Whether it is just a little bit of minor redecorating, or a full-blown home makeover, every now and then it is a good idea to refresh our surroundings. If we don’t change anything around us for too long, our surroundings can become stale and uninteresting. We don’t often think of our home design choices as having a significant impact on our lives, and yet they do.
The attitude that we have to our immediate surroundings at home has quite a considerable impact on our overall mood and well being. This isn’t so surprising when you think about it. If you get home from work every night and your first thought is how much you dislike your surroundings, this will create a constant, albeit small, source of negativity. Over time, this kind of unhappiness can build up and develop into a general dislike of your surroundings.
Fortunately, home design doesn’t need to be difficult, or expensive. There is a multitude of things that any of us can do in any room in our home in order to refresh its appearance and change the way that we feel about it. The living room is no exception to this rule. The following are some of the simplest yet most effective things you can do to spice up the appearance of your living room.
Cooling Colours
As we make our way into the summer months, now is the perfect time to start thinking about what we can do to make it more comfortable. With each successive year breaking the heat and temperature records of the last, British households are increasingly looking for new and innovative ways of staying cool. Investing in a new air conditioning system is expensive, and in many cases impractical.
The colours that are all around us can have a big impact on how we perceive the spaces we are in. You might be surprised how much difference switching to a cooler colour scheme can make to the way that you perceive temperature. Do away with your reds, browns, and oranges. Instead embrace the cool and calming effects of blue and white.
Vintage and Retro Furniture
Both retro and vintage looks have gained popularity in recent years, but many people believe that these are the same thing! There are in fact some subtle but important differences between vintage and retro styles. The terms are often used interchangeably, and for the most part it doesn’t make much difference which you use. Whereas vintage refers to something old, but not too old, retro instead refers to styles which are, by definition, outdated.
Get a touch of vintage look into your living room and you can instantly transform the way that the space feels. With the right combination of vintage furniture, you can make stepping into your living room like stepping into a home design magazine from yesteryear.
Creating Space
As with the colour scheme we mentioned earlier, there are a number of tricks and techniques you can use in order to make the space around you feel bigger than it is. In order to achieve this, embrace minimalist design principles. Minimalism uses empty space and the lack of colour and patterns to emphasise what is there. Consider a black dot in the centre of a white canvas. That dot will stand out much more against a pure white backdrop, compared to a multi-coloured background.
By making use of minimalism in your choice of colour scheme and wallpaper, as well as your choice of furniture, you can make your living room feel considerably bigger than it is.
Sometimes the most effective home design tricks are the simplest. If you play it smart, you can radically alter the look and feel of your home without breaking the bank.