With a new year comes all the resolutions that you struggle to keep. Exercise more often? Of course you will. Go to sleep at a reasonable time? You’ve already set the alarm. Whilst it’s always hard to stick to most of those resolutions beyond the first week of the new year, there is a resolution you could make that doesn’t require daily commitment into the foreseeable future: spruce up the house. Of course, once you’ve spruced up the house, you do need to be a little conscious to make sure you don’t mess up the place again. But it’s time to stop putting off the renovation tasks you’ve had in mind for months (or maybe years).
You might already have lots of adventurous ideas for redecoration to help make your house look like a palace but you have to remember that there’s a practical side to improving your home too. Additionally, you don’t always need to “go big” to make a visible and impressive impact on the aesthetic of your house. Small changes can make a huge difference. And this year is the year, so you can’t make any more excuses in order to neglect fixing the leaky faucet or peeling wallpaper. It’s time to redesign your humble home.
Clean and tidy the house.
Cleaning and tidying may be two of the most boring household chores imaginable but they’re also two of the important. After you’ve finished redesigning your home, you should make an additional resolution to spend one or two hours a week cleaning and tidying. If you do this regularly then you’ll never have to worry about the dreaded “big clean up” ever again and you’ll be able to keep your house looking picturesque in the long term. Of course, before you can even get to that stage, you’ll need to do some initial cleaning and tidying. If your home is already so unclean that you’ve attracted other “residents” in your home then you might want to compare pest control companies to eradicate the problem. It’s important that you give your home a thorough clean now and maintain that cleanliness in the future to avoid such a big job.
The ultimate goal is to make your home’s interior look “minimalistic”. By doing so, you open up the potential space in your home that you may not have previously utilized and make each room feel bigger. Start decluttering and do so thoroughly. You may not see yourself as a hoarder but we all get into the habit of keeping old junk, whether we realize it or not. Sort through your possessions in each room of the house and decide which things you actually need to keep. You could even sell anything with value that you no longer want; that money could go towards other renovation projects around the house.
Maximize space.
Whilst we talked about decluttering above, it’s important to realize that you’re not clearing space just to fill it up again. Remember, the goal is minimalism and spaciousness. You probably found that, even after a good clearout, the house still doesn’t feel as large and impressive as you hoped it would. But there might be more potential for the space available in your home than you realize, so don’t give up all hope just yet. Achieving a spacious home isn’t about throwing away everything you own; it’s about making your design feel less cluttered and claustrophobic.
Illusion is the key here. You could put up shelving units in your kitchen, for example. Making better use of the space on your walls means you don’t have to leave things lying around on kitchen counters. You could find homes for your utensils. Diving rooms into zones can help maximize potential space too. And the space under the stairs could be converted into a storage cabinet if you want another example. There’s really no excuse for letting clutter dominate your home. There are so many creative ways to store things more effectively and let your house breathe so as to improve the aesthetic.
Improve the garden.
Of course, it isn’t just your home’s interior that you should improve this year. Your garden needs some love too, and mowing the lawn is only the start of redesigning this outdoor space. You need to make your garden feel cozy if it’s going to become a place in which you and the family are going to relax. In the same way that a new floral arrangement can spruce up a room inside your home, putting a little sprinkle of your house’s interior into your outdoor space can really help to make your garden feel homely. It’s all about getting that blend between mother nature and manmade design just right. A paved walkway through the garden or a homely patio area could make all the difference.
Convert the garage, attic, or basement.
What’s been the recurring theme throughout this article? If you have unused space in your home then you need to change that. Most people don’t even realize they’re wasting their home’s potential and we’ve all been guilty of that at some point. You’ve received lots of advice to help you on your way now, such as putting up shelving units or transforming the space under your stairs into a storage cabinet, but there’s one big upgrade you could make to your house this year in order to improve it: convert some unused space.
Most households are becoming obsessed with conservatories and extensions but there’s no point in wasting excessive money or eating into your garden’s potential space unnecessarily when there are other options. If you have a garage, attic, basement, or spare room then you could be using this space for more than storing boxes. Let the rest of your house breathe and move some of your possessions into a brand new room. Don’t “dump” your belongings here. You could create a brand new living space, for example, using couches, bookshelves, and other furnishings or decorative pieces that are struggling to find a place in your house. Remember, improving your home comes down to using space more wisely.
