For most of us, luxury translates to creating an expensive-looking space characterized by lavish furnishings and high-end materials. While a luxurious interior is the ultimate goal for many home and condo-owners, there’s more to design than just adding opulence.
From the expert eye and experience of Shelly David, an award-winning interior designer with over 25 years of familiarity in the design field, the home should be equal parts luxurious and practical — so it meets the needs of the owner while adding to the visual aesthetics.
Keep reading for the ultimate guide to striking a balance between luxury and practicality in home design, and follow the given tips and tricks to curate a space that resonates with your personality while meeting your functional needs!
Layer The Lighting
From elaborate chandeliers to sleek pendant lights, luxury lighting fixtures can completely transform and elevate the perception of a space. They make a design statement in the interior and easily form the focal point.
Balance this property of luxury lighting with practicality by layering the different types of lighting. These include:
- Ambient lighting: to generally illuminate the room (e.g., pendant lights, chandeliers)
- Task lighting: to aid with particular tasks (e.g., under-cabinet lighting for food prep, floor lamps for reading)
- Accent lighting: to highlight decorative features in a room (e.g., wall sconces flanking a piece of artwork)
By incorporating all three of these types into your interior and using high-end pieces for ambient lighting, you can create a space that is well-lit, luxurious, and functional.
Add Natural Elements
If you aim to bring living luxury into your home, natural elements are the way to go! Houseplants bring life and vibrancy to your interior, instantly uplift the space, and factor in luxury. Additionally, they provide health benefits and purify the air while providing a connection with Mother Nature. So, you can leverage double duty — in terms of aesthetics and practicality — from your leafy greens.
Extending the concept of natural elements also encompasses allowing natural light to illuminate your space. Light from the outdoors brightens the interior, makes it welcoming, and, when paired with light-hued walls, creates the illusion of more space. The well-lit interior creates a luxurious effect, while the increased brightness levels are optimal in terms of practicality.
In one of her interior design projects based in Boston, Shelly achieves the purpose with floor-to-ceiling windows paired with minimal window treatments. Plants are added to tie the interior with the outdoors further — and a pop of yellow replicates the vibe of the bright sunflowers you’d spot on a beautiful spring evening.
Invest In Artwork — and Make It The Focal Point
Adding luxury means investing in pieces that speak to your personality, especially through high-end, designer artwork. Choose the pieces that reflect your taste and make a statement in the interior. This allows the artwork to become the focal point of the space, instantly drawing attention and holding the space together.
While creating a dominating luxurious design statement, a high-end piece of artwork is a practical option as it draws away attention from other parts of the room that you may have chosen to save (instead of splurge) upon.
Layer Textures
Incorporating a multitude of textures instantly adds richness and depth to the interior, resulting in a luxurious finishing touch. Consider achieving the purpose with practical items, such as cushions, throw pillows, rugs, window dressings, and other functional pieces.
Tip: Such soft furnishings are also quick to switch up, so you can use them while decorating for different seasons throughout the year. Think floral-printed pinks and yellows for spring and solid ice blues and greys for winter.
Leverage Rugs
High-quality rugs incorporate timeless luxury into the interior. In fact, they are an integral part of interior design; at times, interior designers will advise you to begin decorating from the rug and proceed to choose colors for your soft furnishings from the style and palette of the rug.
Shelly David leverages rugs by using them to balance luxury with practicality in her Austin Penthouse interior design project. High-end rugs are chosen to add opulence to the space. Simultaneously, she proceeds to strategically place them to delineate different areas in the open floor plan of the project. As a result, the use of rugs differentiates the living area from the dining room in this design project.
Enhance The Outdoor Space
Well-furnished outdoor spaces are one of the key steps to achieving luxury in home design — and it goes without saying that extending the usable space of your home is a practical upgrade to make.
Shelly David utilizes the idea in the Austin Penthouse, creating an outdoor space that reflects the best of luxury living. She creates an outdoor living room with a versatile and grounded design. Outdoor furniture, rugs, and plants add the luxe factor, while the glass parapet simply enhances the high-end effect.
Uplift Your Space With Practicality and Luxury Interior Design!
Striking a balance between luxury and practicality is an integral part of an opulent and functional living space, and may be achieved by using the aforementioned tips and tricks. If you need professional assistance, get in touch with Shelly David’s team to have a Hawaii interior designer sprinkle her dash of design expertise into your home!