2022 interior Refresh guide
If the last couple of years have taught us anything, it’s that our surroundings play a major role in our mental wellbeing and behaviour. We are spending more and more time in our homes, and the ushering in of the New Year is a great opportunity to refresh, get organised, and to put ourselves in the best position to face the year ahead. However, following Christmas, the last thing anyone wants to do is fork out a fortune to completely redecorate, so we’ve put together this guide which we hope can inspire you to refresh your home on a budget!
1. De-clutter
January and February’s equivalent to spring cleaning, is surely ‘decluttering’. In all aspects of life, decluttering seems important and your home is a great place to focus your efforts to ensure you go into the New Year feeling calm and in control. To avoid making this task too daunting, try to break it down into manageable chunks. First settle on a room and then narrow it down to a particular area within it e.g. those overflowing cupboards, or the ‘junk drawer’. A good idea is to set yourself a realistic time limit, whether it’s an hour a day, or an efficient ten minutes – hide away all distractions and get it done!
2. Re-arrange your furniture layout
Re-arranging your furniture layout is an easy and completely free way of revamping a room and giving it a completely different feel. Consider the flow and how the room will be used to ensure the layout is practical, as well as looking good. Identifying the room’s focal point (e.g. a fireplace, large window, the TV) can be a helpful tool as you can use this as a starting point to build your layout around. Inversely, there may be an area of the room you want to distract from, which you might be able to achieve with a clever furniture arrangement. Another helpful tip is to draw a plan of the room and play around with possible furniture arrangements before you start moving things around, to check everything fits… and potentially save your back!
If this is something you are struggling with, get in touch and we can help!
3. Re-vamp existing items
We’ve all heard the saying ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and by reviving pieces you already own, it won’t just be the environment thanking you, but your bank balance too! You’d be surprised how a lick of paint or some new handles can refresh a piece of tired furniture into something you’d happily pay fortune for. We are big fans of reupholstering pieces too and there are so many lovely fabrics out there to choose from, just ensure you pay attention to their durability! If there is a furniture item you are missing, there is also something extremely rewarding about finding a second-hand gem on places like Freecycle or Facebook marketplace, and showing it some love.
4. Re-styling with accessories
Re-styling and accessorising with small touches here and there is an inexpensive, fun way to change up and refresh a room. It also gives you an opportunity to show off any new interior trinkets you may have received for Christmas! Try re-styling your coffee table, shelves, kitchen surfaces, fire places, dressers, or console tables. Our advice would be sometimes less is more to prevent your arrangement looking too cluttered and chaotic. We’d also recommend playing around with different heights, textures, shapes, colours and patterns to achieve an exciting yet balanced display. Although styling often appears effortless in magazines and on Pinterest, the process tends to be far from it, so take the time to really play around with different items until you achieve the perfect look.
Some of our favourite items to style with here at Floella Interiors includes: fun candles/candle sticks, coffee table books, vases, candles, reed diffusers, wooden chopping boards, framed art, mirrors, baskets, and any other visually interesting items you may own.
5. Add greenery
Is there now a noticeably bare space where your Christmas tree once was? How about filling it with a house plant? House plants help to increase feelings of relaxation and calmness, which I think we can all agree, are top of our wish-lists for 2022! They also really help to breath new life into a room. Another option is a vase of greenery/flowers which has the same effect and can be switched up weekly to keep things fresh and colourful. Alternatively, good quality faux plants/flowers or dried flowers can be a low effort, long lasting investment.
6. Update your textiles
Our final tip is to update your textiles. Cushions are one of those little touches that help to make your home cosy and comfortable but also allow you to introduce different colours, textures and patterns into a room. Also think of your bed, it’s the focal point of the bedroom and a big expanse of fabric – so, switching up the covers can completely transform the space! Although on the pricier side, updating your curtains in a fabric of your choice is another great way to refresh a room. Curtains and blinds tend to be large features which all too often are overlooked, but the impact they have on the feel of the space is massive, so they are well worth your time and consideration.
If you are wanting to refresh your home for the New Year but feel as though you’d like some assistance, please get in touch and we would love to help!