How to style your home to feel like a luxury hotel

We've all been through the utterly anti-climatic return trip home after spending days or weeks in a gorgeous hotel filled with the most welcoming interior designs.

There is a reason why some hotels emphasise so much on their hotel interior designs - that's exactly how they want you to feel. Comfortable and at home at their property, and hopefully you will linger on longer or perhaps, make a return trip.

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But we all know getaways are often short-lived. So why not re-create those lovely settings that you loved at hotels at your home?

Here are some short-term and long-term hacks to make your house feel like a hotel.

1. Conceal bulky items

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What's great about having cupboards or cabinets is that it keeps everything hidden in a stylistically uniform way, that even the bulky bits (like the refrigerator or dishwasher) which are usually an unpleasant sight are a thing of the past. It's pleasing to the eye thanks to the lack of clutter, and functional.

If you have the intent and budget, invest in cabinets where needed i.e. your kitchen or television room. Choose a timeless material and design (like natural wood or lined with faux marble) and use the exact, or complimenting designs if you intend to build cabinets in other parts of your house, to keep a flow going. The key is to hide and bulky items so that your eyes glide across the room and don't fixate on eye-aching appliances.

2. Have a neutral colour palette

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If you've travelled far and wide, you'll realise that the rooms are almost always neutral. So if you want your home truly mirroring a luxury hotel room, keep to a neutral colour palette. With it, everyone will feel like a VIP.

The most common option would be to go for a minimalistic, all-white interior. However, other popular ones donned by hotels like Intercontinental, The Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental include beige, brown, grey, light blue, and the classic monochrome black and white palette. Go creative and play these colours out on any element in the room and aim to have different types of textures - we love the idea of white walls, black wooden cabinets and a black marble coffee table.

Start off by deciding what colour you want your walls to be and from there, pick new pieces of furniture, or be savvy and change the colours or upholster your existing ones to suit your new colour scheme.

3. Repeat patterns in every room

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Remember how we talked about flow if you're adding cupboards or cabinets? Implementing some sort of pattern is how you add that flow and bring everything together. Besides incorporating it into your cabinet exteriors, you could have similar home accessories. Hotel rooms may not necessarily have recurring patterns, but honestly, they make your house look more lush and put-together.

So let's say you choose to have classic glass knobs on your kitchen cabinet handles. You could have recurring appearances with a glass chandelier in the living room, glass shelves in the bathroom and a crystal-clear chair at your vanity in the bedroom. All you have to choose is what this pattern is and it could be anything - from wooden materials to rectangular motifs and floral appliques. Be creative!

4. Add warmth to the bedroom

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The one consistent thing in every hotel room is the warm lighting in the bedroom. It calms you down, tunes down your mind and gets you ready to snuggle and wiggle into bed.

You don't need to install warm lighting in every corner of your house - just leading into the bedroom and/ or in it. You can install cool lighting if it's your preference but let's face it, nothing beats warm, cosy lights. In an instant, it's elegant, relaxing and cosy. All in all, go for warm (pun intended) and golden lights and put them on your nightstand, standing lamp or ceiling light.

5. Smell good, feel good

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We're all well aware of the effects of aromatherapy. Every hotel you walk into leaves you with a whiff of luxury that you've experienced. With a gorgeous-smelling room, you'll be transported back into time to the getaways you've had in hotels.

Besides reminding you of that probably long gone holiday, it'll keep things fresh for you and lift your spirits when you get back home after a long day - so just imagine coming home to the smell of fresh linen or the seaside. It's utterly relaxing.

You could have a scent for every room - there's never enough is there? Just don't turn all of them on simultaneously and be wary of fire hazards if you do opt to go for a traditional candle. Otherwise, once you settle on your scent, be it floral or citrus-y, let it fill your room with the help maybe a classic diffuser or air diffuser instead.

6. Decorate!

Last but not least, decorate! With a neutral colour palette and recurring theme, it's time to add little knicks and knacks here and there. On the other hand, if you just want a quick way to make your home a little more luxurious, this is the way.

While you could put items that happen to fall under said recurring theme, it'll be more interesting to choose items with character or more aesthetic. Here's what you look out for: Pieces with metallic silver, gold or brass finishes; stainless steel objects; black and white marble (which makes it look even pricier) and bold items that suit your personality. Of course, be sure to double-check before purchasing items especially if they have prints, to make sure it doesn't clash with existing furniture.

7. Keep it simple

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With that being said, you'll want to make sure you don't go over the top. Include beauty subtly into your home - don't smack it right in our faces. Occasional, bold prints are great, but let it come together alongside the little details to form an Insta-worthy picture. This gives off a low-key glam look which is more preferable, given that we're actually staying there for the majority of our days - a flamboyant design would just be too much to experience on the daily. But if you're all about it, why not?

This article was first published on Her World Online