How to make your website look more 💫expensive💫 - Part 1: White Space, Big Margins & Why Calm Websites Win
There’s a reason luxury brands don’t cram twenty handbags into a shop window. Or why high-end homes always seem to have a suspicious amount of empty hallway.
Space feels expensive.
And weirdly, the exact same thing applies to your website.
One of the quickest ways to make a website look more polished, premium and trustworthy is simply giving things room to breathe. Bigger margins. More padding. Fewer elements fighting for attention like it’s the last train home from Waterloo.
As a Squarespace website designer in the UK, this is probably the thing I tweak most often when someone says their website “just doesn’t look professional yet”. Nine times out of ten, it isn’t the colours. It isn’t the font. It isn’t even the photos.
Everything’s just… too close together.
The “Big House Energy” Theory
Interior design figured this out years ago.
A massive open-plan kitchen with one beautiful dining table feels luxurious. A tiny room packed with furniture feels stressful, even if the furniture itself is expensive.
Space creates calm. Calm creates confidence. Confidence feels premium.
Web design works exactly the same way.
When your text has breathing room, your images aren’t squashed together, and your sections aren’t stacked tighter than Ryanair seating, your whole site instantly feels more considered.
Why People Panic and Fill Every Gap
The funny thing is, most people do the opposite at first.
They see empty space on their website and immediately think:
“Quick. Add another button.”
“Maybe another testimonial.”
“Ooh, should the Instagram feed go here?”
Before long the homepage has become a digital junk drawer.
The reality is that white space, and it doesn’t actually have to be white, is doing a job. It’s guiding the eye. Creating hierarchy. Helping people focus on what actually matters.
Good websites don’t shout every single thing at once.
Easy Ways to Make Your Website Feel More Premium
A few quick wins:
Increase the padding above and below sections more than feels necessary
Increase the margins of your whole site to 600px
Keep text boxes narrower so your copy is easier to read
Let images stand on their own instead of crowding them with text
Don’t stack three calls-to-action next to each other
Resist the urge to fill every blank area immediately
Give important sections space around them so they actually feel important
Honestly, if something looks slightly “too spacious” while you’re designing it, you’re probably getting close.
Expensive Websites Feel Relaxed
That’s really the whole thing.
Cheap-looking websites usually feel frantic. Too much movement, too much text, too many things competing at once.
Premium websites feel calm. Intentional. Like they know you’ll stick around long enough to read what matters.
And no, this doesn’t mean minimalist to the point of looking like an abandoned art gallery. It just means editing properly.
Your website doesn’t need more stuff, it probably needs more space.
Especially if you want that clean, high-end feel people associate with luxury brands.