Refresh Your Homes Exterior

The first impressions your home creates is an important one because you don’t want to spend a lot of time and money decorating your home, repainting rooms and choosing new furniture if no one even wants to come inside. Therefore, as well as redecorating the inside of your home, you should also pay attention to the outside as well to make it as stylish and welcoming as possible.

To begin with, if you’ve just redecorated inside you know how much of a difference a lick of paint can make, so take to your front door with a brush too. Having a front door in a unique colour or texture will grab your visitors’ attention and give them an idea of what to expect from your decor before they’ve even stepped inside.

Also, if you’re not inviting your guests inside at all – that is you’re planning an outdoor lunch or a delicious barbeque for the day or evening, then your outdoor furniture choices are important too. They need to be comfortable, but also sturdy enough to withstand some elemental pressures, as well as chunky and natural enough not look out of place in the garden.

And of course while red may have been a feature colour in your decorating, it doesn’t look quite as stylish on your guests so make sure your outdoor settings are well shaded if you’re planning long afternoons in the sun. Still looking at your outdoor colours though and a quick and easy way to brighten up your place – kind of like the outdoor equivalent of a paint job – is to add pots of fresh annuals like petunias, as the colours will add energy and you can coordinate the shades to your existing colour scheme.

Refresh Your Homes Interior

Redecorating your home for the change of the seasons or just for a change in scenery in your life does not have to be an expensive operation, sometimes you don’t even have to buy a thing. For example, you’ll be amazed at how much of a difference simply moving your furniture around can make.

You may choose to reposition your couch to make the most of the glowing winter sunshine which streams through your lounge room in the afternoons. And in the summer time, move your bed around so that the morning sun falls on you for a gentle wakeup call from nature.

You’ll also be amazed at how much of a difference decluttering can make to your home’s appearance. This doesn’t mean just putting old magazines away and packing the kids’ toys away, it means actually pulling out all of your cupboards and getting rid of clothes, old electronics and everything else you’re hanging onto so that the things you do use can be stored properly and old treasures can be discovered and displayed.

If you are going to make decorating purchases, go for colour and texture. If you have a neutral monotone canvas of a home, add reds or yellows, blues or greens, and even some gold for the ultimate refreshment. These colours can be in curtains which change with the seasons, or cushions and throws which do the same.

Texture is also important to consider and if you have neutral tiles, a stainless steel kitchen and a home full of sterile electronics, add some wooden furniture for a natural, tactile and welcoming effect.

Refresh Your Furniture

When it comes to refreshing the furniture in your home, there are two main ways you can go about it. The path you take depends on your budget, how much time you spend at home, and how much of an impact you want to make – on your decorating style, on your visitors and on the planet itself.

If you are on a budget, or living in a small place, your first home or a rented apartment, or are simply not motivated by keeping up with the Jones’ then you may choose the first option. In this case look for second hand furniture to give your home its own unique style. You may have to do some searching but a funky and affordable second hand piece of furniture is worth the effort.

You can also take the time to fix up broken furniture items you already have, instead of immediately replacing them when they get a bit worn – a new sofa cover, a few stitches in a drooping curtain or quick sand and polish for the table are easy refreshments.

But if you have a brand new house, a new job ($$) or you simply want your family to have the best then you fall into the second category and your refreshing furniture options are therefore almost endless. For example, if you invest in just a few solid pieces of furniture for your home you will be able to easily set your decorating tone and style, not to mention you have started a furniture collection whose quality you know will last.

There are also very stylish sofas available with removable covers so that with the change of the seasons you can change the whole look of your home, because you’ve invested in good quality furniture to begin with.

Why Decorate a Bachelor Pad

Boys are notorious for not making good house keepers, they forget to take the rubbish out, leave pizza boxes lying around and seem incapable of ensuring their dirty clothes make it all the way to the wash basket. Well that’s what you’ve been told by the women in your life right? But at the moment you are residing in your very own bachelor pad – alone – so you don’t have to listen to any more blights on your ‘domestic god’ status.

Unfortunately, they’re right in suggesting that you should try to make your house into a home. This is your space and probably sooner than you expect you’ll be filling your live with a partner, pets and then before you know it kids, so make the most of having your bachelor pad to yourself by decorating it just the way you like it.

For example, adding a coat of paint is an easy way to freshen the place up, it’s even easier to paint not only the walls but the ceiling too as you don’t have to tape off areas, plus by painting the walls and the roof the same colour, the space looks bigger and airier. Start with a neutral white or beige coloured paint as it is easy to add masculine colours to this with navy curtains or a black sofa, coupled with cushions and rugs in the same shades.

Of course you still want a low maintenance pad so avoid displaying little knick knacks and instead spend your time finding comfortable and sturdy furniture, for example a leather couch is both luxurious to sit on, and is also easy to wipe down clean.

Top to Bottom Mirrors

Mirrors are a fantastic decorating toll, most people have realised that by now and are using them to open up dark spaces, make rooms bigger and increase – by reflection – the effect of their other decorating features.

However, mirrors are not just useful for propping behind a vase of flowers to double the effect, nor should they be used only in their traditional flat form either. Instead look outside the square when decorating with mirrors, or more specifically, above it.

While placing a mirror on an opposite wall to a piece of art will increase its presence in the room, it can mean that you are over exposed to the image. So instead, take your cue from the Europeans who mount their art directly centred above a wall mirror, making use of all available wall space. However, reflecting a natural view by placing mirrors opposite a window or glass door can make a stunning display of art of your wall from your view. Just make sure you use one large mirror panel rather than several smaller ones as this can confuse the eye.

