You love your home, but sometimes you feel like it is lacking in energy and vibrancy. Why not give it a quick decorating update? You do not have to buy all new furniture or start knocking down walls to give your home a fresh update. Sometimes all your need is just a new lampshade.
Here are our quick and easy ways to decorate your home.
Living room
Rethink your wall decorations in the living room
Your living room is usually the first room visitors see when they come through your front door, so make it stand out.
The lighting in the room could affect how you perceive it at night. Faded or dingy white lampshades will cast a dreary, yellow look across the room. Update your lighting with new lampshades. You can choose from more contemporary shapes and colours, or you can simply replace them with fresh white ones.
For most home decorators, giving a room a new colour is the easiest way to spruce up the design, but painting a whole room can be time-consuming and difficult. Instead, choose a bright accent colour and paint just one wall. The sharp contrast in colour will make the whole room pop.
If painting even one wall is not an option, try painting the insides of your bookshelves. This unexpected colour change highlights the colours of the objects on your bookshelves.
While you are looking at your bookshelves, take a hard look at the objects, knick-knacks or accessories around your living room. Do they look stylish or cluttered? Getting rid of small knick-knacks can open up a room and make it feel less cramped. Consider donating these items or store them away if they have sentimental value.
For other accessories, like photo frames and wall decor, put them all in a box. Then consider where each object will have the biggest impact and put it back. If you feel that an item will not bring anything to the room, leave it in the box. Donate the box if you like or put it away in storage.
Kitchen/Dining
Plants in the kitchen
Perhaps the two busiest rooms in your home, the kitchen and dining rooms are the hub of activity. Your whole family circles in and out of this room, and it is the one place where everyone sits down to enjoy a family meal. To update this room, you do not need to call a contractor or spend a lot of money on expensive benchtops or appliances. There are plenty of ways to give this room a chic update without planning a renovation.
One of the easiest ways to redecorate in the kitchen is to add a backsplash or retile the existing backsplash. The area of backsplash is usually only a few feet so if you want to treat yourself to something fancier, here is the place to do it. You can also choose mostly white tiles and then weave in highly accented tiles to make the whole backsplash pop.
Another easy option is to change the cabinet and drawer handles. You can make your cabinets and drawers stand out in a whole new way just by changing the handles. Choose something that will make the cabinet colours stand out or match the mood of your kitchen, be it contemporary, French country or modern.
If you do not have a large back yard or the time to plant and tend to a garden, consider putting in a small in-house garden. Pick up a few four-inch terra cotta pots and painting them in colours to match your kitchen. Then choose your favourite herbs to plant and set them all on the windowsill. Your kitchen will have an added green look and you will be able to enjoy delicious herbs year round.
For the dining room, consider adding a chandelier or updating your existing one. You can always purchase a new one from a store or you can search online and in antique stores for an older one. Make sure you hire an electrician to install the chandelier.
To update an existing chandelier, give it a fresh coat of paint or polish the metal. Add dripping accents from a lighting store that will catch the colour.
Bathroom
New bathroom tap
Do not be fooled by the size of your bathroom. Though it may be small, there is plenty of room for design.
Changing the tap in your bathroom is a simple DIY project that instantly updates the look of the room. Choose a more modern-looking tap or one with an intricate design. Most taps will have installation directions on the box, but if you do not feel comfortable installing it yourself, consider calling a plumber.
Tired of staring at the same old shower curtain? Shower curtains can fade and take on a yellowish colour so replace it with something brighter. If you are happy with your shower curtain, consider picking up some new hooks. The hooks by themselves can come in fun styles and add more detail to your bathroom.
Bathrooms are also great storage spaces, and with the right stylish box or container, you can create a storage display that looks great and keeps your linens and other miscellaneous objects safe. Redecorate old, large hat boxes in bright fabrics and stack them in your bathroom corner.
Bedroom
Accent pillows
Since you do most of your relaxing in your bedroom, you want to create a calm, cool atmosphere where you can unwind at the end of the day and prepare for the next. To give the room an updated look, try some of these ideas.
While you can go all out and purchase a new duvet if you want, you can also scale it down and go for a few accent pieces instead. A comfy throw or a few well-chosen accent pillows can give the room a much-needed uplift.
Tone down the harsh light in the room by changing the light bulb colours. Rather than using a traditional white light, use a soft pink bulb to create a soothing and romantic atmosphere. The softer lights will be less glaring in the morning and will help make you feel less awake at night. If you do not want to change the light bulbs, change the lampshade to a soft pink for a similar effect.
You might already have a mirror in your bedroom, but if not, consider hanging an accent wall mirror. Mirrors reflect light, which can make dull rooms brighter, and they make small rooms look bigger. Choose a mirror with an intricate frame to match your room.
Updating your home does not require a full renovation. With a little bit of time and attention to detail, you can easily refresh every room in your home and make it an enjoyable place to be.
Fiona Wilson helps people all over Australia to better organise their homes and lives. Working closely with Wardrobe World and GarageSmart, she is incredibly passionate about finding practical lifestyle solutions for her clients.