Emulate Look & Style with Affordable Furnishings & Decorations

Raise your hand if you know what an inspiration room is. Anyone?

While it sounds like a place to meditate or quietly think, it’s actually an attractively decorated room from a magazine, showroom, or even a friend’s home that you admire but don’t have the budget to afford yourself.

However, with a few easy tips, you can achieve a similar look without the hefty price tag.

The trick, experts say, is to draw "inspiration" from these examples and emulate the look and style with more affordable furnishings and decorations.

"More people are wanting luxury in their homes, even if it’s just a touch of elegance," says Joyce Richter, spokesperson for JELD-WEN Windows & Doors. "Not everyone can afford the opulence of a high-end inspiration room, but sometimes all it takes are a few key elements to make a room look like a million dollars."

Windows and doors can be those special touches that make a home feel like a castle, according to Richter. An inspiration room with high-end windows and doors can be emulated with equally impressive, and budget friendly, options that look just as good.

By choosing products that offer style and affordability, homeowners can come surprisingly close to matching the elegant look of an inspiration room.

Here are a few tips from the experts at JELD-WEN on essential elements when emulating an inspiration room:

1. Invest in dramatic differences.

Invest in items that will make a striking difference. For example, homeowners often take doors for granted, but they take up a large amount of space and can make a dramatic visual impact. The same with windows, which offer the dual benefit of great looks and enhanced performance (think energy efficiency).

2. Focus on details.

The shape of a lamp or picture frame is often what stands out in an inspiration room, not the material or price tag. Ask yourself what you like about the product’s detail, and then go searching for it.

3. Look for overlapping features.

Sometimes national manufacturers offer similar features in both their high-end and more affordable products, so do your homework to see if these benefits are available across the board. For example, JELD-WEN offers on many of its window lines simulated divided lites (SDL), or a grid system, that divides the window into smaller sections and creates an interesting look.

4. Focus on color.

Incorporating colorful items such as bedding, or a lampshade, are often enough to take an ordinary room to the level of an inspiration room.

5. Bargain shop.

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Scour online auction sites, or estate sales, for unwanted high-end items that offer the style and price you are looking for.

6. Remember, it doesn’t have to be exact.

Inspiration means infusing your style into the design, rather than exact replication.

Trying to find the identical lamp or bedding from an inspiration room is highly unlikely. Most experts say get as close to the look and style as you can and then move on to the next item on your list.

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