Interiors: 7 simple ways to turn your house into a home

1. Clear the clutter and simplify your life

Clutter creates tension and chaos, whether it’s an untidy room, or hidden in a cupboard. It weighs you down mentally and physically, and you will never achieve a calm home without dealing with it. Start by clearing all the surfaces in your kitchen and bathrooms.

Then, make a plan, carry it out room by room, getting rid of everything that you do not love or use. You will quickly tame this beast, and be surprised at how good it makes you feel.

2. Start with a neutral base

Interior by James Page, via Pinterest

When your walls and sofas are neutral, you can really inject your personality into your home by layering in lots of colour in artwork, cushions, rugs, flowers, soft furnishings and accessories.

3. Lighting

So many people leave lighting to an afterthought. You should be planning your lighting from the outset of your room design.

What you want to do is to layer your lighting. Combine recessed lights, feature lights. pendant lights, task lighting, table lamps, and free standing standard lamps. Make good use of dimmer switches too.

Also use bulbs that emit a warm light. I always use warm white not cool white. And if the bulb is visible, I specify the decorative Edison type bulbs.

4. Hang your curtains higher

I first did this when a pair of curtains arrived from the sewing room longer than I had requested.

Time was of the essence, so I no choice but to hang them unaltered.

An amazing thing happened to this small room with a low ceiling, Hanging the curtains higher made that ceiling seem so much higher, and generally improved the overall feel of the room.

I do it all the time now!

5. Use crisp white bedlinen

I always use fresh white bedlinen and towels. This creates a luxurious boutique feeling in your own bedroom.

Aim for a serene, uncluttered space with crisp cotton bed linen, the best mattress that you can afford, fresh flowers, a scented candle and a good book.

6. Create your own signature scent

This is something that I started to do a few years ago, and it brings a lovely sense of comfort to our home.

Memories are tied up in familiar scents, and I just love coming home and smelling Jo Malone’s Pomegranate Noir, which instantly says “welcome home” to us.

I burn the same fragrance throughout the house, and although I aim for subtlety, not an overpowering effect, you are always aware of the underlying gorgeous smell. Whenever I am away from home, I bring a travel sized candle with me. It helps me to relax and unwind.

Our oldest son has gone off backpacking to Australia for a year. I secretly slipped a candle into his suitcase, along with my favourite framed photo of him and me. Just to give him a tangible reminder of home.

So, pick whatever signature scent you prefer, and try it out in your home. The secret lies in having the one scent throughout your home. It will definitely contribute to a pleasing familiar sense of contentment. Your family will love you for it.

7. Create a memory wall

Via Pinterest

Pick a prominent feature wall, one that you look at frequently during the day. This could be a wall in your family room, hall or landing, even your WC.

Now go through your photographs, and pick out the ones that really put you in good humour. Photos of your children, holidays, laughing with good friends, multi generational photographs. It doesn’t matter what they are, as long as they make you happy. Look through your phone photos too, so many great memories are captured digitally, but are never printed.

Put them in frames next. You don’t need expensive frames, but it is better if they match. I usually use the Ikea Ribba frames, they come in various sizes, and with both black and white frames. If you already have a mismatch of different coloured frames, one easy solution is to paint them all the one colour.

Next, you assemble your gallery wall collection. I do this by laying the photos on the floor in a rectangular shape. The amount of pictures that you have, and the size of the wall will determine how big or small it is going to be.

Begin by placing the photos along the four edges, which creates the border of your gallery. Then you can randomly fill in the ” inside” photos, and alter your spacing’s to fit. Remember that all the photos do not have to be the same size, but you do need to create a uniform shape with the outer frames.

Stand back, and enjoy the memories!

Anyone building or thinking of building?

If any of you are in the middle of building or renovating, or contemplating doing so, and if you feel like you are struggling a bit, then I would love to help you.

If you would like to have a complimentary 30 minute consultation with me, just click HERE @RoomJunkie. I would be delighted to help you in any way I can..

Anne x