If you’re a homeowner or renter who’d like to make some changes to your house without having to suffer through the cost, stress, and mess of renovations, finding a way to modify your space without physically altering it can feel like an impossible dream. As it turns out, this dream is totally possible with a little know-how. Here are five tips that will transform any room in your house that don’t require the use of a hammer.
1. Paint — Using a Drastic Color
The vast majority of homeowners and renters stick to pretty conservative colors when they initially paint their living spaces. If you find yourself in that camp, a drastic paint job will make you feel as though you’ve stepped into another home entirely. If you can’t afford an interior designer or color psychologist, follow these rules of thumb for selecting paint:
- A dark color on your ceiling will make it seem lower, so if you have low ceilings, make sure they’re bright white.
- Warm colors — reds, oranges, and browns — work well on living room and dining room walls, because they stimulate conversation.
- Stick to cool, calm colors — blues, purples, and grays — in bedrooms and other areas where relaxation is paramount.
2. Get a Bold Area Rug
Whether your living space’s floors are hardwood, carpet, concrete, linoleum, or a combination of sub-floor and tile, you can make any space feel new with a bold, patterned area rug. Not only will it control sound and hide worn, torn, or stained spots in carpet, but a new rug will add color and dimension to a room you thought you knew well, transforming it into something different, which is a very good thing when you’re tired of your living space.
3. Transform a Non-Working Fireplace Into Something Else
If you live in an older home or building, chances are good that you have a non-working fireplace in a living area. While it would be great if your landlord (or you, if you own your home) would pay the money to have it serviced so you could actually have a charming, roaring fire on a chilly evening, maintaining an aging chimney is no small feat. Instead of just letting the space sit empty, consider doing any of the following to transform that focal point of your living space:
- Add a graphic screen or piece of art to the front of the space.
- Make it into a small bookshelf.
- Put in shelves, and place photos and knickknacks on them.
- Fill the opening with candles.
- Use it to store your liquor and wines.
4. Add Decorative Mirrors
Do you wish your space were larger? One easy way to create the feeling of more space is to line one wall in a room that feels too small with decorative mirrors. It’s the same tricks gyms and restaurants use to enhance the feeling of depth, and it really will make your too-small sitting room or bathroom feel bigger. To find less expensive mirrors with character, hit local flea markets, peddler’s malls, and estate sales.
5. Say it With Plants
If you are still without any flora to speak of, adding a few plants to your living space will definitely transform it in look and feel. Especially if you have a large, south-facing window, you can pick up a wide variety of plants that will change how you experience your home.
Grow tomatoes in spring and summer. Care for finicky orchids. From luscious ferns to various species of ficus that filter the air you’re breathing, plants aren’t just eye-candy in a living space. Their photosynthesizing properties bring fresh oxygen into your home, and if you grow herbs or vegetables, you can also eat the plants you’re tending. Even if all you do is get a little bonsai tree to tend, a plant will make your living space seem more homey and less sterile.
Transforming the place you live can take one of two routes: you can hire a general contractor and go for broke or you can make subtle adjustments room by room and enjoy the small shifts that result in a real difference. For the apartment dweller and the renovation-averse homeowner, the latter option has the most appeal, and by following these five tips, you really can experience your living space anew.
I love plants.