Hi, it's Lindsay Diane from Diane Decor dot com today. Let's talk about how to spot cheap home Decor and the traps that you'll want
to avoid to make sure that you're getting a really good deal
When you're shopping for your home, when you're decorating your home on a budget
it can be really easy to fall into the trap of buying cheap home Decor and frankly
things that look cheap just downgrade your space and end up being a waste of money altogether
So where you may have thought that you got a really good deal on an item
you might wind up wishing you'd never bought it in the first place
Let's talk about what makes cheap home Decor look so bad. There are usually two culprits for this paint and
plastic materials that are used to imitate wood or metal are the two biggest culprits in cheap home Decor
The combination of paint and plastics are used to create inexpensive home decor pieces of just about every kind
So let's go ahead and talk about the seven traps that you want to avoid to make sure that you're getting a really good deal
and not just getting a cheap looking piece of plastic. Basically. Number one
steer clear of bad imitations. Resin imitations are just about everywhere. You see them in little
elephant figurines that you might put on your table top, you see them in pots and planters for your outdoor space or for your indoor
plants. These are often painted to make them look like they are a different material
For example, you may really love a clay or Terracotta pot or some sort of other stone vessel
and you see one at Dollar General or big lots and it's really cheap
It's, you know, 1999 or 16, 99 odds are that is not
odds are that is an imitation. You're not gonna find any real clay or real pottery at that price
You're going to find a plastic vessel or pot that has been painted to make it look like that
When you have those kind of stone pots, usually it's a textured spray paint that's going over a plastic pot or if you're looking for
something that is like, um, ok, the whiskey barrel planters, those have been really popular for like the last
five, maybe even 10 years. Lots of people like using those in their garden
they're expensive to, to get a real wooden whiskey barrel planter is at least 60 or $70
But you see imitations all over the place, cheap ones. In fact
I bought three from Aldi myself. But again, just know what you're getting right
I can buy it from Aldi knowing that it's plastic and knowing that it's fake for 12 99 but I'm not gonna pay 79 99
for it. Now, it's easy to spot these things. When you are shopping in person
you can pick it up and easily see and feel like, hey, this is not real wood or this is not as heavy as this
metal thing should be. It's really easy to spot it when you're in person and have it in your hands
But when you're shopping online, you have to put in a little bit more effort to make sure that you don't miss those little details
and end up with something you know, really cheap when you thought you were buying the real thing
one of the things that you want to look at is in the product description
look for what that material is and also look at the weight of the item
Those two things are gonna be indicators of how good of a quality
Uh A piece is in the product description online. Look for words like resin
composite, epoxy acrylic. All of these are code for plastic regarding the weight of an item
Ok. This is a big tell for whether or not a item that you see online is the material that you think
it is. For instance, if you're looking at um what you think are some like a nice solid book ends for your bookcase
and they're measured in ounces instead of pounds. That's going to be a plastic imitation things that are an ounce
are like a single key or a paper clip or a pencil eraser
Those are things that are an ounce now and we all know pounds
Even the cheap, if you get like a cheap, uh, dumbbell set, the, the lightest one is £2
You know what that feels like compared to a paper clip. So you know that if your um item is saying
let's say those book ends that you think are wood, they say that they're five ounces
That's a piece of plastic, probably hollow plastic at that. Versus if it were wood
solid wood, these would be at least 1.21 point £4 apiece. So weight is a really good indicator
of the material that you're getting and just know what you're paying for
Number two is antique. Decor. Antique Decor are decor pieces that are given the illusion of
age through some means, usually paint most often see this noted in a product description as the antique look
This means that it's been made to look like it's old antique or vintage
And remember we see this with metal just as often as we see it with wood instead of creating faux brush strokes or to
imitate wood grain or whitewashing something with chalk paint. We also see patina or faux patina
plastic to make it look like it is an aged metal if you ever get an old penny and it's kind of started to turn
that greenish color. That's the patina that is often imitated to make a metal appear as though it's older or vintage
We saw a whole lot of this in the heyday of modern farmhouse
everything was kind of whitewashed and distressed, made to look like it was from an old farmhouse
When in actuality, this was just a clever paint job done with chalk paint
The price alone is a good indicator of what or not. An item is actually an antique
If you're looking at a piece of furniture that's less than say
$300 it's probably not antique or vintage. You may be getting a deal in a actual
antique item. If you're buying directly from a seller like at a yard sale or at an estate sale
But if you're shopping online for something that's less than $300 it's odds are it's not antique or vintage
