Guest post- New Year Resolutions For The Home!

New Year is traditionally a time to reflect on goals you hope to achieve in the up-and-coming year. With regards to your home, the New Year hails a time to consider resolutions for home improvements and how to make your home a cleaner, more beautiful and perhaps more efficient place to live in. You may have ideas of rooms that you want to redecorate, house chores that remain pending from the previous year and things that need replacing as well as the intention to make it an even more attractive space to inhabit.

There is no need to feel intimidated by luxurious glossy magazines, the New Year presents a time for creativity around the home working with what you have got and embellishing it with simple touches. Minor changes make a big impact on the home. Initially, assess what you already have at home, which room you wish to revamp and what has potential to be switched around and modified.

A New Year’s Resolution may be that you want to learn how to ‘do it yourself’ thus acquiring  new skills around the house and home; replacing fuses, repairing split shower heads, putting up shelves and other essential household tasks. Repairing or replacing what is broken or adding new touches to the house gives it a fresh, revitalised air naturally lifting the energy. Making simple changes can be manual or decorative and all contribute to a modified, more agreeable living space. 

Manual.

Changes around the house come in many forms. Reviving neglected house plants or re-potting them should bring them back to life restoring a natural element to the house. Putting up a new shelf and re-organising your books into colour themes looks smart. Repairing any cracks that have appeared in the walls or damp patches makes the house seem clean and fresh.

A fantastic, easy way to give the house a new feel is by de-cluttering. Over the year we all accumulate objects that we do not use or need. Investing in a few stylish storage units hides any clutter that does not need to be out keeping the house fuss-free and looking clean. It also helps you organise the home bringing order and peace of mind.

Decorative.

Simple, stylish updates and additions to different rooms transform the feel of the house. In the bedroom, an easy and transformative change is to invest in new bedding, quilts or throws along with scatter cushions in different colours. Try to be brave and not stick to safe colour schemes; add splashes of colour to a room changing the style and feel. New wall art is a simple way of changing a room as is a new style of lighting or a throw over a table or sofa. Restyling a lampshade or moving lights around room also alters the feel of a room.

Each room has potential to be re-styled by building on what you have and making small additions and changes. Repaint, fix or re-upholster existing pieces of furniture that you own. Purchase a few luxurious, coloured cushions and scatter them over a bed or sofa to create a new feel to your home making it a comfortable space you are proud of and want to invite people to.

At the beginning of the year, write down a set of goals you hope to achieve in the home and work steadily to achieve them, perhaps reviewing them mid-year to see what you have accomplished and how the home feels better for the slight changes.

Joy Venner writes on behalf of OKA. She enjoys writing about interior design ideas, room optimisation and home improvements.

Disclaimer: I have received compensation in return for publishing this article.