Give Your Home the Look of Luxury Without Spending a Lot
By Bill Keith, Home Tips Show
You can make your home look more luxurious, even if you’re on a budget. Here, eight inexpensive items that add elegance…..
INTERIOR
Ceramic tile flooring. In entryways, hallways, kitchens and bathrooms, no
flooring offers a more luxurious look per dollar spent than ceramic tile.
Quality tiles typically cost $2 to $3 each, but home-improvement stores
usually have discounted or overstock tiles marked down to as little as 65
cents per tile. If you are handy, you can lay the tile yourself. If you
aren’t, installation typically is $2.50 to $3.50 per square foot.
Buy tiles that are at least 12” x 12” in size – big tiles
make rooms appear larger. Neutral colors, such as beige, tan or taupe, never
go out of style. Avoid white tile, which shows dirt and looks institutional.
New kitchen cabinet handles and knobs. Give your kitchen a classy, fresh
look. For timeless elegance, favor handles and knobs that have simple, clean
lines and a brushed nickel finish. Prices start at less than $2 per piece
at a home center.
Crown molding. Adding molding where walls meet the ceiling brings an air
of old-fashioned elegance. New polystyrene crown moldings look like wood,
and do-it-yourself kits make it easy to install. Corners are premade, eliminating
the need for a miter saw. Fill any gaps with painter’s caulk before
painting. A kit large enough for an average-sized room costs less than $200
at a home center.
Fresh coat of store-brand paint. Despite what you may have heard, store-brand
interior paint available at a reputable store is every bit as attractive
and long lasting as brand-name products. A five-gallon bucket usually starts
at $30, about the cost of one gallon of designer paint.
Off-brand overhead light fixtures. For every designer lamp that costs $200
or more, there likely is an attractive imitation for much less. Because
overhead lights are on the ceiling, no one is ever close enough to see that
yours is made of plastic or plated metal. “Contractor packs”
of four or six fixtures are available at big home-improvement stores for
about $10 per fixture.
EXTERIOR
Entry Planter. Place a larger planter by your home’s entryway. Use
it to grow a few plants, such as tall grass with ivy hanging over the side.
Home stores sell large plastic planters that mimic limestone or terra-cotta
for less than $50 each. Bigger is better here – it looks more luxurious.
The planter should be at least 18 inches tall. Don’t clutter your
entryway with hanging plants or other small decorations.
Asphalt sealer. Applying a coat of jet-black sealer to your asphalt driveway
for about $100 to $200 (more for long driveways) makes your home look neater
and more expensive.
If you have a concrete driveway, rent a pressure washer every year or two
to remove grass stains and tire marks. A one-day rental costs $50 to $80.
It shouldn’t take more than a few hours to clean a driveway, so you
may be able to split the cost with one or two neighbors.
Gravel Driveway. Add more gravel to your driveway to cover grass and weeds
and make it look more appealing.
Shutters. Today’s high-quality vinyl shutters look like wood and add
a wonderful accent for about $35 a pair (installation averages an additional
$50 per pair). They come prefinished in a myriad of colors. A good pair
of wood shutters costs about $100 and needs to be painted or stained every
six to eight years.
The color of your front door usually is the best color to select for shutters.
If you would like to test a few colors, use a digital camera to take a picture
of the front of your house, then print out a few copies. Using markers or
colored pencils, draw in the colors you’re considering. Post the pictures
on the fridge, and see which you like at the end of a week. Don’t
waste money putting shutters on side or back windows - few people see them.
Reprinted from Bottom Line Personal