One place, you can find a really good deal on furniture that is antique or vintage
Beyond a yard sale or an estate sale is going to be the thrift stores
So goodwill salvation. Army consignment shops. Those are places where you're going to find some good deals
on vintage items. It's gonna be hard to find them, but you can find them if you know
for sure that like, you don't want to spend weeks and weeks and weeks hunting things down
go to a consignment shop. They're the ones that are gonna want
know what they have, but they're also going to charge you a little bit more
Right. If you're at Goodwill, they don't know what they're looking at
They're just taking donations and they're trying to make money for that organization
They're not necessarily worried about, you know, antique Roadshow style stuff. They're not sifting through things like that
Um, they sift through name brand things for their boutiques. But as far as vintage antique furniture goes
no one's paying that close of attention. So if you know what you're looking for and you don't mind the hunt
go there, you're gonna get a cheaper price there by far. But if you are really in a hurry and you're really trying to put
your room together and you don't want to mess around, go to a consignment shop
If they don't have what you are looking for at that moment
let them know they'll put your name on the list and when something comes into that shop
they will definitely call you. So that's the way to go about getting a more inexpensive
uh, piece of furniture that is antique or vintage. Number three is plastic rugs
I almost fell into this trap when shopping on Amazon a couple of years ago
I was looking for a really cheap outdoor rug for my patio
I didn't want to spend more than $100 on it and I came across this rug that I really loved and it had great reviews
and it wasn't until I actually bothered to read some of the reviews and just
you know, not just look at the star rating. Right. I actually started reading one of the reviews and it said expensive piece of plastic
and it was, it wasn't until then that I realized that this is rug is not a regular woven rug
It was a plastic rug and I had completely breezed by it in the product description and it was there
it said it, but I just didn't see it. I was so taken with the photos and the fact that it had all of these
uh you know, rave reviews that I totally just missed it and that can definitely happen and especially with the rugs
So be careful, a plastic rug is fine for outdoors, but you wouldn't want to use one inside your home
And a lot of the times they'll list them as like indoor outdoor rugs
So just be careful. Um If you see a really, really great deal for a rug
look very carefully at the materials used to make that item. Number four is too small furniture
This is a trap that you definitely want to avoid. This is one of those things that's used to kind of save money on the
item. This can happen when the furniture is, is a little bit too low to the ground or just not wide enough for a regular
adult. Look at the measurements of all of your pieces before you purchase them
Their overall dimensions, it's usually a page in the product. Um and the product images you'll see the little dimensions drawn out for you
and just compare it to something that you already have in your house that you know, is a good fit and a good size because
you don't want to order something, spend two hours putting it together only to find that it's TV
Tiny number five is low quality faux fur. Do not buy faux for anything from Dollar
Tree. Dollar General. Any of those like really, really discounted stores, they use the cheapest possible materials in
the end. You're going to end up with something that is matted and rough to the touch and it may happen within a week's time
Now, if you see a cheap little faux fur rug at five below and you want to like
throw it in your nursery or something like that just to have something soft under your feet
That's one thing, but I wouldn't buy full throw blankets that you're going to put on your bed and try to cuddle with and they're
just gonna get all, you know, gross and scratchy and I certainly wouldn't go for any pillow cases that are going to be front and
center on my couch for everyone to see and touch and feel. Luckily is easy to find online and you can see the reviews
from other buyers. That's the best way that I've found to go about buying online
You'll get better prices, you'll see a larger selection and people will tell you in the comments and in the reviews whether or not it's
soft and whether or not it holds up. Number six is canvas prints versus canvas paintings
Be careful when you're buying big wall art and you think you're getting a really
really good deal on it. You're probably buying a canvas print and not a canvas painting
Now, canvass paintings can be quite pricey. Canvas prints are cheap, cheap
cheap, cheap, cheap, but the sweet spot is to find one of those hybrids and this is a print that
they've gone back and painted some brush strokes or added some sort of embellishment or texture on top of the print to give it a
little bit more dimension. You see these a lot at like home goods and TJ Maxx and Marshalls finding a deal on
a canvas painting. That's what you want to go for or like I said
go for the hybrid versions that you see a lot at, at home or home goods
That's it for this video. I hope you found it helpful. Please don't forget to visit me at Diane Decor dot com
I share lots more tips on shopping on a budget and where to find inexpensive home decor and where to get really great deals
decorating your home. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye