Giving a home a fresh look is somewhere near the top of nearly every homeowner’s agenda, yet it can often take months to get round to completing, either due to time commitments, financial restraints, or simply not knowing where to start with it all. The whole prospect of dedicating your weekend to renovating your house may feel unsettling, but it is actually far easier than you might expect.
In fact, even if you feel it’s money that’s holding you back, there are numerous different ways of updating your home and making it feel more comfortable without having to spend a penny, such as moving furniture around or clearing away old clutter. Renovating may sound like a challenge that will take up every free hour you have, yet in reality, it can be as simple as throwing away that old stereo system that hasn’t been touched in a decade.
With that in mind, here are some simple tips for sprucing up your home this year.
Buy plants
Providing your living space with a botanical element is a great way of connecting with nature and adding a peaceful atmosphere to the house. It can help purify the air and be as simple as hanging a plant or placing a cactus by the kitchen window.
While not everyone believes in Feng Shui, there is certainly some truth in the idea that you feel more relaxed around plants. In an age where we are constantly swamped with technology, injecting some nature inside your home offers a degree of relief from it all, with the ability to instantly add character and softness to a room.
Interestingly, floral patterned wallpaper, china and textiles have all recently become fashionable styles in homes. However, nothing quite beats the real thing, particularly when they can be bought for such a reasonable price.
Make rooms more streamlined
For those who want to spruce up their home and at the same time make it seem bigger and brighter, making features more streamlined is the perfect place to start. Forming an important part of a minimalist aesthetic, this can involve anything from adopting a monochromatic colour scheme to replacing the curtains with shutters, like the ones found at shuttercraft.co.uk.
Streamlining a room means placing emphasis on curving forms, as well as vertical and horizontal lines. Alongside disposing of any objects which fail to fit the style, streamlining is a powerful and generally successful method of making rooms feel more airy and spacious.
Hang some paintings
You may not be investing in the latest Damien Hirst piece any time soon, but collecting artwork to hang on the walls of your home will undoubtedly create a more engaging, interesting and bright living space. Paintings are reliable conversation starters, adding a touch of class to proceedings and providing visitors with something to look at.
Once you have bought a painting (or even done one yourself!), it is important to take time in choosing the right frame so that it fits in with the rest of the room. There is little point in spending lots of money on an elaborately designed frame to house your painting when the rest of the room portrays a minimalist aesthetic. This will only cause a clash and may disturb the general feel of the room.
Invest in new door handles
While it might seem like only a minute change, replacing worn-out old door handles and doorknobs with new ones is a highly effective way of dressing up your living space. Like many items in a room, you only tend to notice them once they have become different, yet it will undoubtedly add far more to your home than you give it credit.
What’s more, in the vast majority of situations, using the right tools and a bit of know-how, you will be able to do it yourself in half a morning, without the need of professional help. If you don’t feel you need to replace all the door handles in your house at once, then going around and giving each one a scrub and a tightening with a screwdriver is recommended for keeping them looking good.
Lay down rugs
Often hallways in particular, can feel cramped and claustrophobic when there is nothing but a hard surface underfoot. Putting down runners will undoubtedly help to brighten up the space and dampen any harsh tones, as well as protect it from scratches and marks.
Rugs, on the other hand, are great at offering a new focal point to a room, giving it a cosy feel, adding warmth and muffling noise. They generally bring all the elements of the room together, creating a harmony of different colours. Some even believe that rugs can have the effect of ‘slowing down’ the energy that flows through your house, immediately introducing a sense of calm to a living area.
Other top tips
Below are some quick tips that can be applied to all the above and many more suggestions for sprucing up your home:
- Get into the habit of keeping your home clutter-free: This involves avoiding the purchase of objects that are unnecessary or likely to be used only once; not getting emotionally attached to arbitrary items that would be better off in the skip, and knowing when to let go of material possessions that no longer serve a purpose.
- Pick a style and stick to it: A mismatch of different styles is likely to create a chaotic living space that lacks any form of cohesion. Instead, choose a style – whether traditional, modern, minimalist, or bohemian – and stick to it throughout the house.
- Know when to call in professional help: While you should try and do as much DIY as you can, knowing when the time is right to get help from someone who knows what they are doing is good practice for getting jobs done to the best standard.
