Fall is on the way. Winter is coming. The days grow shorter, and the nights grow darker. Summer is almost over and the long balmy days and evenings enjoying the night air outside are behind us. Now is the time for hot chocolate, cradled in your hands and relaxing on the sofa, in your warm and mellow room, while the rain pelts down around your home, the sound almost meditative.
Start from the ground up
So your home must be equipped with the necessary comforts and furniture to make it feel like home, designed and decorated according to your taste and fancy.
Covering the floor with the appropriate designer rugs is the best course starting from the ground up. Adding nice and comfy rugs, your house may become a more inviting place to spend quality time with your family.
Your taste matters
Everyone has different tastes, such as the style of carpets that are soft and deep, and it almost feels like wading through a cotton field when walking on them, which gives off the perfect cosy feel for cold winters. Or perhaps something more convenient and easier to clean and maintain, such as a simple tiger skin rug. Your imagination is the limit.
Moving up
The colour of your paint and the like is completely optional, but one important part people often forget it is the windows. Plain, white, unframed windows bring a distinct disparity to interior design, defeating the purpose of trying to look homely and comfy.
Curtains and drapes are incredibly important to the room you’re decorating. They can completely transform the look and feel of the entire space, from a prison cell, plain and bare, to the luxurious look of a Victorian monarch. If you’re going for a more baroque feel, consider something dark in colour and heavy, maybe red curtains that frame the windows and let the light in, or maybe something lighter and cheerful, with lighter colours and maybe some playful patterns stitched into the material. Whatever tickles your fancy, this is your canvas. You paint it however you like.
Don’t forget the walls
For the walls, try to steer clear of the pasty white. That’s common and a bit boring, so go for paints that are a little more creative, maybe a warm colour, with a few patterns just to break up the flow. If you’re very ambitious, maybe even try using a different colour scheme for every room, spicing them up to your tastes and giving each its own distinct identity, especially valuable if you have children.
Furniture for you
The furniture adorning your rooms is incredibly important, not only for your comfort but also for the atmosphere and feel of the room. A room with one small, grey, squat sofa will make the room feel empty and cold, not exactly the room you want to return to after a long day’s work. Aim for furniture that complements the walls and curtains, has a similar colour scheme, and is made of whatever material you decide. Maybe something soft and velvety, perfect for a relaxing evening, or perhaps something a little more streamlined, long and broad, for the whole family.
Lighting your spaces
Lighting is key and the cherry on top of the cake. It doesn’t matter if the cake is perfectly baked; if the icing is terrible or doesn’t fit, the whole cake will be thrown out the window by the birds. Lighting gives the room a hostile, almost alien vibe or a gentle, pulsing, heartbeat vibe. Now with winter and darker days on the horizon, most people think the brighter, the better, maybe something fluorescent, but the truth is, it ruins the atmosphere and turns it into more of a hospital, with no shadow in sight. Aim for something more gentle, with a darker room illuminated by the fireplace, perhaps, or warm lights that don’t hurt the eyes no matter where you look. The whole room will feel far more homely and welcoming.
It doesn’t have to be if this sounds like a lot of unnecessary hassle, work, and overwhelming. Don’t be intimidated by the mental checklist of things you think you may need to do. You don’t need to do much most of the time. Sometimes it’s as simple as changing a lightbulb or moving a sofa to face the door; simple things can be done in minutes. What matters is what you want and how your home feels. This is the one thing you can not only afford but should be completely self-centred. This is your home. Decorate it accordingly.
