My rented student house is very small and pretty old, but I love it. Here is how I made it look cute in spite of limitations of size and impossible renovations I can’t make happen, but which would have been an easy fix. Let me share what I have discovered that can make your home feel brighter, more comfy, and lovable. It is so important to love your home from an emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical perspective.
Colorful lights or stars
Some special, colorful, stylish lights add magic to your place, bring it to life, and just make it more pleasant to be at home. Probably the best investment into your place you can make. You can find cheap cute options like strip or rope lights. Compose some dimmed lighting system for in the evening. I don’t know how people live with bright light at all times. It is important to give our eyes some rest and transition our bodies into sleep in the evenings. Create that wonderful relaxing evening ambience for yourself.
Projector
My number one is this projector with moving colorful galaxy like lights and stars. You can buy it for quite cheap, and there are more expensive options. Mine is a galaxy projector with green stars. A bit strange star color choice, but it works. The stars and this gorgeous liquid-like flow of colors can cover the whole ceiling for me. In the dark it is just magical. It transforms the whole place.
Changing colors LED lamp
Buy a tall floor paper lamp, and install a changing colors LED lamp inside. There you have your color therapy daily. Put it where you will see it at all times. This is so relaxing, and I found myself just staring at it whenever something stressful is happening. Recently, I also received a JBL speaker with changing colors as a present. Totally recommend as well.
Colorful lighting adds warmth and coziness to the vibe of your home and aids your peace of mind, mood, and resilience. Never underestimate the effect of colors on us.
Boxes
Buy boxes and put everything into them. Or as much as you can hide and are not using frequently. I actually have separate boxes for the things I use frequently. Why? Minimalism is a safe and easiest way to make the place look cleaner and neater. I am not an interior designer, and I know they can do a great job with lots of items in the house. I feel like most of us do not end up with the same result. Clean, open, uncluttered space affects the clarity in our minds. Busy interior is frustrating for me, personally. It makes it more difficult to concentrate and maintain tranquility and neutrality. Many talk about this, how clutter in the house can cloud our thinking and judgement and impede emotional stability.
Get rid of it
I confess to having hoarder tendencies. I would clear my drawers of a bunch of useless things, and when I come back to it several months later, there would be a bunch of useless stuff in there again. If you have hoarder tendencies too, I believe we should make it a regular activity. Going through the drawers and removing all the “maybe I will need it some day.” Those are the most hoarded items. They say if you haven’t used it in three or six months, throw it away. Of course, the idea is being responsible toward the environment so don’t buy useless stuff. However, for me this is mostly about free gifts with purchases or some packaging.
Hide it
Also dare to remove the items you feel attached to that don’t look good enough on display. Or at least hide them. There are many things that have meaning to us, and of course we should keep it, but keeping them all on the shelves can affect the attractiveness of our home. Especially, if you have a small place like mine. We need to have a rigid and strict items placement policy. Once again, you can put together a nice little box with those meaningful items and come back to it once in a while. If that’s not feasible, we can at least put all those figurines, gifts, and souvenirs together on one shelf, and keep the rest of the space coherent.
Details
Buy nice expensive looking details like cute pillows, candles, vases, fruit baskets, gem stones. I believe one way to ensure the expensive looking aspect is going for solid colors. Using more uniform colors can make the place look really stylish. Pick a color scheme with just three colors. I used to live in a beautiful studio with just red, white, and wood. This can make the interior feel more expensive. I also love bed decorations, like hanging transparent fabrics above and around it, especially if combined with those rope lights. Those glass-like stickers for the wall really make the space appear bigger and, again, more stylish.
Greens
It just so happens, I am one of those who struggle to maintain plants alive. So I have to go for artificial ones. I found this ivy branches that you can hang anywhere. They are just a couple dollars, look pretty realistic and are also great to cover some areas you don’t like. Like imperfections on the walls or what not. As I cannot paint my walls but they are not perfect, I have stick some 3D butterflies to the wall with most defects. This is super girly though.
I hope these tips are helpful. I have been saving money on decorations like this for a while, until I realized that loving your home is one of most important things for your well being. Many of us spend so much time at home and work from home. Let’s create a space that we feel happy in at all times. Let your home be your safe, calming and grounding space.
More from Anna: Five Things You Should Never Say To Keep Changing Your Life For The Better
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