Creating a luxury home décor doesn’t necessarily mean investing in eye-wateringly expensive pieces. You can create the impression of sophistication and comfort in many different ways, from including fabulous textures to focussing on the scale of your chosen pieces to simply editing your collections so that treasured possessions truly have the chance to shine. Read on for our top tips for creating a luxury home decor...
1. Start with soft furnishings
Eye catching cushions, beautifully made curtains, an inviting eiderdown… soft furnishings are key to creating a luxury home décor. Not only do they bring pattern and colour to a scheme but they also provide softness and comfort – and it is astonishing how they can improve the acoustics in a room, another important tip for creating the sense of a luxury home. If you have a beautiful fabric on your wish list but are worried about the expense, think how you can use it sparingly to best effect: cushions are the perfect home accessories for showcasing a stunning print – consider backing them with a more affordable fabric – while a statement headboard requires relatively little fabric compared with, say, curtains or a sofa. An eiderdown is a fantastic way to bring pattern to a bed and a smaller version will look wonderful as a cosy cover across the seats of a sofa. Pictured here are fabrics from our Small Prints range, a versatile collection of joyful designs on pure linen. Note the detail of a ruffled trim on the eiderdown and pillows – luxurious touches that make all the difference.
2. Embrace different textures and textiles
When thinking about luxury home decoration, it is important to take into account all the senses, and that includes touch. Tactile materials can vastly affect the way we feel in a room, and a range of textures can enhance that sensation – think of contrasting a smooth wooden floor with a thick, shaggy rug or sheepskin, for example. When choosing fabrics, a mix of textures such as wool, linen and velvet will awaken the senses and bring warmth to a space. The sofa pictured here is upholstered in Sienna, our cosy bouclé fabric with a captivating textural quality. Team it with cushions in a variety of materials and don’t forget to include a touch of leather: a footstool or ottoman in Saddle – our eco-friendly range of leather made using off-cuts from the fashion industry – adds another tactile element to a room.
3. Experiment with dark wallpaper
We have said it before but we will say it again: if a room isn’t endowed with the best light or the grandest proportions, it often makes sense not to fight these flaws, but instead to embrace them. A dark scheme can create a sense of drama, detracting from the fact that light is limited or the size or shape of the room is less than perfect. A richly patterned wallpaper is your secret weapon here, bringing a sense of subtle glamour to the space that is perfect for creating the effect of a designer home decor. An obvious place in the house for a dark wallpaper is a guest cloakroom but also consider a rich design for a snug, where you probably want to create a feeling of cosiness, or a bedroom, where a dark scheme can help aid relaxation. The design pictured here, Bamboo Garden in Navy, features a tropical print that is perfect for bringing an exotic touch to a room. Take your cue from the print to put the rest of the scheme together: here, we had a chair upholstered in Bolero in jewel-like emerald tones and opted for inky-hued woodwork, which adds to the sense of drama.
4. Declutter
A house that is beautifully put together with carefully curated pieces will exude a sense of understated luxury – and spaces that are free of clutter play an important role in achieving this style. The way to ensure a decluttered home is, first and foremost, good storage: if you have a place for everything, it is unlikely that clutter will build up. Bespoke storage is brilliant for maximising space but you can also be inventive with your choice of furniture and home accessories: choose a small chest or an ottoman that doubles as storage for blankets or throws or a chic woven basket in which you can store newspapers or magazines. If you are a collector at heart, group collections together for impact and try alternating your displays so that your pieces have space to breathe. The clutter-free simplicity of this sitting room scheme is what gives it a sense of luxury, with a few curated home accessories sharing the same tonal palette as the curtains, sofa and armchair. The furnishings are all in our Elba fabrics, a range of dyed and tumbled linens available in 48 colours – perfect for creating a breezy yet elegant home.
5. Consider minimalism
If at the top of your wish list is a pared-back, simply decorated home, you might want to consider minimalism. This style favours a limited number of pieces that allow the space to be celebrated just as much as the objects within. Here, the glorious proportions of a Georgian sitting room are emphasised with a few simple pieces that pack a punch: an oversized corner sofa, a bold geometric rug, a sleek white coffee table and an iconic mid 20th century lampshade. Note the choice of simple Roman blinds – like the sofa, they showcase our Juno linen blend fabric in uplifting Mantis – which help draw the eye to the architecture and maximise the light. Luxury home decoration with simplicity at its heart.
