10 Things You Can Do To Make Your New House A Home

Posted Sunday, February 28th, 2021 | 1,663 views

Open concept kitchen After you move into your new house, you’ll want to do a few things to spice it up and to make your new house a home. One of the most exciting moments in life is settling into a new home, but it will take some time to make it truly comfortable.

Every room is an empty canvas waiting to be transformed with your own unique style. However, since your new house is virtually empty, it’s a good idea to get some tips on things you can do to make it your own.

Here are ten easy and cost-effective ways to add some flair to your new house.

1 – Hang Up Paintings

Hanging up paintings is a truly quick and easy way to make living in your new home more enjoyable. Family photos are a mainstay of any household, but they shouldn’t be the only images on your walls. Paintings however, add a splash of colour, give any wall character and act as great conversation starters when you have guests over.

Whether there are a few abstracts, some realism or landscapes, interesting portraits, or any other style you enjoy, paintings will be a great addition to your home’s décor. You can find an endless array of reasonably priced framed artworks in craft stores, from online retailers or at your local IKEA.

You can also order some amazing and reasonably priced custom-made works from local freelance artists.

2 – Buy Plants

House plants Another very common item that will add some personality to a new home are houseplants. Plants not only look nice, but they also improve indoor air quality. They increase humidity and they produce oxygen.

If you are up for some indoor gardening, having several plants around the house to care for can also be very therapeutic. Studies have shown that taking care of houseplants reduces stress levels, improves mood and increases productivity.

If you’re not the greatest at raising indoor plants, read this article on how to develop and green thumb to get started.

Here are some colourful, unique and beautiful houseplants that don’t require much attention.

Bamboo
Anthuriums
Peace lilies
Bromeliads
Air plants
Aloe
Spider plants
Succulents
Cacti
Lavender

3 – Add Backlighting to Shelves

LED light strips are incredibly cheap and popular, and they come in many awesome colours. Some LED light strips can even change colour on demand via a remote control.

If you want to instantly brighten up any room and add an appealing burst of colour, place LED light strips in the following areas:

behind your shelves
behind bookshelves
under your kitchen cabinets
along the baseboards
behind bathroom mirrors
behind wall mounted mirror

If you’re creative enough you can think of a few more areas where installing them will look good and not too tacky. LED light strips truly make a room look great but you can’t go overboard with them.

4 – Add Throw Pillows to Furniture

Throw pillow example Any piece of furniture can be made more colourful and comfortable-looking with the addition of a couple of throw pillows. Decorative pillows come in a massive combination of colours, patterns, fabrics and styles.

You can even have pillows custom printed with family photos, or you can easily make your own with some fabric from your local craft store. You can make your own with some stuffing and a very basic stitching job that anyone can learn to do quite easily.

5 – Paint a Mural or Pattern on Your Wall

Having a framed painting on your wall is great, but turning your wall into a painting is amazing too. Custom murals add a surge of life to any room, and they’re certain to make any wall incredibly unique. No room in any other house will ever look exactly like the one you customize with a handmade mural.

Many people choose to put murals in bedrooms—especially in the bedrooms of children and in nurseries—but you can make a mural work in any room of the house. You and your family can make a mural together as a group project, or you can hire an artist to design a professional piece for you.

If murals are not your style, try painting an abstract pattern on the wall using stencils or guides. Patterns may not be as complex as a mural, but they grab the eye, add colour and personality to the room and they’re easy for anyone to paint.

6 – Turn the Basement into a Recreation Room or Theatre

The basement typically gets ignored when it comes to decorating. It’s very common for people to use the basement purely for storage or free space, but there are many possibilities to make this room lively and fun.

Basements, regardless whether they’re finished or unfinished, are great areas for recreation-rooms or home theatres. They’re well-insulated, quiet and dark, which makes them perfect areas for playing games, reading books, watching movies or hanging out with friends.

If your basement isn’t finished do not worry. Putting down a few carpets, adding couch and a TV in one area of your basement will give it a more homely feeling when you’re down there.

7 – Place Mirrors in Small Rooms

Mirror on the wall If you want a quick and easy way to make any small room look larger and brighten it up at the same time, look no further than a simple mirror.

Light bounces off of mirrors, which significantly increases the amount of light in the room, and the mirrored effect will make any small room look much larger than it actually is. Mirrors also come in many shapes, designs and colours, making them great as decorative pieces.

8 – Buy Furniture and Decorative Items from Thrift Stores

It may seem counter-intuitive to put old and used items into a new house, but some secondhand items from thrift stores have a very charming appeal to them.

They’re warm, rustic, classic and stylish. In addition, using certain items from flea markets and thrift stores is a great way to furnish and decorate while saving money. You can even make a family project out of cleaning and fixing up anything you buy.

9 – Use Area Rugs

Area rugs are beautiful decorative additions to any room. They come in thousands of various shapes, colours and patterns to complement the style of any room.

It’s a good idea to get an area rug in a colour that contrasts with the colour scheme of the room its going in, in order to help break it up. Area rugs also provide rooms with noise reduction, make hardwood and tile floors more comfortable and warm to walk on with bare feet. Area rugs are also great at providing protection for the floor.

10 – Use String Lights Across Entire Rooms

When most people think of string lights they think of the holidays, but using string lights as a means of decorative lighting throughout the entire year has become an incredibly popular trend recently.

Normal white lights are great for decoration and illuminate the entire room while coloured lights are great for accent and mood lighting. You can even find string lights that actively change colour or have animated patterns.

String lights are very cheap, easy to hang and make any room pop instantly. You can find them at any local Home Depot, IKEA or Canadian Tire store.