Perk up Your Home

Noorjehan Arif gives tips on low budget makeovers for your home.

The house is a home lived in with love and a sense of belonging. Yet, with time, homes tend to lose their charm to the people living in them. More charm can be invoked and the home can be made to look elegant and well designed with a few changes only. Full-fledged innovations and renovations, exploiting a lot of time, money and effort are not required. Here is what you can do with minimum budget, time and effort.

1.      Flowers are the best way to improve on the freshness and appeal of any room. A glass vase filled with flowers can add to charm. Large vases with drooping and twisted flower arrangements look better in larger parts of the house like the living room or the guest room, making them the focal point of that room. While small arrangements blend well with smaller parts of the house like bedrooms.

2.      Cushions decoratively piled on a bed or sofa can compliment an otherwise drab look. They add a touch of comfort and luxury to a room, especially if they are made of lace, velvet, chenille or luxurious, textured fabrics like silk. Additionally, they can add new dimensions to the room by their different shapes and sizes. Larger sized cushions can be placed beside the bed for an extra seating place, while small cushions can be strewn around on the bed and on chairs.

3.      Simply changing or adding colours can do wonders for any room. Splashes of colours in children's or teen's bedrooms can make them ‘ultra-cool'. Bed sheets and curtains are one certain way to do that. Brightly patterned bed sheets and light coloured curtains will light up the room without too much of a hassle.

4.      For bed sheets, go for bold designs and prints to add colours but make sure the base colour (background) is light or pastel. Light or pastel base colors will help in blending of the particulars with the room's general décor, while the bright patterns will add the much-required colour. A breezy fresh look can be created for the room by sheer curtains as well. In case you are livening up a serious person's room, simple non-patterned curtains and bed sheets, or ones with slight patterns and light base colours work marvelously.

5.      One sure-fire way of ‘doing-up’ a room, or the entire home for that matter, is eliminating clutter. Clutter not only takes up a lot of space, it also makes any room unappealing for living in. So, clear away paper work, trash and old items, and utilize or give away things you don't need. Clearly, your home will feel more restful and peaceful to live in.

6.      Frames are another easy way to add a new look to any room of the home. There are several types of frames, including pictures, collage or glass paintings. You can have a pick from various shapes, sizes, types like glass or canvas paintings and kinds of frames. Several types of wall hangings can be arranged on the wall, including mail sorters, key holders or even simple hangings like those, which have an Ayah or Surah written or painted on them.

7.      If you have some money to spare in your budget, then scour flea markets (Sunday Bazaar) etc., a sure and easy way to find cheap and quality stuff to decorate your home. There are several things to choose from in such flea markets. From table lamps to decorative paper weights and from different types of racks for your kitchen (like spice racks and cutlery racks) to small decorative pieces for the living room - there is a choice for each and every person, while little money is required to splash on such items.

8.      You have thought of it all, your home looks gorgeous and ready to be featured in those beautiful home magazines - think again. You can do one more thing - rearrange the furniture. This one aspect of home décor has such limitless possibilities that you are sure to find one that will make your home a dream home for yourself and your family. You can put sofas diagonally against the wall and create a wide space look, or eliminate a piece of furniture to clear up space. It all depends on you and your creative ideas.

9.      Bookshelves have a very special purpose and that is to provide space for those volumes of books, which otherwise you would have to store in boxes. Put a few articles on the shelves, which hold a special meaning to you, like that mug your friend gave you on last Eid.

By no means should you be restricted by the ideas aforementioned. With your decorating sense, and those of your family's, fresh looks can be created quite easily. In fact, choosing area rugs, Afghans and wall art or putting decorative baskets or even re-painting a wall means nothing, if love and belonging isn't present. A house becomes a home only when each individual lives in it with a sense of love and belonging for the other members.