6. Invest in designer decorative accessories
When putting together a luxury home décor, the details can make a difference. Eye catching cushions, a gossamer soft cashmere throw, an elegant pair of candle holders… carefully chosen home accessories can help elevate your interiors and create the impression of a luxury home. Don’t forget scent when you are sourcing luxury home accessories: a delicious smelling candle or diffuser sets the tone for your home the moment guests walk through the door. When sourcing pieces, we advise taking your time: the best interiors are usually those that have slowly evolved, so make sure you only choose the designs that really make your heart sing, perhaps compiling a wish list of the home accessories you particularly love. Beautiful cushions are wonderfully useful decorative accessories that can lift a plain sofa or bed: our vibrant Double Dragon cushions in Lacquer Red feature a cut ruche trim, which adds another layer of sumptuous sophistication. As we say, it really is about the details…
7. You can’t go wrong with a fresh coat of paint
First impressions really do count, so if the paint on the front door is peeling or the sitting room walls are covered with scuff marks, it is time to reach for the paint chart. A fresh coat of paint implies a well-cared-for home, and the colour you choose can really contribute to the feel of sophistication: witness how this panelled wall in inky blue beautifully offsets the old terracotta flooring, offering a rich foil to its mellow, weathered beauty. The colours of the wall and tiles are in turn picked up in the armchair upholstery, Hi Ho Silver, a blanket-style design in sumptuous velvet that adds another layer of luxury to the space. When choosing paint colours, always invest in samples, painting a large swatch – an A3 size is ideal – and moving it around the room to take into account how the colour appears in different light. Don’t be afraid to embrace rich hues – they can add warmth and depth, and that all-important sense of elegance.
8. Reupholster tired furniture
If you have a good quality sofa or armchair that has seen better days, it is well worth considering recovering or reupholstering the piece (the former meaning simply to change the fabric while the latter often involves stripping it back to the frame and remaking it). Neither of these options is necessarily affordable but they should be considerably less pricey than purchasing a new piece, plus reviving an existing sofa or armchair is a much less wasteful option. And of course you have the chance to specify the fabric in order to create a design that befits a luxury home. If you live in a house with children, pets, or both, you might want to consider an elegant slipcover: collections such as Elba, our pure linen range, can be washed at 30 degrees, as can Verde, our eco-friendly cotton made from recycled fabrics. For fitted upholstery, velvet truly denotes luxury and is surprisingly forgiving: collections such as our Omega Prints and plains are stain resistant, while Kami, pictured here, is even machine washable. The intricate Oriental pattern cleverly breaks up the size of the piece and brings a luxurious quality to a treasured heirloom.
9. Trick the eye with floor-length curtains
Floor-length curtains are fantastic for correcting less-than-perfect window proportions and tricking the eye into believing that a window is taller than it actually is. They also bring warmth and elegance to a room, contributing to a luxury home décor. Consider using a pole that is wider than the window so that the curtains sit either side of the frame when they are open and are not encroaching on the available light. If using a pelmet, another trick is to position it above the top of the frame, again helping to lengthen the window and maximise the light. This eye-catching scalloped pelmet helps to give the window a sense of grandeur, while floor-length curtains in Kitty in Aqua Leaf tie in with the upholstery on the bed – perfect for a considered, sophisticated interior.
10. Play with different heights and sizes
You can achieve the sense of a designer home décor simply by playing with scale. Rather than opt for a number of small pieces dotted around a room, choose one key piece: an oversized sofa or headboard will create a focal point and give the impression that a room is grander than it actually is. This striking headboard emphasises the height of the room while the wing design lends a cocooning effect; the printed velvet, Nightfall, is both dramatic and wonderfully tactile, beautifully capturing the essence of a luxury home decor.
A carefully curated home featuring luxurious touches will never go out of fashion, particularly if you choose pieces in timeless materials that will wear well, or even improve with age. Remember that luxury isn’t just about the things that are in the home but also about the space around them: a decluttered interior will feel far more luxurious than a busy, untidy one. And of course, the philosophy ‘buy once, buy well’ applies to a luxury home: purchase pieces that you truly love and they will reward you for years to come.
FAQs
How can I source luxury home accessories on a budget? The high street is a fantastic place to shop for luxury pieces without the designer price tag: look for designs in quality materials and classic styles. Also seek out second hand items in flea markets and online platforms – you can find anything from timeless stainless steel cutlery to beautiful ceramics, whilst supporting a circular economy. When it comes to wall art, anything from prints to children’s art to postcards can be elevated with a good frame – hang collections together for a gallery-style display. And if you are handy with a sewing machine, make your own soft furnishings, such as cushions or bedspreads: you will save a lot of money that you can instead invest in the fabrics themselves.
Are there any quick fix ways to creating a luxury home? Flowers and plants are wonderful for instantly adding an uplifting, luxurious feel to a home – if you can, invest in an impressive house plant such as a fiddle-leaf fig (ficus lyrata) which lends a sculptural quality to a room. When entertaining, or simply enjoying a relaxing night in, there is nothing more luxurious than candlelight: tea lights in pretty glasses will do the trick – place them near mirrors or glassware for extra sparkle.