A New Look

A New Look

If you want to give your home a new look, start by cleaning up clutter. Here's help.

You know that your home can look a lot better if only you decide to pretty it up, but you really don't know where to begin. Your first step should be to clean things up. A messy home can never be a clean home, so if you are serious about doing some home improvement, the first thing you need to do is to clean up the clutter. Start from the stuff that's out there in the open for all to see.

Many of us have excessive furniture that we may have possessed when we lived in a larger home and have brought it with us to a smaller home, or that we have accumulated over the years.

Sell what you don't need

Even an extra chair that you don't need and that just occupies space is clutter, especially if the only reason you have it is that you paid money for it and don't want to throw it away or sell it for peanuts. Consider selling as much furniture as you can bear to part with. If it is something truly spectacular or an antique piece that you absolutely love, keep it. But old, bulky, mediocre furniture must go.

Remodel the rest

If the wood is very good, consider reusing it in some other manner. In India, labour is cheap and wood is expensive, so it would make sense for you to remodel oldfurniture as much as possible to give it a more up to date look. For example, you may have an old bulky table with beautiful legs. Make 2 or 4 small peg tables using the legs, and use the excessive wood elsewhere, perhaps for shelves.

Clean up regularly

Clean up clutter and donate old clothes on a regular basis. Once you feel you have enough to wear, everytime you buy something new, throw away something old. This way your closet will always be in order and well organized. A good tip to remember is when purchasing suitcases, try and buy them in sets, so when you store them, all your suitcases can fit into each other.

Organise curios

Do you have a lot of little curios scattered all around the house making it seem messy? Create a shelf especially for these curios, place a light over it, and they will instantly stand out and look better. If every little item that you have doesn't look appropriate in its place, it will only add to the mess.

Don't try to fill up every space

Always remember that what you don't put in a room is just as important as what you put in. Keeping a space empty may look better than placing something there. It is not necessary to have something on every wall and in every space.

Consider minimalism

If your home is small, opt for a minimalistic look. Ornate and heavily carvedfurniture may look too bulky in a small home. Of course if you already have invested in furniture and don't want to change what you have, then opt for simple, non-patterned furnishings.

Change wood colour

A great thing to do would be to paint dark wood white or to white wash it. It will give your home an entire new look, and will make every room seem larger and brighter.