“Quiet Luxury” was perhaps one of the most popular fashion trends that circulated on social media in 2023. Defined by the aesthetic appeal of less is more and blending understated luxury with soft neutral and warm colors, this once-thought design trend continues to be present within the fashion and interior design industry.
While it’s become standard to see trends quickly fizzle out, the case might be different for quiet luxury. The trend has seen widespread appeal across not only our wardrobes but our homes as well. Clean and crisp designs, coupled with soft natural colors and warm tones of marble, wood, and leather all come together as the perfect blend to produce a muted opulence that’s both easy on the eyes and spirit.
While we’re certain that quiet luxury is here to stay for the foreseeable future, partially due to its ability to perfectly capture “old school money” chic with modern design, it’s time to wrap our heads around how we can decorate our homes in this seemingly timeless design without having to splurge more than we can afford.
What Is The Quiet Luxury Interior Design Trend?
Quiet luxury is both everything and nothing at the same time. The idea behind quiet luxury is all about achieving an effortless, luxurious look that’s timeless, chic, and stylish without having to put too much thought into the process.
In fashion, think of things such as white, black, gray, and beige t-shirts and blouses made from cotton and silk. Dressed-down blazers, coats, and jackets made from imported leather and high-quality footwear meticulously handcrafted from sustainable materials such as bamboo, cork, rubber, and leather. Materials paired with subtle touches of gold and silver jewelry with soft edges and roundish finishes.
Quiet luxury is all about embracing high-quality, often quite pricey pieces, without being too flashy or bold. This is where the old-school elements become more noticeable, seeing subtle touches of wealth and opulence, while still staying true to exceptional craftsmanship, and avoiding bright, loud colors, bold prints, and endless accessories.
In our homes, quiet luxury forges a similar pathway, only this time we’re looking for lighter wall colors, nothing like the white-on-white we’ve seen trending in recent years, but instead embracing neutrals such as beige, light brown, sage, and pearl white. Smaller pieces such as cotton-rich bedding, clean-cut kitchen designs, decluttered counters and living spaces, and a touch of modernism through simple art and wall pieces.
Transforming your home from something that’s the complete opposite of quiet luxury into something that reflects the timeless design elements of a somewhat bygone era can be just as simple. And it’s even possible to do this without having to spend thousands of dollars on new furniture, decor pieces, or art.
How To Bring Quiet Luxury Into Your Home On A Budget
Quiet luxury can often feel out of touch with reality, and this might be perhaps due to the social and economic landscape we’re currently facing. With all that said, for many of us, living the so-called “quiet luxury lifestyle” can seem out of reach from our own reality due to financial constraints or limited resources.
Fortunately, it’s possible to make the quiet luxury aesthetic part of your home without having to invest a ton of money and resources into something you might feel will one day look outdated. As long as you remember the basic principles of quiet luxury, and how to incorporate the different features, you’ll quickly uncover ways to switch out pieces and bring the effortlessness of quiet luxury into your home.
Clean out and declutter
One of the basic principles of quiet luxury is making everything look less cluttered. Although decluttering your home isn’t perhaps the most exciting activity, tackling one room at a time can make a big difference in the larger scheme of things.
Start with one room at a time, and move across the house until you’ve gathered enough unused items that you can donate or upcycle. To have that premium look and feel, try to clear out old magazines that’ve been standing on your desk and coffee tables. Remove trinkets and other small pieces that are simply taking up space. Clean out your kitchen drawers, and make space on your kitchen counters keeping only the essential items within arms reach.
Clearing out all your drawers, cupboards and wardrobe will help you realize how many unnecessary and perhaps unused items you have lying around the house. Even better perhaps, is that this will give you more room to store things that might be standing in the way of your living spaces. Decluttering can help your home feel more spacious, freeing up space and giving each room a new breath of air.
Shop Second-Hand
Secondhand shops are making a tremendous comeback with roughly 42% of Gen Zers and 39% of Millennials - the two youngest and largest adult generations - now shopping at online thrift stores in 2023.
These stores are gaining major traction, and a growing number of people have picked up the fact that they can claim some really good bargains from these stores without having to drop tons of money. Thrift stores are a treasure trove for anything from niche antique items, clothing, costumes, jewelry, furniture, and an assortment of previously loved things.
For anyone looking to spruce up their home, thrift stores are one of the best places to shop for more dated pieces such as wooden picture frames, terracotta and ceramic vases, wooden furniture, heavy curtains, and everything in between.
While rummaging through an endless number of things might seem too time-consuming, it’s best to plan your visits to the thrift store ahead of time. When redecorating or designing your home, make a list of a few items you may be able to find at the local thrift store, and set up a budget of what you’re willing to spend on each item.
