renovation contractors calgary calgary renovation companies home renovation calgary renovation calgary home renovations calgary calgary renovations renovations calgary renovation companies calgary

How to Make Your House A Home: Ideas for Making It Warm & Inviting

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

How to Make Your House A Home: Ideas for Making It Warm & Inviting

Have you ever been in one of those ultra-formal, almost sterile houses and wondered if anyone actually lives in it?

Houses like that are lacking warmth, life, and colour. But just because you love neutrals and wisely chose them for your walls and much of your furnishings, that doesn’t mean your home has to be cold and unwelcoming. If you’re looking for a few ideas on how to turn your house into a home, read on for some tips and tricks!

Hang art and other items that reflects your personality. Choosing a painting is a very personal process, but when you put some on your walls, your home becomes a clearer reflection of you and your family. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune either; buying a print from a museum or gallery and having it professionally framed is an inexpensive way to have a Monet, or a Picasso, or even a Rembrandt on your walls!

Don’t ignore small spaces and passageways. We may only use hallways for walking from room to room, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dress them up and make them an important part of your decor. A well-placed mirror or painting, along with a small chair, brings a hallway alive, and helps encourage flow from one space to another.

Use pops of colour to bring life into neutral zones. Having off white walls and a taupe couch gives you lots of opportunity to add in a bunch of spring colours, or any shade you love. A pale gold sofa with black toss cushions is a luxurious and elegant look. Any hues you love can work in a neutral room, so go for it!

Bring Mother Nature indoors. Adding plants and bouquets of fresh flowers breathes lots of life into rooms, and easy to care for plants are abundant. Check with your local nursery, and opt for plants that suit your home’s natural lighting. Consider getting one large, “statement” tree for the hall or living room – a palm tree, perhaps, or an oversized cactus? These create pleasing focal points in any space.

Make an area just for you. A small reading nook, perhaps, or a quiet place to sit quietly and reflect – it doesn’t even need an express purpose. But having a spot to withdraw to, when you want to rest and think, makes your house a true reflection of who you are. Install a comfy chair, a bookcase, and an ottoman and you’re all set.

Keep your house tidy and clean. Nothing says home more than when it looks neat and clean, so get to this chore right away if you skipped it last spring. Order instead of chaos and mess; clean sheets instead of an unmade bed; a freshly raked lawn and pruned bushes – all of these things tell others that you care about the space you live in. And that is how we define “home” — not by what we own, but by how we tend to it.

Renovate your favorite room. If you spend all your time in the kitchen, get some new flooring and cupboards. If your family loves gathering in the basement, have a bathroom built on the lower floor and invest in new furnishings. Invest in changes that make you love this room even more, and helps your house look and feel like it’s yours, and yours alone. You’ll be happy welcoming guests into a space they – and you — find inviting and comfortable.

Making a house into a home is about personal choices, bringing life to this space in the colours, art, furnishings and other items that speak to who you are, as an individual but also as a family. Your home should tell a story, capture a narrative of your family’s experiences and joys. Good taste matters, of course, but what is truly important is finding things that reflect your family’s life, and represent who you are as people.

Have you ever been in one of those ultra-formal, almost sterile houses and wondered if anyone actually lives in it?

Houses like that are lacking warmth, life, and colour. But just because you love neutrals and wisely chose them for your walls and much of your furnishings, that doesn’t mean your home has to be cold and unwelcoming. If you’re looking for a few ideas on how to turn your house into a home, read on for some tips and tricks!

Hang art and other items that reflects your personality. Choosing a painting is a very personal process, but when you put some on your walls, your home becomes a clearer reflection of you and your family. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune either; buying a print from a museum or gallery and having it professionally framed is an inexpensive way to have a Monet, or a Picasso, or even a Rembrandt on your walls!

Don’t ignore small spaces and passageways. We may only use hallways for walking from room to room, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dress them up and make them an important part of your decor. A well-placed mirror or painting, along with a small chair, brings a hallway alive, and helps encourage flow from one space to another.

Use pops of colour to bring life into neutral zones. Having off white walls and a taupe couch gives you lots of opportunity to add in a bunch of spring colours, or any shade you love. A pale gold sofa with black toss cushions is a luxurious and elegant look. Any hues you love can work in a neutral room, so go for it!

Bring Mother Nature indoors. Adding plants and bouquets of fresh flowers breathes lots of life into rooms, and easy to care for plants are abundant. Check with your local nursery, and opt for plants that suit your home’s natural lighting. Consider getting one large, “statement” tree for the hall or living room – a palm tree, perhaps, or an oversized cactus? These create pleasing focal points in any space.

Make an area just for you. A small reading nook, perhaps, or a quiet place to sit quietly and reflect – it doesn’t even need an express purpose. But having a spot to withdraw to, when you want to rest and think, makes your house a true reflection of who you are. Install a comfy chair, a bookcase, and an ottoman and you’re all set.

Keep your house tidy and clean. Nothing says home more than when it looks neat and clean, so get to this chore right away if you skipped it last spring. Order instead of chaos and mess; clean sheets instead of an unmade bed; a freshly raked lawn and pruned bushes – all of these things tell others that you care about the space you live in. And that is how we define “home” — not by what we own, but by how we tend to it.

Renovate your favorite room. If you spend all your time in the kitchen, get some new flooring and cupboards. If your family loves gathering in the basement, have a bathroom built on the lower floor and invest in new furnishings. Invest in changes that make you love this room even more, and helps your house look and feel like it’s yours, and yours alone. You’ll be happy welcoming guests into a space they – and you — find inviting and comfortable.

Making a house into a home is about personal choices, bringing life to this space in the colours, art, furnishings and other items that speak to who you are, as an individual but also as a family. Your home should tell a story, capture a narrative of your family’s experiences and joys. Good taste matters, of course, but what is truly important is finding things that reflect your family’s life, and represent who you are as people.

More to explore