Today we’re going to talk about, by the way I have my coffee in hand because I am excited to relax, I want you guys to relax as well, sit back, cuz we are going to talk about decor styling tips that you can do without overspending.
Tip 1: Thrift Unique, Inexpensive Pieces
So one of the best kept secrets of a well-designed home is that not every item needs to be expensive for it to be good. In fact, right here as I’m speaking, I grabbed these two from an antique market on Ventura Boulevard, I kid you not, here in Los Angeles, it says Patagonia Puerto R Chile, they’re artisal, this came from Chile, I don’t know where this came from, and I think I paid maybe $25 for one and then maybe $10 for the other.
It was inexpensive, but it’s a beautiful piece, and it looks great on my uh book here, and that is what we talk about, creating different looks in your home, changing things out. And if you have a bold high-end sofa like this one, cuz this one is part part of my furniture collection and it is very expensive, however I have a $10 little cup next to it, because you do want to bring things that are earthy, you want to bring things that are thrifted such as these items, and pottery, and things that have texture and history to them, to make pieces look beautiful.
Tip 2: Layer Textures
Another thing that I love to do is layering textures. So layering textures allows you to bring a sofa like this, this is a type of boulay, it’s like a tweed, and then the book that I have here on my coffee table, the Jean Hoyer, is a linen, it’s a linen cover on a book. I’ve got my terracotta, I put a cycle rug down in this room, I’ve got of course my florals here.
All of these things, not one of them are identical, they each have different textures, they each have different finishes. My coffee table has a glass piece on it that’s glossy, this is matte, and this is how you do it. Imagine if everything were matte, or if everything were glossy, it would just look terrible.
Tip 3: Use Visual Weight to Anchor a Room
Another very important thing to really style up your home is to use visual weight to anchor your room. So by visual weight, I mean bringing in a piece that has quite literally physical weight and visual weight, like the sofa, it’s a very large piece, and that is going to really become the focal point of the room. But in order for it to be balanced, you bring in all the smaller items, the decor items, but you also have to have balance and scale.
If you’re decorating shelves, mix objects of different weights, it’s the same concept as the room. So styling shelves is also another one of my absolute favorite things. I love to bring books, but if you bring books, you want to bring book ends perhaps to give it a little bit of texture towards the end of the books. You can stand them up, uh, put your bookends, you can also sit them down and put the bookends on an entirely different area of the bookshelf as decor, like there are no rules.
Just keep in mind that if you have a tall object, you want to put something low next to it, and if on the shelf below you don’t want to put another tall object under the tall object, at this point you want to balance it out and put something that’s low and then something that’s tall next to it. So you just have to play with the space so that it kind of creates an eight, sort of the infinity symbol. If you look at all of my styling, just look at how it really creates a natural linear balanced look. So if you’re able to master visual weight, you can become a very proficient professional stylist.
Tip 4: Use Storage that Doubles as Decor
Another great trick that I love doing, and I get really excited about, is using storage that doubles as decor. So why not bring an ottoman in a room where you can throw all the pet toys in it, or a basket, or if you have remote controls on your coffee table, that is just to me very unattractive.
So why not bring a beautiful decorative box, and at the end of the night when nobody’s looking, you can throw all those items in the box so that everything looks beautiful, everything looks just clean and nice, and if anyone were to pop in at any point in time, they would be impressed by how organized you are.
Now let’s talk about an example of an impactful upgrade I did to a space of mine where I wanted to float a dresser, and using stylish storage that is also doubled as decor, I’m going to give you guys an example. I needed storage space, so I got this dresser and placed it in the perfect corner where I know I could put a lot of things that I need to store away, and it just looked bare. So in order to make it chic, I styled it by placing these wonderful objects on top of the dresser.
So I grabbed one of my paintings, I have lots of different paintings around the house that I love, I have things that are in storage spaces, so I bring them out, I take them back, by storage I mean like in a cupboard, I don’t mean an actual public storage, but I have things that I put away and I have things that I bring out because I get tired of seeing the same things, and then I put them away and they’re like new items to me.
So I decided to put this beautiful artwork on top of the dresser, and then I brought in some decorative pieces that I put next to it, again making sure that I kept in mind the visual weight of this piece and created a little trio and a balance. So you can bring anything that gives you pleasure, whether it’s a set of books that you love, or a beautiful glass object, maybe a vase, always bringing in fresh florals or plants always can create a beautiful vignette. And when you’re looking to decorate on a budget, storage furniture often gets overlooked, but it shouldn’t.
