Breathe New Life Into Your Home with Simple Updates

This month JAM Organizing presents another informative post from a guest blogger. Enjoy!

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​No matter how much you love your home, everyone has those moments when they realize that their abode could do with a little sprucing up. However, you don’t have to break out the sledgehammer for big renovations to breathe new life into your home — even simple updates can do the trick when you want something new. Try one or more of the following decor tips before you call your contractor for a big, pricey project.

Paint and Wallpaper

Changing your walls is one of the simplest ways to change the feel of an entire room. Before you head to the hardware store and pick up swatches, though, it’s important to realize the impact color can have on your mood and behavior. You don’t want to choose the wrong colors for the environment. For instance, if you’re re-doing your bedroom, avoid bright and energizing colors and instead look for cool colors that produce a calming, relaxing vibe to the room, such as soft pinks, light blues, and greens.​

A lot of people feel that wallpaper is a relic best left for grandma’s house. However, there are a lot of modern decor companies that produce exciting and contemporary patterns. Some manufacturers even produce self-adhesive peel-and-stick versions that look great and are easy to remove when the time comes. Check out these designs on Elle Decor for inspiration.

​Home Textiles

Your home's linens, towels, curtains, and drapes have a big impact on a room’s overall feel and ambiance. Changing them up is probably the easiest way to update your home’s decor. To find the best bedding, pay attention to thread count. The higher the thread count, the softer and more durable a set will be. Your most basic sheets are somewhere in the 200 range, but premium sheets will have a thread count greater than 500. You can tell when sheets are high quality if you hold them up to a light and nothing shines through. You can also scratch the sheet with your fingernail and if any pill comes off, you know it’s of lesser quality.

When shopping for new bath towels, you can check the difference in fiber content and production highlights. However, in the end, the best towels for you are the ones that feel comfortable against your skin. Once you’ve found the best ones, make them last longer by washing them with a gentle detergent in hot water and avoiding fabric softener.​

Finally, if you want to replace curtains, don’t be afraid to DIY it. Sewing your own curtains is surprisingly easy, and you can save hundreds of dollars while creating something unique.

Lighting

Nothing brings new life into your home quite like more light. Not only will it help your home look great, but updating lighting fixtures can also help you save a little money on your power bills. Current lighting trends show more contemporary designs. However, when it comes to your home, go with what you love. Have you always dreamed of living in an enchanted castle á la “Beauty and the Beast”? An antique-inspired chandelier can add some of that Old World charm to your modern home. Or, perhaps you’re a sucker for mid-century design — a sleek and minimal floor lamp is easy to install and instantly adds interest to any room. Whatever kind of fixtures you like, use environmentally friendly LED lightbulbs to cut down on their energy usage while minimizing the need to change bulbs over the years.

If you have an itch to change up your home environment, start with small changes before you decide to go for the big time renovations. A fresh coat of paint or a wallpaper accent wall can change the entire look and feel of a room. Updating your home’s bedding, towels, and curtains have the same effect, but it’s a little less messy. Finally, try adding some light to see if that’s what was missing. Just be sure to outfit whatever fixtures you buy with LED bulbs that use less electricity and don’t have to be changed as often.

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Thanks to Suzie Wilson of Happier Home for this month's post!

​Happy Organizing!

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