Nothing says ‘home’ like the small but personal touches you put into decorating each room of your house or apartment. Do not underestimate the power of a well-placed vase of flowers, the right lighting, and/or textured fabrics to draw people into your home and leave them with a positive lasting impression.
Here are just a few simple ways to add a splash of panache to your home:
FLOWERS
The easiest way to decorate a room is by adding flowers. Real flowers are usually favoured over silk, but if you can’t bring yourself to maintain fresh flowers in your house, or you have a cat that likes to eat them faster than you can stock them, silk may be the way to go.
Consider the style of the room and choose appropriate flowers (breeds such as lilies and orchids for contemporary styles, petal flowers such as roses and peonies for a more traditional look).
Flowers can also help ‘tone down’ a busy wall full of pictures and/or various textures (stone, wood, brick and so on).
Finally, you can choose large bouquets as a focal point in an empty space. Smaller bouquets look charming on tables/shelves/bookcases.
DECORATIVE VASES
Vases can be used in conjunction with flowers to decorate a space, or they can be used as the focal point themselves. Ways to use vases include:
- What they were meant for – holding flowers.
- Decorative vases are fine to use on their own. Let their individual beauty do the talking.
- Clear vases can be used to display sand, coloured stones, marbles, etc.
Tall vases are best placed on the floor in corners, or – if the ceilings are high – they can be placed on tables. Small vases can be placed just about anywhere.
If you are grouping vases remember to always group them in odd numbers. If you are grouping them in even numbers, be sure to place the tallest in the middle, or have the middle vase(s) elevated to create a smooth and pleasing visual effect.
PICTURES AND PAINTINGS
Put your family, and your personal style, on display by hanging pictures and paintings on the walls. A common mistake people make is to hang their wall art too high. Pictures and paintings should be hung at eye level.
Walls can be completely covered with carefully selected artwork/photos, or it can be minimal. The choice is yours. The most important thing to remember when hanging things on your walls is to use a level!
LIGHTING
There are many different ways to decorate your home with light:
- Ambient lighting – is meant to provide light to an entire room (chandeliers, ceiling fans).
- Task lighting – focuses light on a specific area and is usually brighter than ambient light (desk lamps).
- Accent lighting – just as it says, is used to draw attention to a particular area or object (often used to display artwork).
- Natural light – windows, doors and skylights.
- Decorative lighting –not used for the purpose of providing light, but for its aesthetic qualities.
Deciding on how best to decorate your home takes serious thought and planning. It does not, however, have to be difficult. Follow your instinct, be true to your personal style, and take a few tips from this article and you will have a home you love.