You want a dresser, for example, this dresser is a great example of how you can stay organized on a budget and still make a stylistic impact. It’s just $220 for example, but it offers a lot of value in terms of both function and form. And I want to absolutely thanks to W Life who sponsored this video, we have this gorgeous dresser that I placed in this space so that you guys can get an idea of where to get a great dresser, by the way this is on Amazon, and exactly how to style it.
So I’m going to use this dresser to store lots of samples, lots of documents, extra uh cords, I have a lot of samples for work, so this is going to be very helpful for me to really organize all of my materials, and I can do it even by type of material in each drawer, etc, etc, I can do fabrics in one, wood in another.
So whatever your organizational needs are, placing them in a place where you can find them and have them organized in a dresser such as this one that is built solid wood, that is quality, and for such a great price point, and I’ve got so much clutter that I really need to organize it, and this is the way to do it. So each of the nine drawers slides smoothly on metal tracks, which is very helpful, and just makes it easy to open and close without frustration.
I also love the quality, the build quality is solid, this is engineered wood, so I know it’s actually wood, and the black finish gives it a clean modern look. So if you’re looking to combine style and storage and something that is economical and easy to receive via Amazon, then I definitely recommend you check this out. This dresser will be linked in the description section below.
Tip 5: Rearrange What You Already Have
My next tip, which is I kind of touched upon earlier, is rearranging what you already have. You have no idea what a difference it makes if you literally take something from one room and place it in another room, it feels like a brand new item. In fact, when we were setting up this entire house for the photo shoot with the furniture, this is only temporary by the way for those of you asking, you were asking me “Where is your other sofa, where’s your other coffee table?”
Everything is coming back the way it was because this is just a temporary, but we moved so many of the items from one room to the next, and I literally asked, was it my husband or my assistant, I said “Where did this bowl come from, it’s this solid beautiful marble bowl.” And I I had forgotten where it sat for eight months, which is crazy because I notice and clock everything, and they’re like “Don’t you remember where this was?” “No, this was on the credenza.”
Well I moved it to a different place and it looked like a brand new item, it looked so chic. So again, it’s up, move them from one room to the next, this is the most inexpensive, in fact the free way, for you to be able to have some fun around the house. Move them things around, rearrange, and you will be amazed at what you’re able to recreate. So if you want examples of what to do, I’m going to suggest that you swap out your artwork, but swap it out, force yourself to do things that are different than what you’ve done before, so that you have a new fresh look.
You can also move a rug at an angle, why not, this will allow you to maybe change the layout of the room. As a child I remember I would always grab my sister and I’d say “Let’s change out the layout of our rooms.” I don’t know if you guys did this, did anyone do this when they were growing up, I want to know please sound off, but I always did that.
And I shared a room with my sister when we were growing up, when we would go away on our vacations on the summer holidays, we had a home and my sister and I shared a room, and that is where we’d have the most fun, cuz there were two twin beds in there, and then we would move them around, we’d sometimes put them side by side, sometimes we’d put them in one end of the room and another end of the room, and it was literally like having a new bedroom.
Another thing I love to do is layering rugs, so you know grab a CIE rug, grab your Ruggable rug, and since we’re talking about Ruggable, I’m going to talk layer your rugs. One thing I love doing is layering my rugs, for example right now I’ve got a a CY rug that’s down, and I’m going to be layering this with my Ruggable rug. So speaking of Ruggable, I don’t know if you guys know, but I have two collections with Ruggable now and they are selling like crazy.
If you haven’t checked out all of my beautiful rugs from Ruggable, you are missing out, because they have made them thicker, they’re now extra tufted, not all of the designs that are on Ruggable come in this premium material, so you can get them in the regular size, I mean in the regular thickness, but you can also get them in the tufted material. We have all sorts of different rugs, and I will leave the description link below for you to check them out.
Another great way to change your home is to literally, and I’m going to be doing this because I’m sick and tired of looking at the same shelves, I’m going to be redecorating my shelves, not with new objects but with the same existing objects, and I’m going to be moving things around. So why not get a fresh look for spring.
Tip 6: Embrace Greenery and Plants
The next thing I was going to bring up is greenery and plants, and it doesn’t have to be an arrangement such as this one that is complicated and hard to do, but it can be simple. It can be a plant that you get from a nursery, leaving it in you know in a vignette like on top of a book, make sure that you have a little a dish under it so it doesn’t ruin your books, but bringing a little bit of life, and a lot of life actually, from a plant into a home is does wonders.
For those of you who remember, I normally have my coffee table here and we’ve got cactus in it, it looks really pretty, it’s different, it gives a texture. So whether it’s cactus, or whether it’s a little vine of some kind, an orchid, whatever it may be, bring it into your space, embrace it, and bringing in greens into your home whether they’re potted or temporary is always a good thing.
Tip 7: Use Books for Decor and Volume
My next best decor tip is to really embrace beautiful designer books. First of all, if you’re a collector like I am, I love collecting books, I love collecting china, I love collecting vases. In fact, I was on a podcast this morning called Collector’s Gene, so you guys know I’m a collector, and collecting books is always a great thing to do because not only uh it allows you to take a moment to read and learn, but it also allows you to decorate with things that are very beautiful, and books to me are beautiful inside and outside of the book, if that makes sense.
What’s also great about books is that you can stack them, and they can create the volume that you are looking for. I often stack three, four books, and then I put something, an object, on top of it, so then I’m getting the volume I am looking for without really trying that hard. Another great way to bring life into your home is to stack the books vertically and put bookends on them on shelves.
I do this all the time, I love buying beautiful, intricate, interesting bookends, whether they’re marble or brass or most likely vintage and old, makes a huge difference. And you don’t need expensive coffee table books guys in order to style your coffee tables. I know a lot of you going to ask me, Nina, what coffee table should I buy, I have a list of coffee table books that I always suggest to clients and of course to my community in the, they will all be listed on my Amazon storefront in the description section below.
Another great thing to do, it’s never about affordability. You can easily buy art that is inexpensive, you can buy photography that’s inexpensive from art students, you can go to eBay and buy things that are inexpensive. It’s really not about the value of the item, it’s how you style the item. Find a beautiful print that you enjoy and have it framed in a way that’s special, that’s what’s going to make it stand out. It’s not the dollar value, but the pride you take in the piece, it’s the beauty of the piece that you can easily thrift or buy secondhand.
One thing I love doing is to browse digital downloads on Etsy for maybe a few dollars, you guys can download some iconic Hollywood prints, so there’s no reason why we can’t all level it up, get some really nice prints, print them, frame them. There are so many websites that can help you these days just to be able to, you know, easily send or buy frames from to make things look really good. Another great idea which I wanted to share with you are, there are free public domain artwork sites from museums and archives, and you can easily print those as well.
They’re available for the public, and you can legally download those images and have them printed and framed and placed in your home. Another secret that I’ve seen a lot of designers do, and it I think it’s genius, is for example you can buy a book that’s not very expensive that has some beautiful prints in it,
and then you can frame those prints. So if you love fashion, well you can buy a book from Dior or any designer that you enjoy and then frame them, and you have now a collection that you can use in your wardrobe or maybe in your budoir, where you have some prints that have meaning uh for you, because your budoir, and that will allow you to have a very elevated look for pennies on the dollar. Don’t forget, there is a creative artist in all of us.
So or your children, give them a crayon, give them some paint, and if they’re teenagers, then have them close their eyes and do something, have your children do a little doodle for you and then frame them, or do it yourself. It’s so much fun. You will find that if you sign up for art classes, there are many of them wherever you may live, and not only will you make new friends, but perhaps you can learn a new trade and you can use those as beautiful artwork throughout your home.
Closing Thoughts
So those are my easy and doable, affordable ways to style your home like a pro without spending money. Take what you have, repurpose it, get pieces that are of quality that you can use, like the dresser that I mentioned uh in order to organize your life. When you get rid of the clutter guys, you will be able to think freely.
When you get rid of the clutter and you organize things, you will make less mistakes in your life, you will remember what you need to be doing. It’s like it takes the chaos out of the space and out of your head, and appropriately inside your new dresser. I hope you guys enjoyed this content. I can’t wait to see you guys again next week on this website. If if you guys have topics that you’re interested in, please do share, we love to hear from you, and we can’t wait to see you on this website, The Red Elevator, next week.
