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Changing or updating a room in your home doesn’t need to cost money. Being bored by a room or tired of its look can usually be remedied with a few simple styling changes and rearranging the furniture. Updating your home is less about spending money on new-season homewares and accessories, and more about reimagining the space you’re in, and giving yourself something new to look at.
1. Rearrange
Take a really good look at the room that’s feeling stale. Is there a different way the furniture could be arranged? Is there a better way to take advantage of the natural light, or create little zones within the space? If you have furniture pushed up against the walls, consider pulling it out and floating it in the middle of the space, or arranging it so that it inspires conversation, rather than encouraging everyone to look at the television.
2. Restyle your coffee table
The humble coffee table is prime real estate in a living room and is the perfect opportunity to showcase some personality. Try arranging coffee table books, flowers, candles and decorative items in the centre of the table to create a focus point. If you already have such an arrangement, swap it out for other books or décor items that might be currently hidden away on a bookshelf or in another room. Pull out trinkets or treasures from family holidays past and put them on display. Not only will it look cute, but it’ll remind you of happy times with the people you love.
3. Change the view
If a room is feeling tired, try incorporating what’s outside the window into the space. In bedrooms, a bed can be arranged under a window to make it the centre point of the room. A garden view from your living room can be maximised by arranging your seating towards it, or moving some houseplants inside to make it feel like the space has more indoor/outdoor connection. Have mirrors on your walls? Reposition them to reflect water, skyline or garden views.
4. Rehang your curtains
Are your curtains hung as high and as wide as possible? If not, do that now. It’ll make the windows appear larger and allow more natural light to filter through the room, as well as make the space instantly feel more expensive.
5. Pick one colour and repeat it
Is your home sporadically decorated with homewares and accessories in different colours? Take stock of what cushions, throws, rugs, decorative items, vases and books you have available to you in your home. Sort them into colour groups, and allocate one colour per room. This will make the space feel more considered and styled. In your bathroom, match your towels to your accessories.
6. Reorganise your bookshelves
If you’re one of the many people using bookshelves as extra storage throughout your home, take a moment to consider whether the items stacked into them can be arranged in a new way. Perhaps the books can be arranged spine out and colour coded for a rainbow effect. Not enough books? Perhaps you can arrange objects by colour per shelf. Perhaps some books can be laid flat with a trinket or decorative item sat on top of it. Don’t forget that houseplants can also fit on shelves, and varieties with branches that hang over the pot or droop down can look gorgeous on top of a well-styled bookshelf.
This article originally appeared on Better Homes and Gardens.
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