How to Decorate Like Old Money When You Don’t Have A Trust Fund
I’ve been seeing a lot of. “how to decorate/dress like old money” posts on social media lately, and I thought the subject would make a fun (and informational) blog post. Mostly because, since I was in my early 20s and repurposed my mom’s old Ethan Allen furniture set for my first New York apartment, I’ve been trying to decorate above my pay grade. I find the whole topic very relatable.
With nearly two decades of high-low decorating practice since I commandeered my mom’s stuff, I feel like I’m well qualified to add to this conversation.
So, I thought about it for a bit, and put together a list of all the ways I’ve made my own spaces look more expensive than they are. In other words, here’s how to decorate like old money, when you’ve got a 9-to-5 budget.
1. Trade Your HomeGoods Haul for Facebook Marketplace Finds
This is really my number one piece of advice for anyone who wants to upgrade the look of their home: Stop buying fake furniture. Fake furniture is the trendy stuff that’s made from MDF and costs under $300. It’s usually found at places like HomeGoods and Wayfair. (That’s not to say that you shouldn’t shop at HomeGoods and Wayfair and the like for things like decor, or lighting, or area rugs. Just avoid the cheap, fast-furniture.)
For that same $300 budget, you can buy real wood antiques or secondhand pieces on Facebook marketplace, or at a vintage store, and they make your home look so much more timeless and high end.
Some items to look for when you shop secondhand that will give you the old money look:
- Campaign furniture
- Federalist furniture
- Chippendale furniture
- Louis XVI or XV pieces
- Pie crust tables
- Bobbin tables and chairs
2. Add Trim & Moldings
As far as bang-for-your-old-money-buck goes, adding molding and trim to a room is going to give you incredible return. If you think about old estate homes, they’re covered in trim. Things like:
- Crown molding
- Chair rails
- Beadboard
- Ceiling medallions
- Picture frame molding
These little details add richness to a home and make it feel more custom … but they don’t cost much to install.
I added picture frame molding to our dining room using a simple basecap trim that cost about $1.50 a foot. The whole project cost me under $300, but made the room look so much more elegant.
3. Mix Styles and Eras
High-end homes look collected, like their contents were gathered from far-flung travels, galleries, Sotheby’s auctions and the estates of their rich ancestors. The best news about this look is that it’s actually very budget-friendly since you can shop for a lot of the pieces secondhand.
To create a collected home intentionally, without making your home look like you can’t commit to a certain style, I find two rules to be especially helpful.
The first is the 75-25 rule. Make 75% of your home one style (traditional is the default for an old money vibe) and the other 25% a mix of interesting pieces from various eras or styles.
The second is to stick to a cohesive color palette. Having one main color and two or three accent colors/finishes will unify the room.
4. Layer Your Window Treatments and Put Your Drapery on Curtain Rings
Custom window treatments cost a small fortune. If you had the budget, you could easily spend $3,000 per window on drapery and hardware alone.
If you don’t have that budget, there are a few ways to fake the bougie-windows look.
The first is to layer your window treatments. So, do an inside-mount roman shade or woven shade, with drapery on top. I love Amazon for inexpensive shades, and IKEA for drapery. The velvet IKEA Sanela curtains are gorgeous in person, and you can add a faux pinch-pleat at the top (check out my tutorial on pinch pleating IKEA curtains) to make them look custom.
The second is to add drapery rings. It just looks fancier and more elevated. You can add a drapery header to any tab-top or rod-pocket curtain with Stitch Witchery, which will allow you to use curtain rings.
Drapery Rings
Curtain Header
Drapery Pins
5. Buy Real Art
Old money always has real art. Theirs is probably from a gallery and costs the same a year’s college tuition, but there are ways to achieve a similar look for less. My favorite place to find real artwork is at estate sales or flea markets. I have a vintage portrait in my dining room from an estate sale that cost around $150. If you aren’t the type to spend your weekend sorting through other people’s old stuff, try online estate auctions. In my area, AuctionNinja.com is a great resource for local estate and moving sales, all conducted online.
If you are having trouble finding real artwork in your budget, here’s my other secret. Print out some free artwork from the internet, and put it in a fancy frame. I have a list of my favorite sources for free artwork here, and I usually get most of my frames at thrift stores (I just remove and replace the existing art).
6. Use Vintage Rugs
Like artwork, vintage rugs are one of those things you can spend an absolute fortune on if you wanted to, but you can also find plenty of cheaper options that achieve the same vibe.
My secret is eBay. You can buy vintage rugs directly from sellers overseas for under $200.
7. Display Collections
Collections are another way to create an old money aesthetic in your home. If you love something, take a cue from the Mayflower crowd and don’t just buy one of ’em. Buy a whole bunch. And display them all together.
A few ideas for your collections:
- Vintage china & crystal
- Brass candlesticks
- Blue & White porcelain
- Silver teapots & pitchers
Blue & White Porcelain
Brass Candlesticks
vintage silver
8. Mix-and-Match Prints. Preferably Plaids, Stripes, and Florals
To achieve old money style, you’ll want to mix and match prints like you have a decorator on speed dial. The look is grounded in traditional prints, like plaid, stripes, florals, toiles and chinoiserie. Varying scales (one small, one medium, and one large) will allow each print to have its moment without creating a space that looks too busy.
9. Stock your shelves with books
Shelfies have gotten pretty liberal these days, in that a lot of times, bookshelves are styled without a single book. Not in an old money house. Those bookshelves are stocked with first-editions and leather-bound fiction and scholarly reference books.
Me, on the other hand? I like to get the look with books I buy for $1 or less at thrift stores.
