When the days are short, the weather is cold, and you’re craving sunshine, it’s hard not to get tired of staying indoors. The Winter blahs, we call it. And after the holiday decorations come down, those blahs can spiral into a lack of love for your home. But it’s Valentine’s Day! What better time is there to fall in love with your home all over again! We’ve compiled a list of 14 ways to reignite that romantic spark for your house.
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Bring the Outdoors In.
Let nature relax, renew, and rejuvenate your mood. Obviously, bringing plants inside your home is the easiest way to create that natural tranquility. Potted plants, flowers cut from the garden, or even grabbing a bouquet from the grocery on the way home and putting the flowers in a vase, can all do wonders to brighten a space. You can also add other elements like sticks, rocks, wood, or, shells and coral. Hint: If you don’t have a green thumb, succulents are extremely easy to care for.
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Fresh Scents.
Does it feel or smell stuffy when you walk into a room? Turn on a fan and burn a candle. Pick up a new fresh scent from almost any store you frequent on a weekly basis. The grocery, the pharmacy, Walmart- they’ve all got candles that are inexpensive. Or if you feel like splurging, visit your nearest Yankee Candle or, better yet, pick up a WoodWick candle from Cracker Barrel. You get the benefit of the fragrance
and the sound of a crackling fire.
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Rearrange.
On a large or small scale, rearranging can be cathartic. You can rearrange the living room, feng shui your bedroom, or rearrange the appliances on the kitchen counter.
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Declutter and Organize.
In the era of the Internet, looking at beautiful home photos on Houzz and Pinterest can make you start to resent your cluttered space. If you feel that your current house will never live up to your standard of “dream home”- Step 1: Put down the Houzz and Pinterest apps. Step 2: Tackle something small like organizing your junk drawer, purging clothes from the attic that never get worn, or reorganizing your linen closet. Small decluttering projects can have a very freeing effect and may even motivate you to tackle larger house projects. (Or at least make you feel less bad about going immediately back to surfing Pinterest).
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Change Up the Couch Pillows.
Again, this doesn’t have to be an expensive fix, and could even double as a craft project. There are very simple tutorials on the Internet for how to make your own pillow covers with a fabric of your choice.
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Paint
Be it furniture or the walls, changing up the visuals in your home can really open your eyes to the beauty that is your place of residence.
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Add Art.
A space becomes a home when you hang stuff on the walls. And what you hang should be a reflection of yourself. If you don’t have any art, frame up your child’s most recent crayon creation and proudly display it in your office. Have you jumped on the canvas photo print train yet? Get those canvases up on the wall!
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New Lighting.
Gone are the days of flushmount and fluorescent lights getting us really jazzed about a space – wait, did that time ever actually exist? Although, switching out your light fixtures can be a more labor-intensive project, it will do a lot for a room. There are so many sources for finding new light fixtures, from your local lighting gallery, to online sites, to your basic Lowes or Home Depot. You don’t have to pay hundreds for a simple new light fixture to make a big impact.
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Refresh Your Bathroom.
This is one of the easiest ways to find renewed love for the spaces in your home. We start our day in the bathroom, we end our day in the bathroom, and spend some time in there throughout the day. Buy fancy-looking bottles of soap and lotion, add a vintage bottle with fake (or real) flowers, and replace your old bath towels with big fluffy white ones. Your bathroom should be both a bright and tranquil start and end to your busy day.
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Curb Appeal Facelift.
How does the outside of your home look? Does it need a facelift? Options abound here; Paint your front door a bright color; add a fancy door knocker or modern house numbers; place potted flowers around the mailbox or on the steps leading up to your front door; dawn a seasonal front door wreath or maybe add some hanging plants from the front porch. All of these little touches have the potential to make you come home and say “My love my house, it’s so cute!”.
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Eat Meals at Home.
Eating meals at home, even if they’re takeout can make your home feel more like a place that you want to be. The Fix Blog has all sorts of good stats about the benefit of cooking meals at home. “In fact, communal meals can make us feel happier even outside of meal times. (Source) That’s partly because social connections reinforced over meals can help us cultivate a sense of belonging and even reduce symptoms of depression.”
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Invite People Over.
Family or friends are coming over – time to clean like a madperson. But not only that, seeing your home from the perspective of others can give you a renewed sense of appreciation for spaces in your home you might have been taking for granted.
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Get some good rest.
Switch out your bedding and declutter your nightstand. It’s undeniable the positive impact a new quilt or fresh set of sheets can have on your relationship with your bed. A clean bedroom that we feel good about allows us to rest better, and therefore feel better!
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Slow Down.
Often, our lives get so busy that our homes sometimes become a place to store our things, rather than a place to enjoy spending time. Make time throughout your week to just “be” in your home in a calm space. A calm space can be anywhere that’s tidy, with serene color palettes and natural light. Try drinking your coffee on the couch, rather than multitasking in the morning. When the sun is finally shining again, spend some time on the porch and appreciate the warm breeze as the sun goes down. When you can let go of the little things in your home that drive you crazy and focus on the rare peaceful moments in a calm space, you can begin to appreciate your house a little more day by day.
First Choice Home Builders is a local homebuilder in the Columbia County, Fort Gordon, and Greater Augusta, GA area specializing in high-quality homes with high-end finishes. First Choice builds custom, semi-custom, and build-on-your-lot homes. Currently, the company is building homes in the Riverwood Plantation, Stallings Ridge, Whispering Pines, and Rhodes Farm Master Planned Communities. To see the list of current inventory, click here. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Houzz to see current projects.
