How To Make Your Place Feel Like “Home Sweet Home”
“Home” in on the personal details besides the furniture
Whether you’ve just signed on the dotted line for your first house or apartment, it represents one of the most significant investments you’ll ever make.
And after waving goodbye to a sizeable chunk of your savings, you’ll certainly want to be comforted — by a place that you can finally call home.
Inside, away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world, it’s now your safe haven.
It’s a space for you and your family, your pets, and your friends to spend quality time together.
With all of the craziness leading up to your final moving box in the door, now behind you, you can breathe a sigh of relief.
You’re ready to make memories in your new home.
But there’s still something that’s missing, perhaps.
You might feel as if your home lacks a sense of you when you walk in.
But you notice the beautiful wainscoting that greets you past the mudroom; the charming front veranda that, ultimately, sold you on the place; and the stunning, unobstructed view of the park from your downtown apartment.
Beyond yet what’s already given, you’ve got a ton of your own to give, too.
And there are plenty of additional features of your own that you can use in your new residence to make its character shine — things that’ll make it a real home to you.
Open the door to these simple, yet thoughtful, ideas to turn your house into a home with your imprint and your personality.
Decorate with Your Feelings and Your Memories
Before you step outside the front door, you have your clothes put together.
However style or form the outfit may take — it’s your way of announcing yourself to the rest of the world.
And it tells others who you are, albeit as your professional or alternative version.
Inside, you can be who you are, completely and unapologetically.
You might have an interesting collection of artworks — two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces.
Or you may have with you your green friends — the potted plants that give you clean air, aesthetic pleasure, and psychological comfort.
But don’t forget about your prized records and books collections — media extensions of your authenticity and personality — because they absolutely make excellent displays, too.
Altogether, these objects have cumulative sentimental value. They make you feel at ease — they make you feel at home.
With the sun disappearing over the horizon — earlier and earlier — the days still, yet, somehow manage to feel long and stressful.
However, your personal items will help to offset some of that stress.
They don’t necessarily have to be special designer crafts, either, which can have a reputation as being expensive, elitist, and superfluous.
Your accessories, on the other hand, bring your space together by furnishing it with meaning, character, and cohesiveness that simply speaks to you.
Give your room in question a whole new lease on life: Make a list of things you’d like to see displayed on a daily basis, and carefully consider their placement.
Think about how well they’ll be received by the room, and how well they’ll interact with each other in the space.
Limit a few per room; curate them to tell a story, if they can work well together.
Besides investment furniture pieces, you’ve got a lot of emotion and meaning invested in your personal belongings.
Have fun making them come alive on different terms — explore them in a whole new light.
Who knows — your prized possession might just adore catching the afternoon sun beside that gorgeous bay window.
But a home would not be complete without pictures of your family and your friends — a series of them from a special trip could look great together on a window sill.
Larger framed photographs work beautifully together in the order of a gallery wall as well.
Art for Your Wall and Your Soul
Art is a beautiful thing that democratizes a space — it’s for everyone.
Importantly, it always has a time and place in space.
And you don’t need to be an art specialist, collector, or academic to feel its raw presence in a space — and the impression that it gives to it and to you.
Spanning those empty walls — plus horizontal surfaces like tables and sideboards— your art will immediately render your house a home.
And there are so many possibilities of different corners, ledges, and spots that will appreciate some added colour, texture, and personality.
A big, bold colourful graphic print, for instance, can give your mudroom some much-needed energy, lending a sense of fun and interest to an otherwise boring chore.
And the same can be said about a powder room — you can place something with a bit of humour there for your guests to remember and to comment on.
To that end, why not include a piece that features typography? Perhaps, it’s something as tongue-in-cheek as “Keep Calm and Carry On” that’ll really resonate with the bathroom task at hand.
Whichever overall theme, colour scheme, or textural contrast you yet go for in your spaces, investigate the ways in which the media itself — photographs, typography, abstracts, collages, and so on — react to the space and the light.
Just remember: Don’t pin up the artwork just yet — sleep on it, walk around it, and ask others about it. But let each piece lean against its respective wall.
And you might even figure out that it works best sitting on the side table, resting beside the bed, or leaning against the wall — no strings attached.
You can have fun playing around with varying levels of formality, too, just by how the painting is positioned or mounted.
And when you’ve got a piece against a wall, you actually have a lot more freedom to play around with it by adding three-dimensional clusters of other items to it, such as books, trinkets, or plants.
Not only will this truly develop a sense of place, importance, and interest, but it will also enhance the artwork itself.
The same can be said about prints that work well together in a group — in particular, as a series of three or as an eclectic collage of many on the same wall.
However, the more you observe each individual artwork, and subsequently, how it fits in the space, the more you’ll learn about its performance and potential.
From four walls to a roof over your head, home is where you make it — and you’re ready to unlock new and beautiful memories in it.
Related: Welcome Home: Here Are Your Keys to Picking Investment Furniture Pieces
