How to Give the Interior of Your Home a Quick Refresh

It’s January! Time to hit the REFRESH button! Sure, you may have goals for health, wellness, and finances in 2020, but what about goals centered on the home? Our home is an extension of us and our individuality, so it fits that it catches our attention as we ring in the new year. It may be that this year, you have some bigger projects to take care of like getting a new roof, updating your electrical, tending to a nagging plumbing detail or fixing the pocket door that hasn’t been functional for a year. While not the most fun, tending to these important to-do items by working with reliable, trustworthy companies will surely pay off. You’ll enjoy better functionality of your space, peace of mind, and the personal satisfaction of knowing that you’re ‘taking care of business’ in your home.

On the other hand, your home refresh this year may have more to do with ‘the experience’ of living in your home. Now that the holiday swirl is behind us, it’s natural for us to take notice of our surroundings with new eyes. We begin to scan various rooms and develop the dreaded mental list. Before you feel defeated, use the mental list to your advantage. Take our advice and follow these three no-fail steps to achieving a home refresh without blowing the budget. 1-2-3-GO!

OUT IT

Start at the starting place. Let go of what you no longer use and what you no longer enjoy. Get those items OUT. Set the oven timer for 15 minutes, grab an empty laundry basket and fill it with items you would like to donate, recycle or, in the case of broken things, trash. Do not burden yourself with broken things. If they’ve been broken for months, or years, give yourself permission to say goodbye to the burden and hello to relief. Still feeling like it’s valuable while broken? Someone at the thrift shop might fix it…you can still put it in the ‘to go’ pile.

JOT IT

Download your mental home improvement/refresh list by putting pen to paper. Use an index card. It’s small, tidy, and can easily be in hand as you shop online or visit your local home store. It can also live on the side of the fridge for quick reference. What rooms do you want to focus on to give your home a satisfying refresh?

PICK IT

Paint? Pulls? Purchasing a new Piece? Your environment impacts your living experience, so tending to your home’s interior is actually part of self-care. Rewrite the items on your index card ranking them in the order of their importance to you. The space in your home that bothers you most should top your list! Pick that space as your ‘refresh priority.’

All three refresh actions outlined below (PAINT . PULLS . PIECE) are good options…and affordable, at that! Let’s drill down on each achievable approach to your home’s refresh.

PAINT

Interior designers will tell you that one of the least expensive ways to do an interior update is to use paint. You can change a room’s color or create a statement wall by painting one wall of a room a different color from the others. You can opt for black interior doors or even a moulding color outside of the white/off-white zone. A design favorite is painting the master bedroom ceiling a soft grey/blue to invite a sense of calm. Do it yourself or hire it out. Either way, this refresh action is budget-friendly. How about that tired table or dresser? A coat of paint on an old piece can go a long way towards refreshing any room. You can go neutral for a clean, fresh look. Or pick something that pops, like bright blue or yellow or pink, and purchase some additional accents for the room in that tone (see the PIECE section). The entire room can feel new!

PULLS

Have you looked at your kitchen or bathroom recently and thought, “It needs something?” Often we live with the cabinet pulls, door handles, and bathroom hardware that we inherited from previous home owners. There’s nothing wrong with that, but don’t miss this budget-friendly refresh action that can really overhaul the look of a room! The style choices of hardware are endless and even the finish can steer the look you’re going for. From classic nickel to rose gold to warm copper to matte black, you’ll have fun narrowing your choices to make the statement you have in mind. You can get refresh results from this action in a single day!

PIECE

This refresh action is a winner because it can be as affordable as a new, cozy throw blanket, a blue and white ginger jar lamp for that just-so touch of chinoiserie, or a framed black and white close-up of your infant’s award-winning eyelashes. Have you been wanting a show-stopping light fixture — an attractive, practical option to anchor your living room and capture that look that a statement light fixture can almost single-handedly achieve? What about comfortable chairs for your conversation space or an accent table which offers both form and function? How about a pillow refresh? You’ve heard it before, but have you tried it? Pairing whimsical pillows with rich solids within a room’s color palette can instantly achieve a clean, updated look that pops.

Consider which refresh idea would achieve the results you’re going for. True, it’s about looks, but it’s also about how you feel in your own space. Think about your living experience. If you love your surroundings, you’ll want to be there and you’ll be inspired to thrive there. You can’t do it all at once, but you can choose one refresh action to welcome into your home for 2020. See that, you really can ring in the new year with a budget-friendly home refresh that’s as easy as 1-2-3!