Are you confused about the design of your home? You visit beautiful homes and get inspired by ideas you saw there, or you see beautiful pictures on the Internet that resemble your real style…
But when you look at your home, you may feel overwhelmed. Where do you start? Everything seems fine. The house is functional and not too old (or maybe too old), but there’s not much that really suits you. How do you start adding your own touch to your old home?
The good news is that the speed and depth you can go into this process is entirely up to you. You can invest as much or as little effort and money as you want.
Free options:
Rearrange your furniture and artwork. I recently created a “new to me” gallery wall out of artwork I already had. I chose to spend some money to cut out frosted glass, but that was completely optional. Not a day goes by that I don’t enjoy going through these arrangements! Get a fresh perspective on this and ask a friend for suggestions. For years, we kept the buffet in the living room until my friend Robin suggested moving it to the dining room. This was obvious to her, and it looks great! Remove the culprit! Consider removing things. Just because they’ve always been there doesn’t mean they have to stay there. Again, for years I left those faded balloon curtains from the 80s in the living room simply because they’d always been there and I didn’t know what to replace them with. Just removing them gave me the mental space to imagine something else.
From the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast: “Everything was beige and off-white, which is not what I wanted. While it wasn’t what I was looking for, it had a good texture, and just needed more. First and foremost, I try to work with what I have. Paint is the best option, always start with paint.” ~ Marian Parsons
DIY Options:
Think about the walls – paint is relatively cheap and makes a huge difference in making a house your home. I know you’ve heard this many times, but it bears repeating. Think about the paint first and try not to agonize over colour. According to British interior designer Sue Jones: “The best colour to use is your favourite colour!” This was true for us. Paint alone transformed our kitchen ~ and green is one of my favourite colours! Add trim, mouldings or wallpaper. These options go beyond paint and capture the personality of the person creating the house. Trim adds depth to a boxy room, and wallpaper adds character and movement to the space.
“Many rooms looked like big boxes. Another thing that sometimes gets overlooked is trim and moldings. Chair railings are a great place to start, they add a bit of character.” ~ Marianne Parsons
Character addition details:
Consider swapping out the hardware on your kitchen, bathroom, or hallway doors. We’re slowly replacing the doorknobs in our hallway with vintage-inspired crystal and antique brass doorknobs. The beauty is that we can do this one room at a time depending on budget and timeline. Look for antique lighting fixtures. Your lighting fixtures and hardware may be standard styles from the hardware store, or your paint colors may be what the builder picked out. Above the sink in our kitchen, we found this gorgeous vintage-inspired glass pendant that was not only the perfect fit for the space, but made a huge difference!
Everything in your home may be “build-ready” and I understand that! We rented our current home for several years before we bought it. In that case, we didn’t have the freedom to change anything. But once the house was ours, we set about creating a home that reflected our style. This is a slow process (by today’s standards), and it continues to evolve today.
Sometimes you can be completely blind to the way things have always been, but that’s okay. Just realizing that you want to change things is the beginning of making a plan. Warning: This process is a lot of fun and I’m pretty sure I don’t want it to end here… See you next time,
Takes care,
Rachel