Using mirrors top to bottom in your home can also mean covering a whole wall in your reflection. While a painted feature wall is fine, you may want something more unique, or you may just want to cover up an imperfect wall and floor to ceiling mirrors will do just that. If a whole wall is too overwhelming, choose chandeliers with mirrored pendants, or lights with mirrored sconces.

Plug in Bling

The kitchen used to be seen as more of a utility room – it was where you had to go to do the job of cooking and you left it as soon as possible after the last dish was dried. However, the kitchen is now coming into its own as a space where your decorating style can continue uninterrupted, to the extent that many people make their kitchen a separate feature of their home.

Of course to do this the latest and greatest new technology has been brought into play to let your kitchen furniture shine. A fridge is no longer just a fridge, it is also a TV, an ice maker and is lit by LEDs for a brightness to rival your supermarket. And of course, just as storage is important in other parts of your home decorating to remove the clutter and achieve a streamlined look which allows the true features of your style to come through, so too are your kitchen appliances, with gas cook tops which have hidden jets and close up to a flat (easy to clean) surface when not in use.

Your kitchen is not an area of your home which should be forgotten in your decorating and with the latest bling plugged in, and bolder paint choices and bench top and tile colours, it won’t be. Look at decorating your kitchen as you would any other room and choose the latest styles and colours – ones which appeal to you – and incorporate them into your home because with open plan living your kitchen is no longer shut away, and when you think about how much time you really do spend in the kitchen, it is one of the most important rooms of the house.

Modern Bachelorette Decorating

It may not necessarily have been something which your mother could have taught you – she going straight from her parent’s place, into married life. However, with more time, money and freedom on your side you have the opportunity to make the most of your time as a bachelorette and decorate your home accordingly.

But as we’ve pointed out, you’re treading new water in this area, show how exactly do you decorate a bachelorette pad? Any way you like! That’s right, regardless of the size of your flat, home, apartment, loft, it is your space to decorate as you like, the most important thing is to make it chic and stylish, but comfortable and homey.

Since you are paying the rent or mortgage on your own, your bachelorette pad may be on the small side, but make up for that by filling it with big style – this means things like a top of the line hi-fi system, or a sleek and funky TV, which should by the way always be in your living room, TVs in the bedroom should be reserved for married couples.

And make sure you indulge in the decorating accessories you love – if candles are your thing cover every surface, if you prefer flowers place vases everywhere. When it comes to your furniture choices, make sure you choose two matching bed side tables to balance the room, and don’t be afraid to indulge in a king sized bed either.

Your other furniture choices are up to you – if you want to recline on cushions instead of couches then scatter them around your lounge room, if you prefer a vintage theme hang floating sheer curtains instead of boring old blinds.

Vignette Decorating

Probably the biggest tragedy in home decorating is the fact that people either think that it’s too hard to have a stylish designer home, or too expensive. Or both. While it is easy to go out and spend a lot of time and money on expensive items to decorate your home, and even on hiring experts to do the designing for you, the decorating is then not really about you is it?

And that is the most important thing to remember when decorating your home, whether you are choosing wall art or carpet – is it really you? The easiest way to decorate your home in a way which speaks to your true personality is to use things which are already part of your home and your life.

But how do you turn the ordinary pieces of your life into art for your home? You turn them into vignettes, that’s how. Vignettes are little collections of objects, clustered together to make an eye catching display. The best thing is a vignette can be made up of just about anything and each item can tell its own story, as well as contribute to the tale of the other objects too.

You may choose to display objects all of a certain colour, with a splash of a contrasting colour in your favourite piece of the display. Or you may decide to create a vignette which tells a story, for example a collection of sea shells from a recent beach holiday, or souvenirs from a memorable overseas trip.

Panelling Feature Wall

Feature walls are just like any other new decorating technique – they came in, and everyone suddenly got out their brushes and now they have a wall in their home which is a completely different colour to the rest, and the top home designers are now telling us that feature walls are out now.

Well, when decorating your home, while you look at the current trends and ideas you see in new homes and magazine designs, at the end of the day, decorating your home and colouring your walls comes down to whether you actually like it or not. If you are still into the idea of a feature wall, but want to make your wall art a little different to just a plain painted wall, then how about this next idea – a feature door.

We suggest using a non solid, internal door because they are nice and light to work with and to display, but how does a door become a wall? Well it becomes feature wall art when you paint it. A good idea is to choose more than one door and mark a length from the top, around one foot and mask it off. Paint this top portion in a colour to suit your mood or your room and paint the larger bottom sections of the doors in a slightly darker or deeper shade.

Now all you have to do is prop your feature doors against the wall you want to liven up and you have a feature wall art display which is easy to change and move, not to mention renter friendly.

Earring Wall Art

Earrings are considered an essential piece of art for a lot of women – and some men – when they are putting together their outfits and heading out into the world. Earrings can tell a story and show off your personality in one of the most deliberate ways possible; after all you have to wear clothes when you go out, but you have chosen to punch holes in your ears and decorate them.

However, as anyone who wears earrings knows, you often end up with so many earrings, it seems a shame to hide them away in your jewellery box when you’re not wearing them. Therefore, you may be interested in turning the earrings you can’t wear – because you can only wear one pair at a time – into wall art.

All you will need to do is select your favourite earrings, and the ones with the most eye catching designs and the most vibrant and interesting colours, to create an equally unique piece of wall art for your home. Now that you have a small selection of jewellery, around six pairs of earrings is a good start, choose a dominant or contrasting colour and look for wallpaper, gift wrap or even an artful post card to use as the backing.

Then choose a neutral coloured frame – black or white and even natural wood would work well – and glue the pretty paper you have found to a piece of foam board to fit inside your frame. Now you have a pretty picture frame which is actually a display case for your earrings as you can now punch them into the foam and display them.