Home Decor: DIY Tips to Bring Your House to Life

If you are moving into a new apartment or have just bought your first house, there are a lot of things for you to do. Starting fresh requires a lot of effort and most professional interior designers know how tough it is to make your new home look lovely. Many people want it to follow a theme, while others want to splash some colour and life into their current decor.

In any case, your options are endless and you can get quite overwhelmed if you do not have a proper strategy. It is important to understand what is at the top of your priority list and what can be left out. Remember not to overdo anything; minimalistic decor can go a long way in helping your house look amazing. 

You can use accessories and furniture to play up your house’s strengths and hide its flaws. This can make any home look like a dream house if it is pulled off correctly. There are a lot of ways to decorate your home without it putting a strain on your wallet. We have talked to a ton of design experts and have come up with the following tips:

Set your entire theme and tone at the front door

It is true that first impressions are the last impressions. This holds true for people, and for your house as well. You can set the tone for what is to be expected in your house by painting your front door a glossy, fun hue. Many people paint their front doors red because it is considered a lucky colour in many cultures. It used to mean “welcome to travellers” in earlier times. According to an expert interior designer, Christopher Breining, the two most popular hues right now are yellow and orange. These are associated with warmth and joy. You can also make your house a bit more modern by replacing an outdated screen door with a full-length glass door that can look quite amazing.

Use neutral colours on your wall

Remember, you have to decorate your house with a lot of furniture and accessories, which mostly need a neutral background to pop and look appealing to the eye. Colours such as grey, beige, off-white, and white are perfect for blending in the background so that your decor can pop. You do not want many jarring transitions. These colours offer flexibility, letting you decorate your ground and first floors in different ways and switch up your accessories. Even if you have two small rooms next to each other, painting the walls a light colour can help make them look larger. 

Pay attention to your master bedroom theme

You can use a different theme for each room, as long as everything comes together in the end to complement the master bedroom. Try to use small pieces of decor to your advantage. Use things such as quirky pillows, bedding, and colourful couches to add a pop of colour to your room. You can even scale artwork to your wall, making it hand-eye level. Go for either small gallery-style pieces or oversized pieces that can add much-needed colour to your room.

Layer different lighting together

There are three kinds of lighting that are absolutely essential and should be in every room. These are: ambient, providing illumination in an overall context and mostly in the form of ceiling fixtures; accent, decorative lights for highlighting certain things in your house, such as artwork; and finally, task, usually found near a reading nook or over a kitchen island. It is important that you use at least 3 watts per square foot of lighting in your living room. You can use uplights to cast a glow on the ceiling, making the room look much bigger than it is.  

Use area rugs smartly

The basic rules for an area rug are as follows:

• All four legs of your chairs and sofa should fit on the rug in a furniture grouping.
• The seating area is defined by the rug.
• At least make sure that the front two legs of the chairs and the sofa rest on the rug.
• Usually, a 9-by-12-foot rug or an 8-by-10-foot rug is used in living rooms. 
• Rugs smaller than this can make everything look out of place.

Get the help of a pro for decluttering your house

You accumulate a lot of stuff the longer you live in your house. You might not see that it is cluttered, which is why you need a fresh pair of eyes to see your house. You can think of hiring a professional organiser to help you tackle the messier parts of your house, such as your closets and bookshelves. These parts usually pack more than twice the amount of stuff that they should have and can look quite messy and cluttered. Remove more than 50% of what is on your shelf, and put up vertical and horizontal stacks of books, decorated with bowls or vases around them. 

Raise the ceiling by using visual tricks

If you have low ceilings in your house, you can paint them white. This will make your room look less claustrophobic. These visual tricks can go a long way in making your room feel more spacious. Another trick is to hang your curtains higher than the windows so your eyes are tricked into thinking the room is taller than it actually is. You can even try custom drapes that can cover the entire wall and make your rooms look fancy.

Hang mirrors for more light

Remember to hang the mirrors perpendicular to windows and not directly in front of them. If they are in front of the windows, it can send the light back out instead of making your house look bright. 

Decorating your house is not easy. There are a lot of things one has to look after. Use these amazing DIY tips to help you bring the entire theme of your house together. 

This is a collaborative post.