6 One-Step Upgrades to Make Your Things Look Way More Expensive

If you’re looking to make your space a little more upscale but don’t want to spend an entire day DIY-ing, you’ve come to the right place. These six projects are simple, but will almost instantly elevate some of your most-used everyday objects. Have an hour to spare? Go on and get started on one (or two!) of the below today.

Take a budget side table from generic to glam with some gold spray paint. Blogger and designer Shannon Claire Smith worked wonders on what was originally a $10 side table—her final product is pictured above, and you would never believe the bottom was initially pink! She also chose to tackle the top and create a faux marble look using paint, but upgrading the base alone made a major difference.

Claire Staszak of Centered By Design made the above lampshade, which looks like something you’d spot in a luxury home store, simply by attaching a piece of fringe using a hot glue gun. The sophisticated black-and-white color scheme makes it look extra luxe.

Grab some paint in the color of your choosing and paint the trim of your headboard for a whole new look. We love how Liz Malm used some black paint and a foam roller to give her rattan headboard from Target a bold border.

Make empty mason jars fancy with some painter’s tape and spray paint, and then go ahead and enjoy your new vases/makeup brush holders/pencil jars. Brittany Wise of Our Home Made Easy provides the full how-to on her blog.

The cutest little upgrade for plain pillows: Rachel Schultz provides an easy tutorial explaining how to make tassels and sew them onto a pillow for a whole new look. The end product is fun, but still chic.

Have a mirror that just isn’t sparking joy? Consider making it over by glueing on fake flowers from a craft store to create a piece that’s feminine and sweet. How pretty is Jenny Davis’s creation shown above? Choose a color scheme that appeals to you, then fire up that glue gun.