Recently, I was in Vegas playing some poker at the Wynn, and noticed just how elegant looking (and yet exceedingly cheap) the place is. Seriously, the whole place is practically made of paper and yet, because of the colors, it looks so good!

Let’s take a look shall we:

Backdrop of the bed - instead of solid oak or some sort of real wood that’s been processed and costs hundreds of dollars, we have some straw things. Yes, just a bit of straw, that you can get in China for around 20 yuan (which is the equivalent of about $3 US). And yet, mixed in with the decor of the place, it seems right in place!

Textured Walls - Going a bit further, the walls have no wall paper. As we know, wall paper takes a long time to smooth out and it’s easily to get all sorts of holes and stuff on it. That goes for paint and actually making the walls smooth too. Instead, the Wynn just paints their walls with a brush that has some texture, so that those natural bumps you get when painting stuff is now a “feature”.

Lights/Light Covers - Instead of expensive chandeliers and crystal lights you’d expect from a large hotel chain, they use some shapes made out of paper. If you take a closer look at the light (and at other “lights” in the entire hotel), it’s all made out of paper. Again, that’s some sort of labor you can probably get Chinese peasants to do at $2/hour (and after you import it, probably buy them at $100, vs. the $10s of thousands the Venetian next door probably spends on the lights).

Mirrors/Lighting - Despite all the cheap items, the room looks exceptionally well. That’s mainly because of the color and use of lighting. While each individual item is rather cheap, the plentiful use of mirrors and floor to ceiling windows makes the place look very bright. The use of colors also makes the place look relatively warm and cozy. So if you can afford one thing - make sure to get plenty of mirrors so that even if you can’t afford many lights, the place will appear “larger” in general.

Cheap Bedsheets - If you take a close look the bedsheets, they seem to be some sort of cheap plastic instead of the very soft quilt or down you’d expect at a hotel. Yet, despite the absolute low cost of the item, it looks reasonable from afar. Again, it’s because of the lighting. Make sure to keep as many white or light objects in your house as possible, to make the place look more bright and lively.

Elevators and Electricity - Another thing you might notice when you’re going around the Wynn is that there’s always a huge crowd of people around the elevators, even though there’s like 12 of them. That’s because only 1-2 of them are actually running. Many of them save electricity by making sure elevators run at capacity most of the time. This brings us to another note that the bright colors and mirrors also mean that you spend less on lighting equipment and electricity in general.

Yet, despite all of its cheapness, the Wynn is still able to sell its rooms at $600/night on busy weekends. $600/night - just think about that! So if you’d like to take a lesson from the Wynn, make sure to use bright colors in your place, place plenty of mirrors, and look for cheap materials that goes well with the ambiance of your house. You can have something sophisticated looking without having to spend much money at all!