Sometimes small changes can make a large impact. When it comes to renovating and refurbishing your home, taking some time to get tiny details right can be considerably less expensive and stressful than taking on huge redecoration projects. There are lots of incremental changes that you can make to transform the feel of your house – so read on for our favourites and to better understand the positive consequences each can bring.
Display Happy Memories
Investing in a proper gallery hanging system will allow you to display your favourite photos, pictures and paintings on walls and benefit from seeing images that invoke good feelings every day.
Photographs of cherished memories and paintings or pictures that remind you of treasured places, people or events can remind you of wonderful events and moments and give your energy a boost. If your mood really needs a lift, consider the principles of colour psychology in what you hang around your home. Yellow can promote creativity, so can be a great colour scheme for a home office. Green, however, can encourage a feeling of tranquillity and the influence of nature, so can work well as a theme for a bathroom.
Invest in Houseplants for Health
Houseplants have seen a resurgence in popularity over the last few years. This is in part due to so many people having to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Houseplants are a way of bringing a little of the outside indoors. There’s scientific evidence to support the tangible impact of having houseplants and the health benefits they bring are often underrated. Having healthy houseplants throughout the home has been demonstrated to help reduce stress levels, improve interior air quality, sharpen focus and even speed up recovery from illness.
Make it Smell Great
The most beautifully decorated interior can be immediately undermined if it doesn’t smell pleasant. But even messy and haphazard homes can feel cosy and homely if they smell great. Smell psychology indicates that the tight-knit link between smell and memory is often easily manipulated, as the olfactory bulb which processes scent in the brain has direct connections to the parts of the brain that provide memories and emotional reactions.
The use of air fresheners, potpourri, or scented candles to give your home fragrance can have far-reaching emotional responses. Consider a coffee scent to get you up and going in the morning, a fresh linen fragrance to neutralise pet or other odours, and a floral smell to promote a feeling of freshness.
Seasonal Pops of Colour
It can be easy to grow tired of your interior palette. But for most of us, re-decorating to change with the season every few months simply isn’t realistic. Instead, furnish your home with neutral décor and utilise colour pops to mix it up across the year. Soft furnishings such as cushions and throws can be easily changed whenever the mood takes you – think a soft yellow or pastel for spring, vibrant pinks for summer, burnt orange for autumn and rich reds for winter. You can enjoy the feeling of a fresh colour theme whenever you like, without the expense and effort of revamping an entire room at a time.
Inspiration can be found in the smallest of places and great ideas can come from anywhere. Taking the time to make tiny tweaks to your home can have a huge effect on your mood, your perceptions and your emotions. So don’t sweat the big stuff. Start with the little things first.