Have you ever flipped through a home catalog and wondered if you’d ever be able to make your own home look half as great as the ones you see in there? If you have, then you’re not alone. It’s a pretty common concern among a lot of people and it’s the kind of thing that can often feel impossible. After all, the homes you see online or in magazines almost always have teams of people working with pretty huge budgets in order to make them look as amazing as possible. And the truth is that it can often feel as though, no matter how much work you put in, you’re never really able to give your home that feeling of charm and personality that it really needs. Of course, that’s not the way that things have to be. There are plenty of things that you can do in order to make sure that your home is as wonderful as possible and most of them don’t have to end up costing the earth either. With that in mind, here are some surprisingly simple things that you can do in order to give your home just a little more charm.
Use light
If there’s one tool in your interior design arsenal that’s simpler, cheaper and easier to use than just about any other, it’s light. Light can make such a huge difference to a lot of your home that it’s kind of ridiculous. This is especially true for natural light. Filling even the smallest room with natural light is enough to make it feel incredibly open and spacious. On the other hand, not bringing enough light into a room can make it feel cramped and dingy no matter how big it is. Of course, when natural light isn’t available, you still have plenty of options. Think about everything from how bright the lights in your home are to the quality and tone of the lights themselves. These kinds of things might seem small and simple, but that really can make a massive difference.
Think about flow
One of the most common mistakes that a lot of people make is that they only think about each room of their home in isolation. Now, it’s important to think carefully about each room but the problem with that is that it makes people forget to consider their home as one single entity. It’s not just a matter of making sure that each room looks and feels great, you need to think about how each room moves into the others. The flow of your home is going to have a huge impact on how it feels. If there’s no flow from room to room then each room is going to end up feeling closed off and cramped in a way that’s often difficult to properly define and frustrating to deal with. Think about the way that you move through your home and try to allow for the right amount of space. Doing things like blocking off walkways or creating sudden sharp angles going in and out of rooms is just going to make it feel stunted and unpleasant.
Give it a personal touch
If there’s one thing that you can do to give your home a whole lot more charm and personality really quickly, it’s putting your own personal stamp on it. A lot of people assume that, because they’re not interior designers, that they lack the skill or knowledge to be able to bring their own personal touch to their home but that’s not the case. Even something as simple as having family photographs in a frame on the walls or pieces of art dotted around that communicate something about who you are can make a huge difference. After all, the last thing anyone wants is for their home to end up looking like a showroom without any real defining personality of its own. If you put enough of yourself into it then your home is always going to be a wonderfully charming and comfortable place to be.
Be bold with colour
Plenty of people are scared of using color in their home and that’s a pretty understandable position to be in. After all, if you’re not using bright colors then the chances of them clashing is going to be much slimmer. However, the big mistake is that they end up just sticking with something like white or magnolia and their home just looks like a blank canvas. Don’t be afraid to bring a touch of bold color into your home with a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Think about the kind of tone that you’re trying to create in your home and use color to achieve that. Rich, dark colors can create a luxurious atmosphere that’s perfect for your bedroom whereas light, pastel colors are wonderful for giving your living room a calming vibe. Of course, if you do want to stick with plain walls then don’t be afraid to use decorations, paintings, and photographs to give each room a little extra bolt of color and excitement.
Create a clear theme
One of the most common reasons why a lot of people end up feeling as though their home just doesn’t have that extra pop that they really want is that they haven’t thought about giving it a proper theme. After all, when you look through a catalog or magazine, the homes that you see will almost always have some kind of unifying design theme that makes them stand out. Luckily, there are so many different styles that you’re almost certainly going to end up finding one that suits you and your personal tastes. If you want something ultra-modern and trendy then why not embrace a more minimalist style of home, or perhaps a more classic industrial style replete with exposed brickwork and modern charm. Or maybe you’re after something a little more rustic. In which case you might prefer a more shabby chic style filled with vintage furnishings and handmade decor. The style that you choose is always going to come down to who you are and the style that you like, but finding something to latch onto when decorating your home can make a huge difference.
Be consistent
Of course, when you actually choose a theme, it’s important that you stick to it. A home where one of the rooms it’s ultra-modern and the other looks like a rustic cottage is always going to feel pretty strange is never going to be able to create the kind of tone that you really want. The key is to be consistent throughout your home so that you’re not going to fall into the trap of it becoming something of a mish-mash. Sure, you can combine ideas in some wonderful ways, but trying to cram too many ideas into one place is always just going to make your home feel cluttered, unfocused and messy.
Of course, these are just a few examples of things that you can do. There are always going to be plenty of different options available to you depending on everything from your budget to your time frame to your own sense of creativity. The key is to remember never to do things by halves. If you want your home to have that “wow factor” that homes in magazines have, then you’ve got to be willing to put the effort in. If you’re not fully committed, then your home is never going to be as wonderful as you want it to be.
