50 Mistakes That Make Your Home Look Cheap

Author: Veronica Booth

Edited by: Nicole Tommasulo

Breaking the bank to buy furniture doesn’t guarantee your space will look lavish, and buying discount decor doesn’t mean it will look cheap.

What does it mean if your home looks “cheap?” It’s important to understand that it’s genuinely not about money. You could buy the priciest stuff in the store, but if you don’t arrange it properly, it will look cheap. Cheap doesn’t mean inexpensive; it means tacky, tasteless, childish, trashy, common, uncouth. A cheap-looking home does not come down to your income bracket.

Homes can look cheap for many reasons, from messiness to ill-fitting colors to oversized items. It can be tough to identify what in your home is ruining the aesthetic, so we’ll discuss some of the biggest mistakes that lead to a cheap aesthetic. Hopefully, you can avoid or remedy these mistakes and make your home as classy and courtly as you want.

Clutter

For most people, clutter is an unavoidable part of being a human with a home. We know you mean to create clutter in your home, and you probably don’t want it there. Nevertheless, we must emphasize that clutter is a quick way to make a lovely home feel cheap.

No matter how stunning your decor, how thoughtful your furniture arrangements are, or how pleasing your paint colors are, your home will look grungy if there’s clutter. Convenient storage solutions, an effective cleaning routine, and other decluttering hacks can help you prevent clutter.

Disproportionate Furniture

Furniture is not made as a one-size-fits-all item. Some headboards will be too big for your bedroom, while others might look tiny. It’s crucial you only use furniture pieces proportional to one another. We won’t lie — finding the right scale is tricky.

Our best advice here is to pay attention to the height of everything. Is your coffee table taller than your couch seat? Is your lamp shorter than your accent chair? Does your nightstand sit a foot below your mattress? These are all signs of bad scale. Having all your furniture and room measurements also helps.

Generic Art

If you want to curate a unique and endearing space, skip the mass-produced and generic art. This refers to many things, but if it looks like something you could get anywhere, we suggest you pass on it.

Art from Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx, Amazon, and similar companies is almost always a no-go. The same goes for generic prints, like a copy of the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. Yes, they’re masterpieces, but they’re not unique decor. Instead, thrift art, commission pieces, or buy from local artists.

Blank Walls

Blank walls can be eerie and unsettling. They make your home feel cold and sometimes even abandoned if it’s really empty. Blank walls are a common problem with renters, as they don’t always have the option to make holes, paint, or make other adjustments to their walls.

This isn’t revolutionary, but Command Strips and other no-damage products are the best route. Leaving your walls blank makes your space feel unfinished and tasteless. Not every single wall needs something, but most do. Find a balance in each room.

Fluorescent Lighting

Please avoid fluorescent lighting. It’s easily the most unflattering kind of light, so never put it in a bathroom or bedroom. However, we can’t see any reason to have them in your house unless you have a workshop or lab of some sort.

Therefore, if you don’t live in a warehouse facility, there’s no need for fluorescents. They’re harsh and cold, depleting your space of any warmth or coziness. We’re fluorescent light haters, and we’re not afraid to say it.

Poorly-Sized Rugs

Scaling furniture isn’t the only issue people have with proportions. Wrong rug sizes are all too common, and they make the space look odd and cheap. The worst offense is a rug that’s too small. When in doubt, go bigger.

A good rule of thumb is that your rug should touch every piece of furniture in the space. Oversized rugs can be a problem, too — less of a problem, but still a problem. You should leave at least six inches between your rug edge and wall, but up to two feet is acceptable.

Old Wall Holes

We’re guilty of this, too. We love to revamp our space, which means rearranging decor and adding new wall hangings. This often results in ugly holes that we, as inhabitants, become blind to. Unfortunately, our guests notice them though.

What’s more cheap-looking than a battered wall? To avoid this, commit to either covering all holes with decor or plastering and painting old holes routinely. We recommend the former, as the latter is a huge pain.

Matching Sets

Places like Home Depot and Ashley Furniture often have perfectly matching furniture sets on their showroom floors. These sets seem conveniently stylish, but they usually look cheap once in your space.

When all your furniture matches precisely, it’s obvious you bought them as a set at a box store. This doesn’t create the luxe vibe we’re after. Mix and match and find pieces that complement one another but don’t match exactly.

Misaligned Window Treatments

As children and teens, we never imagined that hanging curtains and blinds was such a complex task. As adults, we now know that window treatments are one of the most finicky, confusing, annoying, and important design aspects.

