By now you know I am the queen of cheap.
I’ve had to be if I wanted to stay married, which, by the way, I’ve managed to do for 20 years this month. (Dear Dan, Thank you for your love and forbearance.) My budget limitations, however, have not discounted my desire for beautiful jewelry, beautiful clothes and a beautiful home.
As anyone married a long time knows, sometimes you have to fake it. I’ve faked it in all the categories above.
Take jewelry, for instance. I have a lovely diamond ring Dan gave me when we got engaged. A couple of years ago I picked up two thin, fake diamond bands for $18. I stuck them on either side of my real diamond ring, where they look pretty convincing. (Now only you and I know.)
They look convincing because they’re next to the real thing. Plus, people think: Of course, they’re real. What woman would put fake diamonds up against her wedding ring?
Well, me.
For our 20th anniversary, Dan offered to replace my fake bands with real ones, which I’m all for, of course. Then reason took over, and we’re doing our backyard landscaping instead, or at least first. Sigh. This is called marriage. (Details in next week’s column.)
Like many women, I have also faked it in the clothing department. I bought a classic tailored black skirt from a discount retailer for $19 because it fit perfectly. (The right fit, incidentally, whether in clothes or furnishings, is always more important than the label.) When I wear the skirt with my Amalfi leather shoes and Kate Spade handbag, the skirt easily passes for a Chanel.
Call it innocence by association.
This technique works in home decor too. My friend Susan has mastered the art of faking it in her fabulously put- together home.
“Guess how much this cost?” she recently asked me while pointing to a bronze statue perched inside a bookcase in her home office.
I studied the figure — a 15-inch-tall statue of a Chinese man draped in a robe and carrying buckets of water on a pole stretched across his shoulders. I knew this was a trick question. (Susan has way better taste than to ask me to guess the price of something expensive.) But all around me were pieces of fine art.
“If you hadn’t asked,” I said, “I’d have guessed $1,200 to $1,500, but I’m going to say $800.”
She turned the figure over so its price sticker showed: $12 from Tuesday Morning.
“Way to score!” I said. She smiled, because she knows how much I love a good fraud.
Now before you rush out and buy cheap, imported accessories, heed this advice: Putting something cheap next to something expensive can backfire; the fake item can cheapen the good stuff.
Susan’s fakery succeeds for three reasons: A) Context. The inexpensive statue sits near exceptionally nice art pieces. B) Quality. The statue is a good copy. And C) Fit. It’s the perfect size, finish and color for her space.
Now, go ahead and fake it in your home.
Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of “The House Always Wins” (Da Capo). Contact her through .
Is it real or is it … ?
Inspired, I went in search of more secrets to faking high-end style at home. So I called Denver interior designer Karlie Anne Adams. She is not known for faking it, but she is known for her keen eye for detail.
Educate your eye. Adams says you can’t pull this off unless you know what the real thing looks like. “If you don’t know what a real bronze looks like, you won’t be able to recognize or appreciate a good imitation.” The best way to train your eye is to pore over high-end interior design magazines and books. Study them for what they put together and how. And visit museums.
Be alert to scale. Things look right when they are the right size, proportion and color. Cheap imitations often betray their lack of authenticity by skimping on materials and not getting the dye just right.
Put it in good company. Adams has an antique carved wooden planter in her home, worth over $1,000. It’s flanked by two hurricane lamps she bought for $20 at Pier One. The lamps seem more valuable not only because they’re next to the real deal, but also because their proportions are accurate and the etchings on them replicate what you would find on antique hurricane lamps, which typically sell for $1,000 each.
Choose the right corners to cut. Throw pillows: Don’t mess with the guts. Spring for real feather/down fills. To save, choose a less expensive fabric. A cheap foam fill with an expensive fabric will seem cheap, but a cheap fabric covering a rich fill won’t. Lamps: Adams recently bought a cheap lamp at Target and took it to a lampshade maker to have a custom shade made. Now, no one would guess the base wasn’t expensive too. Rugs: “It takes such a connoisseur of rugs to really know expensive from inexpensive, which makes rugs a great place to save,” she says. Strive for a natural fabric; polyester rugs can look shiny.
