Part of The Fashion Fox At Home Series
Hello Foxies! Welcome back to the weekly blog. Each day I get DM’s, emails and texts about my living spaces, my home, where I source pieces from and how to piece together a beautiful home interior.
When we sit down to Google search any kind of interior styling question or DIY on the world wide web can use daunting terminology that makes us feel like we need a degree in architecture and a masters in aesthetic concrete mixing and textiles to even hope to have one single chic living space. It can all feel too hard.
I’m going to completely demystify all of this home interior gobble-de-gook for you and tell you in straight forward and simple layman’s terms how we can all bring our living space to life. Come with me Foxies!
We will work smarter, (not harder), and you’ll finish this blog realising that it’s going to be so much fun and very easy. I promise to deliver giggles, genuine logical help AND I vow to spare you every ounce of interior styling elitism and anxiety-inducing “I’m a home designer” terms. And that’s a Fashion Fox promise!
I’ll start by saying that I love this because this process is actually a little bit like fashion. What I mean, is that you can have a cheap dress that looks fabulous with an expensive pair of shoes, and the outfit just comes together. Creating beautiful living spaces doesn’t have to cost us our savings and this week I am going to show you how.
On a budget, you can create a home that looks as though it is straight out of a magazine.
So let’s roll up our sleeves and make your home chic and fabulous, just like you.
1) Add Magic
Ok, hear me out...fairy lights!
These are my favourite thing in the whole world. I actually have them all through my apartment. They add instant non-invasive magic and make coming home at the end of the day just that bit nicer and magical.
These are my favourite thing in the whole world. I actually have them all through my apartment. They add instant non-invasive magic and make coming home at the end of the day just that bit nicer and magical.
I scooped mine up for $39 at Bunnings Warehouse (one of my favourite after work haunts). They mean it when they say, “Lowest Prices Are Just The Beginning!” Haha.
Ok, ok, now back to the fairy lights. I have wrapped them around all of the industrial support beams and poles in my apartment. The trick is to choose the fairy lights that have clear tubes and warm toned lights. They are chic and classic and SO easy to install.
Tip for successful installation: When installing your fairy lights, pull them firmly and they will sit taughtly in position because of the plastic rubber causing them to grip to the pole or beam. I wuv it!
2) Handle it
Change all your taps and cupboard door handles to matte black.
This one is a life changer. Just like with outfits, the devil is in the detail. Details elevate the look of a room or home just like gold hardware or diamond detail do on an outfit. (Feel free to click here to read more about details in fashion just so you’re catching my drift).
It’s inexpensive and instantly jazzes up your kitchen, bathroom, bedroom.
Old handles, taps and spouts can really ruin a room or bathroom. You know when you just can’t put your finger on why it looks or feels old or cheap? It’s the handles. Once you’re finished, hold up your old silver drawer handles against your new matte black ones. Just look at the difference it makes!
My kitchen handles, for example, were $5 each from Bunnings Warehouse.
It’s an instant facelift for your home, on a budget.
3) Cushion for the Pushin’
Get new throw cushions for your lounge. This will set off your lounge and living room and take it to the next level.
I know what you’re thinking… “thanks a lot Nicole for this groundbreaking tip, I would never have been able to figure that out on my own” hahaha.
I know it sounds obvious and lame, but big chic cushions on your lounge are such a game changer.
I have selected black and white cushions (as my home channels the New York loft look) but honestly, you can grab a set of cushions for summer and then a separate colour scheme for winter.
If you’re not sure where to start and you’re scared to get it wrong, stick with black and white, you’ll never regret it or get over them.
Cushion layering and placement tip: Place your cushions in the corners of each end of the lounge and give them a karate chop in the middle as a finishing touch. This makes the lounge look bigger while also creating room to sit and enjoy! Plus doing the ‘chop’ is a good stress reliever.
4) Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Get your fox paws on mirrors. You can never have enough.
They make the room look bigger, they open up and elongate the living space.
It creates the illusion of double the space and opens a room up.
A special tip on how to use mirrors: Place three identical mirrors behind your lounge. It will draw the eye ‘up’, make your ceilings look higher and double the visual space of your living room. It will give your room the wow factor from guests, in a subtle, chic way.
5) Plant the Seed
Plants look amazing in any room. They are good for the home and good for the soul.
Do not be scared to add them to your bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen.
A pop of green, a pop of life really completes a living space. Green is the colour of calm and seeing plants and greenery around us resonates with our human biology (so it’ll make you feel good!)
They fill up the space without draining your wallet.
6) Light up your world
One phrase for you Foxies: clear festoon lights.
These are so incredibly fabulous. They are $49.90 at Bunnings Warehouse. Yes, if I say Bunnings one more time, we will all scream (including me!) haha.
Festoon lights are multiple light bulbs on a black cord.
I have them in my courtyard and what they do is warm up this entire area.
We connect them to the light switch and what can I say, they just glisten beautiful at night and in the early evening.
They make every night feel wonderful.
Get them yesterday and make your home a bright, thoughtful one.
Make your home a bright one and light up your world. You’re welcome, the Dad jokes are free here at getfashionfox.com haha.
7) Are you ready to Lounge around? Ok so I may have whisper-goosed you a little bit. My lounge is the centerpiece of my living room and to be completely truthful, it was very expensive. I know, I know, I promised instant chic on a budget. But I am getting to a point, I promise.
As such a key piece of this popular room in your home, save up for the lounge of your dreams. This is our one key investment piece (if nothing else). Just like we splurge on incredible designer jeans then add a simple inexpensive top, for instance.
Invest in your lounge. I know it’s scary, I mean have you seen lounge prices these days? But trust me, you’ll be so glad you opened up your wallet for this one. Look for a lounge that really complements the room. I chose a big, chic, white one. The day it got delivered I felt like I had truly “made it” in life.
In the meantime, IKEA have lounges that look minimal chic and will be great to use until your dream lounge arrives.
8) Art, art, art
I am a fashion stylist so naturally, I wanted some fashion and lifestyle prints.
Everywhere I looked they were so ridiculously expensive.
What was I going to do?
Well Foxies, I made my own.
Yes, you heard me. I went onto Etsy and picked my pictures/photos then got my tape measure out and I measured the spaces in my home for all different photos. Using the measurements, I ordered my favourites.
All prints arrived in less than a week. Some of them were only $13. Some were $39. I was so chuffed. Then I went to IKEA and purchased the frames for around $20 each and voilah! Your prints are done.
I did splurge and purchase one fashion print I really wanted and looked at for a very long time. But I wanted to show you that you can have these prints and the entire look for your home, on a budget.
The Fashion Fox
Cheap + Easy Ways to Make Your Home Look Instantly Chic on a Budget
Match inexpensive pieces with expensive investment pieces. Mix and match these and it will elevate every room
Bunnings Warehouse has everything you do. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Just changing a handle or a tap to matte black can give your room the facelift it needs. It’s kind of like botox for those unwanted crows feet. But in a home context.
Fairy lights will light up your room and make it magical. You deserve that.
Rome was not built in a day so plan it all out logically and have fun decorating the changing your spaces.
My Final Top Tip: Find key forever pieces of furniture. The ones you’ve always dreamed to own. Look for the tv console, lounge, dining table, coffee table and bed frame of your dreams. Don’t let cost be an issue. Then, what you do, is slowly and surely collect them over time. This is exactly what I did. If in doubt, stick to white and black pieces. This way they stay timeless and fit in with your home. You feel so good once you slowly tick each one off your list, knowing you’ve saved up for it, envisioned it and finally get to have it. It’s like waiting for your dream husband to come into your life or saving up for your dream car.
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