People think window treatments should fit over the window perfectly, but they’re almost always supposed to be larger. Drapes should extend past windowsills; curtain rods go above the windows, not on them. Make sure you set up your window treatments according to expert advice.

White Walls

In the name of transparency, we’ll tell you that we’re not the biggest fans of minimalist spaces. We get it; they’re sleek and chic, but they’re not for everyone. With that said, we want to warn you about white walls (yes, even all you minimalists out there).

Like bare walls, white walls can feel cold and heartless. They’re another common sign that you rent your home, as landlords seem to love white walls. If you’re a renter, there’s not much you can do. If you’re a homeowner, grab a paintbrush and replace the white with something more tasteful.

Full Carpeting

Carpeting has a time and place. Every inch of your home should not be covered in carpet. Once again, landlords love carpets, especially the ugliest brown colors, so that’s just a bummer for us renters. It might sound dumb, but laying a more attractive rug over your hideous carpet can mitigate the design tragedy.

Otherwise, we recommend ripping up your carpet in most rooms and seeing what’s underneath. Pleasant surprises, like hardwood or vintage tiles, could lay beneath. Carpet in a bedroom is homey, but in every space, it’s tacky. Heaven forbid it’s in your kitchen or bathroom.

Popcorn Ceiling

Many homes built between 1950 and 1990 have popcorn ceilings, which are those unfortunate textured ceilings. They’re bumpy and scraggly in all the worst ways. They’re inexpensive, but the real cost is your home’s aesthetic.

Renters must live with these ceilings, but homeowners can scrape off the ragged texture and replace it with a fresh coat of paint or a more modern texture. Yes, popcorn ceilings have some benefits, like noise-dampening and hiding imperfections, but they’re an eyesore in themselves.

Outdated or Trendy Lighting

Lighting trends tend to come and go very quickly, which means all too many homes have outdated fixtures. We highly recommend you avoid trendy lighting or replace your outdated lighting.

Look for timeless light fixtures. Choose styles that feel effortless and refined, not abstract and eccentric. While we adore some of the funkier lighting designs, they’ll likely be out of style soon. It’s best to find something ageless so you won’t have to replace your lighting every other year or live with lights you despise.

Plastic Furniture and Decor

One of the reasons plastic is so prevalent in our society is it’s cheap, so it’s not surprising it can make your home look cheap. Lucite and acrylic were stylish in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but these days, soft fabrics like velvet and suede are all the rage.

If you want to go for a full retro vibe, plastic can work. Otherwise, avoid them. You probably don’t have a plastic couch, but maybe you have a plastic wall clock, side tables, stools, or flower vases. Unless it’s sentimental or functional, replace it with a more lavish material.

Metal Furniture and Decor

Metal furniture and decor can also create problems. In the 2010s, the sharp, industrial aesthetic had a moment. Perhaps you enjoyed this aesthetic and bought a metal coffee table and dining chairs.

Unfortunately, this trend isn’t hot anymore; those metal pieces might not fit well anymore. Metal items can be tasteful when used sparingly. Unfortunately, large metal items often look clunky and cold. Unless the metal caters to your overall aesthetic, it probably looks out of place.

Visible Cords and Plugs

Plugs and cords are necessary in our modern age, but they’re also ugly. We have chargers and electronics in practically every room, meaning every room has unsightly cords that make the house feel cheap.

The mistake here is not creating an organizational and discrete plan for the cords. The solution is to tape cords down behind furniture, tuck them away wherever possible, and keep them tidy. There are cord organizers you can buy to make it easier.

Too Trendy

Trends are fun but can also be fatal to a home design. If your entire aesthetic hinges on a trend from 2008, this is a problem. When designing and decorating, it’s okay to use trends to inspire or accent your home. However, do so with caution.

Too many trendy colors, silhouettes, prints, patterns, decorations, and aesthetics can date your home and make it seem cheap. It’s like how you see all the current trends on display at Target — you don’t want your home to look like that.

Clashing Aesthetics

Impulse buying plagues many of us, but be careful not to buy pieces as individual items. Just because you love that industrial-style chair doesn’t mean it will look okay in your maximalist Victorian home.

A great way to avoid design mistakes is to define your home’s aesthetic and always consider it when adding, subtracting, and shopping for items. It’s sad when you find an item you love that doesn’t fit your aesthetic, but catching and releasing those pieces is best.

