Change is Good: Affordable and Simple Ideas for Your Next Interior Design Makeover
Spring has arrived (at least in Minnesota), which is the perfect time to spruce up your surroundings. While you’re thinking about spring cleaning, you might want to consider some of these easy and inexpensive ideas to give your home a quick makeover from our guest blogger, Joseph Owen
Every now and again we can get a bit bored with our surroundings and decide that it’s time for a quick design makeover to freshen things up and make your room more interesting and inviting.
As well as changing your color scheme, there are some other things you could do, such as using someone like table legs to change the look and feel of some of your furniture.
Adding a dramatic accent wall is a quick way to give a room a totally new look, like the bedroom from KeyLand Homes.
Here are a few affordable and simple ideas to consider when planning your next interior design makeover.
Getting started
One of the first things you need to do before reaching for the paint pot, is to take a look at how your room is laid out at the moment and consider not just the look that you are trying to achieve, but also the feel.
Consider reorganizing your furniture and adjusting the general layout of the room, so that you are happy that you have made the most of the space available and can then see what color scheme or changes need to be made.
Part of your makeover plans should include looking at ways of perhaps gaining more storage or maybe creating a new space that you want in your home.
If you have an unused corner, you might even consider setting up a bar/mini-kitchen (with or without water), like a family room space by Ron Clark Construction.
Replacing shelving with some pullout drawers or a concealed cabinet, for example, could provide you with some extra space and give the room a cleaner look.
Make the most of lighting
Introducing new lighting options into your home can make a big difference, and you might have a couple of options open to you, depending on the design of your property.
Introducing as much natural light into your property as possible can totally transform the feel of a room, so look at whether you might be able to install a skylight, or if you can’t make more natural light available by changing your window coverings. Swapping out lamps and lighting fixtures can make a huge difference, as can other lighting options, such as dimmer switches.
Depending on your location and the room, you may want to skip the drapes altogether, like this delightful office from Creative Homes.
Interior design tips
If employing a professional interior designer is cost-prohibitive, try to adopt the mindset of an interior designer and plan your own changes.
It is not as hard as it sounds, and two aspects to concentrate on are finding the focal point and balancing the elements.
The first professional tip of finding the focal point in your room, involves identifying the most interesting feature in your room, such as a period fireplace or a wall of windows. Then work on accentuating this feature in your design plans.
What balancing the elements means, is finding a suitable spot for an item like your sofa or maybe a decorative lamp, and then looking to add a similar piece on the opposite side of the room, to balance it out.
A beautiful living room from Accent Homes shows both focal point and balance, such as symmetrically balancing furnishings around a focal point fireplace.
A design makeover often works well in lifting your spirits and enhancing your enjoyment of your personal space, so consider some of these affordable and simple ideas to achieve your aims.
Joseph Owen has a creative eye and has recently enrolled on an interior design course. When not working on a DIY project, flicking through interior design magazines or rummaging at his local flea market he enjoys writing design related articles.