is awful IMO and matte looks so much better on doors, woodwork etc. but then again I don't have kids so wear and tear is minimal.
I have carpet because I suffer from plantar fasciitis and cannot be on hard flooring. The whole house has the same carpet and I have large oriental rugs to differentiate spaces.

I disagree Urgent. A huge, almost room filling oriental rug looks incredible and so does massive artwork in a small room.
I agree with you 100% on everything else though.

My house is 30s but not the lovely kind and it has frankly bizarre nooks and crannies. The garden is a treasure though.
To make mine look homely, I painted the whole thing dark - it's dark anyway so I went with it. When I did it people were shocked but now very dark interiors are more prevalent. I love Abigail Aherne's colour schemes but her furnishings and accessories aren't me - she does brilliant faux flowers though and I have a lot of them.

For example, you would never see a canvas picture in a "posh" house

Lol! None of those stately homes with their family portrait lined banqueting rooms are remotely posh.

I always think a cat asleep in front of an open fire and a big dog laid out along a sofa looks 'luxurious'.

But then I live in an animal-infested hovel (that I love).

I can get a pretty good idea of the social class of someone based on their taste in interiors

Not everyone gives a monkey's about social class perceptions. Rambling, drafty single-glazed properties full of dust and dog hair are my idea of a nightmare to live in. Admittedly, they can look very pretty and be interesting to visit but having to layer 3 jumpers in winter or have an electric blanket to sleep through the night is the opposite of luxury living.

Padded silk wallpaper works a treat.

Not very practical if you have children though!

Best to stick with that silly phrase, "live in your house, don't let your house live in you".

RoseWhiteTips SIL doesn’t have antiques but she does have good taste and her hous is fairly contemporary without looking too new, too modern, cheap IKEA Next DFS or Argos ish etc etc xx