Basic Patterns

When we say “basic” here, we mean it in the mean, sassy way. Some patterns have been used to death in the fashion, home, and design worlds. They’re too indicative of a time or trend, so they’ve become cringey and basic.

Some basic patterns are chevron, houndstooth, polka dots, buff-check, nautical prints, and animal prints. Decades of use on discount clothing and big-box furniture cheapened these patterns, and it’s hard for us to imagine them ever fully coming back into style.

Phrase Art and Signage

Yes, that means your “Live Laugh Love” sign has to go. Phrase art is not cute; we don’t care what anyone else says. Even when the phrase or word is endearing, the Tumblr-esque cursive and distressed wood signs feel like they came straight from the TJ Maxx warehouse.

Neon signs might be even worse. We can’t think of any exceptions to this design mistake. Any signs telling people to “kiss the cook” or “bless this mess” are not conducive to a classy and elevated space.

Fake Plants

If you don’t have a green thumb, fake plants seem like the perfect solution. Unfortunately, they’re not as nice-looking as one would hope. Faux plants often have an artificial sheen that gives them away as plastic, so you’re likely not fooling anyone.

One or two small faux succulents can be acceptable. However, a plastic ficus or paper orchid glazes your home with an artificial and cheap vibe. While we adore houseplants, your home can be beautiful and refreshing without them.

Unframed Art

We’re actually not as strict about unframed art as many other people (looking at you, interior designers). For example, certain canvas pieces look strange in frames, as the art extends to the sides of the canvas. This is the main exception.

Otherwise, buy a frame! This applies to posters, paintings, photographs, and any other art you want to hang on your wall. If you feel like your home looks cheap but can’t quite figure out why, frames could be the answer to your problems.

Stickers and Sparkles

First, we have to say that stickers on your walls and furniture are never going to be aesthetically pleasing. Do you remember those giant Fathead wall stickers? Those really bum us out, so please don’t get them.

Don’t put stickers, rhinestones, glitter, crystals, and sparkles in your home designs. Unless you run burlesque shows out of your basement, these things will seem theatrical and costumey. While costumes and theater are fun, they do not help balance your space.

IKEA Furniture

Sorry IKEA! Of course, some IKEA pieces don’t look like IKEA products, so you can get away with having those in your home. However, many IKEA products scream IKEA, very loudly and in all-caps.

It’s not that the IKEA furniture looks shoddy, but most people associated the distinct vibe with college dorms and first apartments. If you decked your home out during an IKEA blowout sale, we’re sorry to tell you you may want to go shopping again.

Reclining Furniture

Reclining furniture is comfortable and functional but not the most aesthetically pleasing. The most expensive recliners might be sleek and stylish enough to work in your home. However, most look bulky and unsightly.

It’s not just about the reclining element, either. Reclining furniture often has features like built-in cupholders, speakers, charging ports, padded headrests, and swivel bases. All these features feel closer to an office chair or car seat than a thoughtfully designed living room.

Door Storage

If you read tips on decluttering, staying organized, and maximizing space, you’ve probably been told to capitalize on door storage. For those purposes, door storage is excellent. For our purposes (a luxurious appearance), it’s a bad idea.

Door storage can be over-the-door coat hangers, shelves, cubbies, shoe organizers, and jewelry organizers. These items are often made of plastic or metal, so that’s a problem right there. Even when made with decent materials, having belongings hanging off your doors looks messy.

Blinds and Shades

When choosing your window treatments, know that blinds and shades are more likely to look cheap and shabby. If this is a concern, opt for curtains or drapes. Don’t forget to measure and hang them correctly!

Plastic blinds and shades do not bring an air of elegance into your home. They do quite the opposite. You can install higher-end styles, like shades made with organic cotton or wooden blinds, but those are expensive.

Card and Kid Art Displays

We don’t want to hurt Timmy’s feelings, but his crayon drawing of Superman dancing with Winnie the Pooh doesn’t belong on the living room wall. You probably love all your children’s drawings, but that doesn’t mean you need to taint your aesthetic with them.

The same goes for greeting cards and postcards. Don’t put them on your fireplace mantel or hang them on the walls. Appreciate the cards and art, and then toss them or tuck them away.

Mass-Produced Items

It’s not that everything from Target looks cheap, but things feel cheaper when we’ve seen them many times. There’s something unpleasant about a friend coming into your home and saying, “Hey! I saw that lamp at Walmart yesterday!”

