Luxury for Less: Three Cost-Cutting Alternatives for Your Home
Everybody would love to have an unlimited budget with which to decorate their home. Unfortunately, for most households, that's simply not the case; you need to keep your costs limited, and that can mean you have to compromise on many areas of your home, giving up on any of your more luxurious ideas. However, you'd be surprised how easy it is to replicate some expensive trends and styles with cheaper alternatives. Here are a few suggestions to get your ideas flowing:
Marble
You can easily imitate marble for less on a countertop or floor by using poured concrete. Colouring the concrete – and perhaps even having a grain pattern manually added – and then layering a gloss treatment over the top creates a very luxury effect that's practically indistinguishable from real marble. This is much cheaper than real marble, but it's also much easier to take care of. Marble needs to be buffed extensively to retain its sheen; concrete doesn't need anywhere near the same level of maintenance.
Dark Wood
It's entirely possible to achieve the look of dark, expensive woods such as walnut and mahogany by staining cheaper, lighter woods. Just be sure to use a wood that takes stain well; you can ask a specialist to confirm this. This technique can be used for both furniture and counter surfaces, allowing you to achieve a cohesive-looking room of dark wood without paying those high dark wood prices.
Complex Tiling
Whether you're picturing large, slab tiles or smaller mosaic tiles, the finished effect can be replicated by pressing a pattern into poured concrete. As concrete is reasonably cheap by comparison to tiles, this means that you'll save in material costs – but it's also much faster to achieve the effect with concrete than it is to lay individual tiles. In fact, you don't need to stop at tiles; with the right equipment, any kind of complex paving pattern can be achieved. Speak to a concrete specialist in order to confirm your options; there's sure to be an effect you like. Just as with marble, you can also colour and treat this concrete to your taste.
With a little inventiveness, it's possible to turn many different affordable materials into good duplicates of their expensive counterparts. By utilising these opportunities, you can transform your home into the style you've always dreamed of – without ruining your bank balance in order to do so. Contact local concrete contractors for more information and assistance.
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