Have you ever walked around your home and just felt a bit… stuck? Or bored? There’s nothing exactly wrong with it, it’s just that it doesn’t feel particularly great either – the rooms look the same as they did last year, the hallway hasn’t been refreshed in ages, and there’s stuff all over the place which means that it’s fine, but not what you want.
The good news is, there are plenty of easy home details that can make your home – and everyday life – feel fresh again, and with that in mind, keep reading to find out what those things are.
Start With One Room You Use All The Time
It’s always going to be tempting to jump between rooms and update everything at once, but the truth is that choosing just one space, which could be the living room, your bedroom, the kitchen, and so on, means it’s a lot easier to stay focused. If you can do that, you’ll see a lot more progress a lot more quickly, and you’ll have more motivation to keep going when you see how much you can achieve.
If you’re not sure where to start, the best thing to do is pick the room you spend the most time in – after all, you’ll enjoy it more that way. So go in there, take a look around, and see what doesn’t feel quite right. Maybe it’s the lighting, or perhaps there’s too much clutter, or it could be the colour, and so on. Then you can make some small changes to turn the room into a space you want to be in, and move on from there.
Refresh Surfaces For Instant Change
It’s a shame, but everything you touch or see up close is definitely going to start to look worn after a while, which is why replacing or updating these everyday surfaces make really make a difference, and could be all you need to make a room look totally new – or at least make enough of a chance to feel fresh.
One idea would be to swap your old cabinet and drawer handles for new ones because even if the doors are technically still the same, they’ll look totally new. Or what about repainting a tired windowsill, adding a new mirror in a hallway (the bonus here is that it can reflect light, so it’ll make the space seem not just brighter but bigger too), or just replace a lampshade that’s seen better days. Even updating woodwork or adding a small shelf can transform a corner, and if you’ve got the right tools, like a cordless nail gun, you can hang some lightweight decor or some extra storage and little upgrades like that can really go a long way.
Bring In More Texture
Although you might not think it, the fact is that texture is one of the easiest ways to make a room feel more inviting without having to do anything extravagant or expensive. What do we mean? Well, you can add some soft throws, a few cushions, a couple of jute baskets, a different rug, and so on, and just see how much better the room looks when you do.
It’s a very simple trick, but if your home feels a bit flat or cold, adding different textures can liven it up – and warm it up – right away. Plus, to make things even better, it’s good to mix different natural materials, like cotton, wool, linen, wood, stone, and so on, so that nothing really matches and you’ve got layers.
Rearrange What You’ve Already Got
Did you ever think that something as simple as moving your furniture and other bits around could be all you need to do to refresh your space? Maybe it just felt too obvious, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing it because the results are going to be impressive – moving a sofa slightly, nudging a table to one side a bit, swapping the position of a couple of chairs, and so on, can change how a whole room feels, and it can make even a really familiar room feel new and different.
Sometimes it’s actually the layout that feels a bit stale and not the furniture, so before you buy anything new or throw out your old stuff, try moving it around first. It could save you a lot of time and energy, not to mention money, plus you’ll be a lot more sustainable too.
Add A Bit Of Colour In Low-Commitment Ways
A lot of the time, repainting an entire room can be a bit too much of a big job, and unless you really plan for it, it can go horribly wrong very quickly. But what about still adding some colour in smaller ways that you can change around and don’t have to commit to for the long term? When you put it like that, it’s probably a better way to go about things anyway.
You can add a colourful lamp, a framed print (and don’t forget the frame can be fun and colourful too), some photos, new cushion covers, or even a plant in a pot – they’ll all brighten things up without any mess and no big decisions to make. You can also just paint one thing, like a shelf, a side table, a mirror frame, and so on, and do that instead of the entire wall, so you’ll get a boost of colour without committing to a full project.
Fix The Things You’ve Been Ignoring
Every home has got those little annoyances that aren’t so big they interrupt daily life, but you still notice them once in a while. And because they’re not big, they’re easy to ignore, and even if you do notice them, you’ll probably forget about them soon after. But the problem is, small problems can get bigger, and small problems can actually play on your mind even if you don’t realise it, causing stress.
So if you want a fresh and more comfortable home, it’s time to fix these little annoyances, whether it’s a leaky tap, a squeaky door, a loose handle, a wobbly table leg, or anything else. These things take seconds to fix in most cases, and then it’s done, and the relief will be immediate.