Avoid this by avoiding mass-produced products. Some solutions to this include shopping at smaller, local boutiques, thrifting and antiquing, customizing pieces, or DIYing items. Common and cheap can be synonymous, so opt for uniqueness when you can.

Colored Lights

Strips of blue LEDs or moody purple bulbs seem awesome when you’re a teenager, but they’re not ideal for a mature space. Reds, blues, purples, greens, and pinks are mostly unacceptable. Oranges and yellows, if subtle, can be okay.

Your home shouldn’t feel like a nightclub or underground greenhouse (unless you’re growing plants that need artificial light). Ditch the funky colors that probably aren’t flattering anyway, and stick with soft, warm lighting.

Visible Labels

We love, love, love labels! Never in a million years would we want to discourage you from using labels to keep your home tidy. However, there are right and wrong ways to use labels.

Don’t place labels where they’ll always be visible, like on the outside of a kitchen cabinet. Instead, put the label inside the cabinet so it’s out of sight. Visible labels can make your space feel like a laboratory or medical office.

Gold and Silver

People think gold and silver decor and furniture look expensive, but they can have the opposite effect. Too much gold and silver in a space cheapens it, creating a gaudy and tacky appearance.

Modest silver and gold accents can definitely be lavish, but be careful. More than one gold or silver item in a room can immediately drag down the aesthetic. Be reserved with your use of these materials.

Faux Surface Materials

Faux materials can cheapen even the nicest designs, especially over time. While your faux wood coffee table might look chic when you first get it, normal wear and tear can reveal its true design.

Faux wood, stone, brick, metal, gold, and silver are some examples of materials you shouldn’t use. It’s much better to opt for a less expensive material than to buy the fake version of something expensive.

Visible Cleaning Supplies

This one is super simple; just put your cleaning supplies out of sight. Having your cleaning supplies accessible is key to keeping your home sparkling clean. However, don’t let them become part of your decor.

Utilize cabinets, cupboards, and closets to hide your cleaning supplies. Ideally, it should seem like your home is always magically clean, and your cleaning supplies are your dirty little secret. To further elevate your home’s energy, buy attractive, refillable cleaning bottles.

Mismatched Appliances

Matching furniture sets are a no-go because they feel cheap. However, it’s a different story when it comes to certain appliances. For example, most of your kitchen appliances should match one another. It looks odd if your dryer is blue while your washer is yellow. A silver fridge and white dishwasher look incongruous.

It’s okay to buy matching appliance sets, from your coffeemaker to your stove. The same goes for appliances like window ACs, humidifiers, and air fryers. You can use different colors, but make sure they complement one another and feel cohesive.

Bold and Bright Colors

We enjoy a bold and bright moment, but too much can start to feel childish and cheap. A house coated in neon paint feels like something a kid might design in Sims, not a grown-up house.

If you want to use bright and bold colors, you should! Use them sparingly, creating a balance between lightness and darkness, boldness and subtlety. For example, a cherry red couch could be cool, but painting your entire living room red is a bit much.

Too Much Open Shelving

Open shelving is a fabulous strategy for keeping your home tidy. They make it easier to put things away and find what you need. Seeing so many items at once can feel like clutter, which is why too much open-shelving is a mistake.

We have two tips. The first is to have a mix of open and closed storage. The second is to use open shelving with your belongings strategically. Items in your bathroom cabinet might not be as aesthetically pleasing as your kitchenware. Use open shelving to store the more attractive items.

Cheap Fabrics

We truly believe that having a luxurious, upscale home is not about breaking the bank. However, spending a little extra on fabrics might be worth it. You don’t need throw pillow covers made with authentic Mulberry silk, but get something better than scratch polyester.

Choose fabrics thoughtfully when buying upholstered furniture, window treatments, tablecloths, pillows, blankets, and other soft items. Even the quality of your kitchen towels impacts the aura in your home.

Themed Decor

Stunning themes can quickly feel tacky, so we advise against implementing any themes into your home design. Yes, that even means you should not decorate your beach house with nothing but seashells and anchors.

Themed decor can feel as tacky as novelty items. Rather than lean fully into a theme, just use the essence as inspiration. Trust us, a refined celestial pattern on your pillows is better than solar system wallpaper.

Chalkboards and White Boards

This was a popular trend in the 2000s and 2010s, but we’re over it. People hung chalkboards and whiteboards in their homes to write cute messages or let their kids draw. Since your kitchen is not a classroom, we think this is a mistake.

