10 Things You Can Do Right Now to Spruce Up Your Decor

feature photo by Sarah Natsumi

Change Out Your Light bulbs

We already know what the right lighting does for a selfie so it makes sense that good lighting can do the same thing for a room too. If you have high lumen and/or cool colored bulbs in your living and bedroom areas, swap them out for softer, warmer bulbs (something that is 3000K or lower.) Warm light is naturally more inviting and, because the light isn’t as harsh or revealing, it tends to make a space feel more put together.

Rearrange

Rearranging a room is an easy way to breath fresh life into a space. In a living space, for example, try pulling furniture away from the walls and re-orienting your focal point. Open up traffic flow by moving bigger furniture (like a sofa) away from doorways and walkways and switching in your smaller furniture (like accent chairs) instead.

Switch Your Art

You don’t need new art to freshen up a space. Try switching things up by moving existing pieces to different areas of the house. Look for spaces with like-colors or for walls that better frame out your piece. If you usually hang a piece, try leaning it against your backsplash in the kitchen or layering it in with other photos on a console table.

Add Fragrance

Scent has the ability to impact how we feel in a space. Light some candles, freshen up a diffuser or add some essential oils to your cleaning solutions.

Take Something Away

If we’ve lived in a space for a while, we tend to accumulate things without even realizing it. Reclaim your space by taking away one or two items that you either no longer notice or no longer use. You may need to rearrange a bit to balance out the “emptiness” but this often feels just as good as it does when we add something new to a space.

Use Your Books

Books make great decor tools. Remove their jackets or flip them around to for a more neutral look. Use a stack of books to corral small decor items like a candle and matches or to prop up a piece that is otherwise too short like a small lamp or vase.

Corral Items with Trays

Trays help reduce visual clutter by unifying individual items. Use them to corral coffee table decor or in the kitchen to round up miscellaneous spices and tools. No extra trays lying around? Many other items will accomplish the same task: a cutting board, the lid of a basket, a large coffee-table book, even a picture frame!

Fresh Greens From The Yard

Greenery doesn’t have to be expensive to breathe a little life into a space. Small clippings from the yard will do. Greenery (vs. florals and blooms) tend to last for a very long time if you’re diligent about refreshing their water.

Move Your Rugs

Rugs make such a big visual impact in a space that you can easily change the look of a room by switching out the rug. I had a client that had three beautiful Turkish rugs in various sizes but each was placed in a space that was too big for the rug, dwarfing their impact. We moved them each to smaller spots in the house and they immediately stood out more and made each space feel more “decorated.”

Consolidate

Things tend to look more purposeful when there is more than one of them in a space. If you have two or three pieces of art with similar accent colors, try grouping them together in a gallery. Maybe you have an assortment of vases that you can arrange together as a single display or a collection of cutting boards you can stack up in the kitchen.

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