When shopping, remember to keep the principles of quiet luxury at the back of your mind, as you’ll easily get distracted once your eye catches something you think might complement your new interior aesthetic. Shop for items made from copper, wood, marble, cotton, or suede. Remind yourself to keep track of how much you’re spending, and try to stick to your initial budget.
Refurbish And Upcycle Old Pieces
One way to save a ton of money, and still be able to achieve that quiet luxury look and feel is by upcycling old items you may already have lying around the house. During your decluttering, make sure to keep some items aside that you think could be restored or upcycled and used again at a later stage.
Restoring older items doesn’t have to be an expensive exercise, and depending on what you’re refurbishing, you might not even need that many additional tools or materials to get the job done.
For smaller pieces, try to leverage your online skills by watching a few tutorial videos, or even reading a blog to help you in the right direction. If you’re working on larger pieces, such as chairs, tables, or dressers, try to ask for advice from a customer representative at your local hardware store.
Be mindful of your abilities. We’re not saying that you’re not capable of doing the job yourself, however, you don’t want to find yourself in the middle of a restoration project only to realize you’ve made a mistake and will need to rework something. This not only wastes a lot of time but increases your restoration budget.
Always ask for assistance and guidance, and make sure to read up online about different techniques to rework something without having to spend hours fixing it up. Completing a restoration project is not only rewarding but knowing your hard work and time has been carefully invested into something that will help make your home look more premium without needing to splurge tons of money on something.
Browse An Online Marketplace
Similar to second-hand stores, online marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace, Decluttr, Etsy, Craigslist, and Swappa have witnessed soaring popularity in recent years as more consumers are now shopping online and looking to make more sustainable purchases.
Though it’s become increasingly easy to purchase and order new products online, shopping on a marketplace might be a bit more budget-friendly compared to buying from big-box retailers and wholesalers.
Don’t be fooled by thinking that shopping on a marketplace is anything strange, in fact, some research suggests that more than 1.22 billion online shoppers have bought something on Facebook Marketplace. Nearly 40% of Facebook’s more than 3 billion monthly active users now shop on Marketplace, with 16% of active users logging into Facebook solely to shop on Marketplace.
Sure, buying something from a marketplace might come with the added uncertainty of not knowing whether someone is a reliable seller, or what the condition of the item might be. Fortunately, we’ve got some tips to help make the process a bit easier, should you find something online that you want to purchase.
- Always review a seller’s profile and any available reviews before engaging with them.
- Make sure to only communicate through the dedicated platform.
- Avoid sharing your cellphone number with someone you don’t know.
- Always meet up in a public place and not at their house.
- Keep others informed when heading out to collect an item.
- Try and arrange for delivery, even if this means having to pay extra.
- Don’t purchase something you’re not comfortable spending money on.
- Never buy something without seeing it in person beforehand.
- Make an effort to negotiate a better price or a possible exchange.
- Don’t share any personal banking or other information with sellers.
- Don’t collect items alone, always have someone with you.
Buying from an online marketplace can help save you a ton of money, however, it’s important to ask all the necessary questions beforehand and to make sure that you online buy items you’re comfortable paying for. If you’re feeling pressured into buying something, try to communicate this with the seller, and if they’re not being considered, don’t feel embarrassed to cease communication with them altogether.
Bargain Hunt At Yard Sales
Another option would be to go bargain hunting at a local yard sale. There are plenty of these happening all across your town, and you might be lucky enough to stumble across some very valuable, and budget-friendly items that will be a perfect fit for your home.
To find out when a yard sale might be taking place, try and join a local community group on social media. There are plenty of local groups solely dedicated to buying and selling second-hand goods online or using the platform as a way to advertise an upcoming sale event.
Similar to shopping at a second-hand shop or thrift store, make a list of the items you’re looking for, and have a dedicated budget put aside for your purchases. This will not only help you keep track of how much you’re spending, but it’s also a way to keep you from buying unnecessary items or decor pieces that will most likely sit around your house and gather up dust.
If a yard sale leaves you empty-handed, try looking up an estate sale, which might be advertised in the local newspaper or any community newsletter. An estate sale is typically a liquidation or auction of an individual’s materials. Usually, the person had recently passed away, and the estate sale is used to dispose of nearly all their possessions to facilitate the clearing of their estate.
Both a yard sale and an estate sale can be a way to collect high-quality decor items at a much lower price. You might strike it lucky and stumble across an extremely rare piece of furniture or art that will work perfectly in your house.
Another tip when shopping at any second-hand sale is to envision the purpose of each piece, and how the piece may look once you’ve cleaned it up and restored it. Try to keep an open mind about things, and approach each piece from a different perspective to help put together a larger picture of the final project.