Don’t buy any boards, and don’t use chalk paint. It feels cheap and unfashionable. It’s similarly cheesy to phrase art and signs in your kitchen. Why is it always the kitchen that’s plagued with awful word decor?

Too Much DIY

With rising prices and endless Pinterest boards, more and more people DIY things in their homes to save money. People will sand and repaint furniture, reupholster pieces, or craft handmade decor.

We love all these things, but you shouldn’t have all of them in your home at once. This can make your whole home look like a craft project still in progress, which isn’t stylish.

Empty Shelves and Surfaces

Cluttered shelves and surfaces look cheap, but so do barren ones. It can feel like there is a lack of decor or even like no one lives there at all! A good rule of thumb is for every surface to have at least one item that offers visual appeal.

These items could be houseplants, coffee table books, candles, artistic bowls, small baskets, and much more. To clarify, you can have empty surfaces. For example, we like to keep our coffee tables clear. However, most surfaces should have something to give them depth.

Overly Dark Atmosphere

Bright and bold colors can look childish, but a dark atmosphere can feel grungey. Maybe you wanted to curate a moody, mature vibe. You can definitely do that with deep hues and low light, but don’t let things get too dark.

Every room should have some natural light, and you should never close all your window treatments at the same time. An extra dark room can be saved from looking cheap simply by having all the curtains open to let the sun in!

Visible Child and Pet Items

You know you need to keep your clutter in check, but you might need to manage other household members’ clutter, too. Kids toys and pet products are often supremely colorful and eye-catching, which is bad news for your home aesthetic.

Even one out-of-place toy can cheapen your home’s vibe. People often store these items in open bins or on open shelves, making it easy for everyone to reach. We recommend putting these items in closed storage to keep them out of sight and maintain your aesthetic.

Excessive Personal Photos

Personal photographs are a wonderful addition to your space, personalizing it and creating a homey vibe. However, too much of a good thing is bad. Don’t display every single family photo ever taken.

The perfect number of personal photos depends on your display type, photo size, and home size. So, we can’t give you a precise number. Just try not to make your home look like a shrine to your friends and family, and don’t create crowded galleries or displays.

Fridge Art and Clutter

If you’re like us, you know the fridge can become a catchall for items you’re not sure what to do with — that magnet from Bermuda, Amanda’s drawing of the dog, the flyer for 50% off lawnmowing. Instead of letting this happen, keep your fridge clear at all times.

This mistake is especially important to avoid if you have a newer fridge. Newer appliances look even worse when plastered with magnets and papers. However, even a fridge from 40 years ago looks cheaper with papers stuck to the front.

Unbalanced Furniture Arrangements

Some people have an instinct when it comes to arranging furniture. Other people do not, resulting in unbalanced setups that feel awkward and less than. Every room should have visual balance, meaning furniture and decor are dispersed evenly.

If you have a huge sectional, the other side of the room needs a robust TV stand to match it, but not something so big that it overwhelms the space. This is a really hard sweet spot to find, but once you get it, it’s harmony.

One-Dimensional Monochromatic Rooms

Monochrome rooms are tricky. They can be cool and stylish, but when done poorly, they’re off-putting. We want to be crystal clear — we adore monochromatic rooms, but if you approach the idea wrong, they look cheap and silly.

Monochromatic means all one color, but you can use different shades and tints of that same color to add depth and dynamicity. Layering shades and tints will create a rich aesthetic. If you use a color ineffectively, you’ll end up with a flat and cheap-looking space.

Novelty Furniture and Decor

Just because you love Pokémon, that doesn’t mean a massive Pikachu pillow is the right choice for your living room. We love novelty items, but they can look cheap and sometimes childish in certain settings.

The only exception we can think of is (framed!) movie posters for iconic, vintage, or sentimental films. Otherwise, opt for a small Pikachu keychain instead of the oversized pillow. Most novelty items are fun but not chic.

Bare Couches and Beds

Is your home an airport terminal? Probably not, so let’s make sure it’s comfy. Not having any throw pillows or blankets on your couches, beds, and even accent chairs can make them feel bare and awkward.

A lack of such items creates a cold feeling rather than that cozy, lived-in vibe that we want. You’re also missing an opportunity to add more flair to your space. Make sure most of your plush seating has some sort of cozy accent, whether a family quilt or tasseled throw pillow.

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This post was previously published on Wealth of Geeks.

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