Sometimes after we’ve spent a while in our homes, we can start feeling a bit disenchanted and a bit bored by our surroundings. You might start dreaming of having a brand-new house where you can start afresh and which will reinvigorate your relationship with your living space.
Unfortunately a lot of us don’t currently have the finances to make a big move - and don’t forget how stressful it actually is to move house (mortgages, admin, house hunting, packing(!!)). Don’t despair however, you can give your home a new lease of life on a budget with some simple tasks and a bit of elbow grease.
Here are our top tips to fall back in love with your home.
Declutter your space
You might not feel happy and cosy in your home anymore. One of the main reasons might be because you have become overwhelmed by all the stuff that has accumulated in your house.
To start loving your home again, the first step is decluttering it. This can require a lot of work but following the process below can make it easier, and think how good it will feel afterwards!
- Gather some boxes with different purposes:
- Donate box: for items that you no longer need but that can have a second life in a new household.
- Recycle box: for items that you no longer use or want and can be recycled.
- Fix box: for items that need to be fixed before you donate them.
- Rubbish box: for items that have to be thrown away.
- Go through each room one by one, and through each one of your closets, even in your bathroom. Now, look at all the different items that have been abandoned for a while and that will probably never be used again. Forget about the “just in case” impulse that has been leading you into stacking up stuff, and start putting the different items in the right boxes.
By getting rid of all of those unused things, your home will already start to feel more zen as everything will have its spot and you can come home to clear surfaces and an organised space.
Spring-clean
Decluttering also has another advantage: it makes it easier to clean! Now that your home has started to become more organised, it is time to give it a proper clean. We don’t just mean your regular Sunday clean-up, we mean a real top to bottom clean of every nook and cranny.
Take off everything from your shelves and furniture and clean everything, so it shines. This will also give you the opportunity to rearrange your items, making the most out of the free space you just acquired by decluttering your house.
It is also the time to gather what doesn’t work anymore in your home and fix those things to make them a part of your revamped home (dripping taps, that ornament that needs to be glued back together, lightbulbs that need replacing…).
Focus on first impressions
The first impression you get when you come home, sets your mood for the rest of the day.
It is important that you get a sense of welcome, safety and well-being when you get to your front door.
There are a few different things you can do to help achieve this feeling:
- Renovate your front door. You can give it a makeover by repainting it, whether in the same colour because it has faded, or a new one you like. You can also change the handle or even the house numbers to fancier ones.
- Upgrade your entranceway. Adding a few pots with plants and flowers to your entranceway is an easy way to improve your first impression. Greenery can also be a synonym for peace and well-being.
- Make the entrance hall welcoming. Once you open your front door, the first sight you get must set the tone. Make sure it is cosy by adding some pictures on the walls and a pretty rug for instance. But it must also be convenient so that it doesn’t start to clutter up with different objects every time you get home. For this, make sure to get some practical items such as a key rack, a coat rack and a cabinet to store your bag and your shoes.
Rearrange the furniture
Moving your furniture from its usual place can completely transform a room. Start with your living space, and try to look at different layout ideas from similar rooms on Pinterest for example.
Then, define what will be the focal point of the room: in a living room, it is often the TV. This means, your furniture will have to be arranged around that TV. Next, measure your furniture to make sure the space will fit your idea before starting to do any heavy lifting! Finally, you can rearrange your furniture as well as any decoration.
This might take some time to do, and you might not get what you want on the first try. To help there are some dedicated tools such as ApplyDesign, that allow you to virtually stage your room. With this easy-to-use tool you just need to add a picture of the room you want to rearrange (or add in a similar picture) and drag and drop the furniture around the virtual room created.
Once you find the perfect layout, you will feel like you have a new space to love all over again.
© ApplyDesign Website
Hide the ugly
You have to be intentional about what your space looks like. If some furniture or decorative items, for instance, don’t spark joy, feel odd in a room, or are not appealing to you anymore, there is no use in keeping them. You can decide to give them away allowing your room to get some more free and uncluttered space.
Another thing that can keep your home from feeling tidy, is all the different wires from all your electronic facilities. You probably have a bunch of them right next to your TV. To hide them, several options are available:
- Attach them to the back of your furniture with hooks.
- Hide them in a decorative box, or with a decorative case.
- Gather them in a cable management box.
Don’t hesitate to hide other practical but not so pretty items such as bins, which can be stored in cupboards for instance.
Invest in some green
Green is a colour you might want to consider when choosing to upgrade your home design.
This colour symbolises calm, peace, rest and security. Everything you want to feel when you’re at home. Just as with your entranceway, you can invest in buying some pretty indoor plants to add some green to your rooms. You can also go one step further and paint some walls green or add green wallpaper to the back of a cupboard. There are numerous shades of green, you just have to find the right one for you.
Change the smell atmosphere
Smells are a powerful way of evoking memories, triggering emotions and making you feel happy and calm. There are plenty of ways to make your home feel great without having to use chemicals that can endanger your health:
- Get some seasonal flowers from your garden (or from the florists if you don’t have green fingers!).
- Use essential oils, with a diffuser for example.
- Use burning sage, which will also help purify the air.
- Buy non-toxic candles, such as soy candles.
You can also get creative with your flowers and essential oils by making your own potpourri and making your living space all fragrant!
Create some beauty
Unique pieces from second-hand shops such as Gumtree or Selency, can do wonders in bringing beauty to your home. A formica table for example, which is making its comeback for vintage kitchens, can also trigger that “wow” effect when having guests over. By doing some research, you can also easily find some distinctive hand-made items from small-scale creators on Etsy.
You may also have pictures you bought ages ago that are still rolled up in a cupboard. Now might be the time to finally get the frames to hang them in your home.
© Selency Website
Think about light
Light can change everything. It can change your perspective of a room, as well as how you feel.
In some rooms, such as the bedroom, for instance, you might want to change your lightbulbs to a warmer light that allows you to relax. If you have an office, then a cooler light will be a better choice as you will need clear sight to see what you are doing.
You can also play with different lamps to create different degrees of light. For example, you might want to feel cosy and calm in your living room, and therefore choose a warmer light tone. But you might also want to have a specific space where you can read a good book without having to strain your eyesight. A lamp will be just perfect for that. Shops such as Flos and Chiara Colombini propose different designer and stylish lamps which will add that extra special touch to your decorations.
Extending your home
Finally, to change up your surroundings, why not add some brand-new, extra space?
Extending your home will require a bigger budget than all of our tips above. Still, it is an amazing way to revolutionise your home and add that much-needed space without moving.
A home extension could enable you to get that bigger kitchen you’ve been dreaming about, create a new living room with a reading nook or a combined dining space, or to transform your loft into an extra bedroom.
If you need some advice on home extensions, you can book a free advice call with our team.
Our experts at Resi can guide you through the entire process, from design to planning and selecting contractors so that you can get your dream home, stress-free.
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