Introduce More Natural Lighting
Time to pull back the curtains and let the light flood in. Natural lighting is one of the easiest, and most affordable ways to make your home look more inviting. Natural light plays a big role in interior design, and most of the time our homes and apartments are designed and built to ensure optimum use of natural light.
Try and focus on a room or part of a room that often seems darker than usual. Start by playing around with different curtain-hanging techniques that will allow you to bring in more natural light without having to replace curtains. One thing to look for is furniture that may be standing in front of a window, or heavy curtains obstructing the outside view.
For those of us who might be living in a house or ground floor apartment, take an outside tour around your house to see whether there might be any tree branches or hedges blocking natural light from coming through the window. Have a professional or your estate groundskeeper come and remove the branches that you feel might be encroaching on your windows.
Another way to make any room feel brighter is by swapping out your curtains should you have a spare set already lying around. Try and use curtains that are either a neutral color, such as beige or white, or try hanging a sheer curtain for that added feel of warmth without giving up your privacy.
The type of curtain and the material it’s made from can also play a role. In rooms that don’t receive a lot of natural light, try to use curtains made from softer materials such as silk, voile, or linen. In brighter rooms, opt for something slightly heavier such as cotton or velvet. Should you have blinds, try and play around with different curtain styles that work best for your design, or have the blinds removed and replace them with a sheer curtain for a more premium look and feel.
Have Different Interior Lighting
As part of the way to make your home feel more comfortable and inviting, bring in more lighting options such as table lamps, standing lamps, and warm lighting bulbs in overhead lighting.
Quiet luxury is all about that warmth factor, think of a moody living room, with warm lighting hanging in the corner behind the couch or low overhead lighting that doesn’t feel like you’re visiting a hospital emergency room.
Try and play around with the placement of lighting, move some of your table lamps around, and see what works best for you. Replace those bright white bulbs with warm and softer options which start around $20.00 per pack of 12 from the Home Depot.
Take it one step further and place candles in rooms you frequently use, such as the bedroom, living room, and dining room. Instead of using the big light, opt for lighting a few candles and switching on smaller lights around the room. Not only are candles cheap, roughly $2.00 per pack of 4, but they can make the room feel warmer and more intimate.
One scientific study has found that light stimuli can influence our moods and behavioral state. It’s important to try different light sources around your house, such as lamps or softer overhead lighting to find one that works best for your needs. If you already have a couple of lamps standing around, or have recently purchased one second-hand, try to put them in various places until you’ve found the perfect spot.
Quiet Luxury Interior Design Tips
Here are a few things you can keep in mind when designing a quiet luxury home.
Texture over patterns: This might come as a surprise to some, but patterns are not considered to be the peak of interior design anymore. Texture has become a way to elevate your interior aesthetic, while still keeping things classy. Use a simple, yet meaningful approach that doesn’t make your home feel completely lifeless while using texture to break that minimalistic feeling.
Have a neutral color palette: To make things even easier for yourself, decide on a color scheme that you already have present in your home and take things from there. Quiet luxury sees the use of neutral colors such as whites, beiges, sage, ivory, and navy. You can replace bright cushion covers with something softer, such as beige, white, olive, brown, cream, sage, navy, mauve and burgundy.
Use organic materials: Quiet luxury ignores ultra-traditional architectural designs such as gray laminated flooring or large white tile slabs. Instead, the style tries to incorporate more use of natural materials to help balance the room, while not seeming too grandiose. When looking for ways to make your home feel more premium without blowing your budget, seek out to introduce organic materials such as wood, marble, rattan, bamboo, cork, linen, and silk. These are all high-quality materials that will not only make your home look better, but they tend to last longer compared to more synthetic materials.
Add Indoor plants: Bring in some greenery with indoor plants. Try to avoid buying plastic or synthetic plants, as this will take away from the feel of the interior, and could end up becoming another white elephant in the room. There are plenty of indoor plants that don’t require a lot of maintenance, for example, aloe vera, monstera, snake plant, philodendron, fiddle-leaf fig, rubber plant or Boston fern, among many others.
Bottom Line
Getting that premium look can be attainable, and shopping around in thrift stores and country markets will spark some inspiration and help bring new life into your home. Remember to keep the principles of quiet luxury in mind when shopping for new items, or even simply decorating.
Try to reuse and upcycle as many things as you can, and be more creative with the things you already have before having to buy new things. Always shop in your home first, as you’ll never know what you might stumble across.
Quiet luxury doesn’t have to be boring, neither does it have to look empty. For the best results, try and invest in high-quality pieces that will not only last longer, but reflect the beauty and importance of careful craftsmanship. Make an effort to seek out more sophisticated pieces that will compliment your home, and you’ll notice how attainable quiet luxury can be, even when you’re on a budget.
