Figuring out that you want to change up the look of the interior of your house opens up a lot of possibilities. There are so many different angles to take when redecorating, particularly if you own your home. Even better, if you live alone, you have only your own styles to attend to and do not have to worry about whether your significant other likes a particular shade of paint or likes or dislikes the custom blinds you pick out. Here are some of the hottest ways to redecorate your space, compiled from some of the trendiest interior decorators this year.
- Artwork – All the rage, changing up what you have on your walls from personalized photographs to prints and paintings framed in eclectic but matching mats and frames is extremely popular right now. Keep the personalized photographs for sure, but put them in different places than usual such as the bedroom, office, or even the bathroom. Hanging a reprint of a famous piece of artwork as a showcase piece in your living room is one of the hottest trends this year.
- Accent walls – Whether you go about creating an accent wall with paint, faux or real stone, or even using artwork to create one, accent walls have the ability to add depth and warmth to any room of your house. They can also have the opposite effect if you are
trying to make a cozier space, such as by accenting a fireplace or back splash in the kitchen. Accent walls are great ways to try out a bright color, for example, to see if you really like it actually on the wall. Luckily paint is affordable and easy to change if you decide you do not like it, so playing with different shades of it has become incredibly popular as well. - Windows – Do not forget your window treatments, which can range from blinds to shades to shutters, and everything in between. Drapes are less common now than they used to be, but are making a comeback, and classic wooden blinds are becoming increasingly popular. When painted in the right color they provide an elegance that can often be missing from plastic blinds, as well as better light filtering depending on the room you are trying to change. Sometimes a combination of drapes and blinds is necessary to truly black out the light, and other times you will only want blinds or only want shades. It completely depends on the room of the house and how much coverage you do or do not need for any given window.
- Hardwood floors – These are rapidly replacing carpet, or rather, carpets are being torn up to reveal and refinish the hardwood floors frequently underneath them. Carpet was the rage for a long time for various reasons, but as hardwood floors quickly gain traction again, carpet is on its way out. Harder to clean and maintain, carpet has few advantages over hardwood floors, and hardwood floors have just as many color and finish options as carpeting.
Let’s start by looking at the bathroom. The bathroom can be a sanctuary for most people, at least for a few minutes in the morning after the first cup of coffee, so being able to make it a comfortable space is very important. As a result, consider picking up some Hunter Douglas blinds with the thick slats for the windows. This will help to ensure that the space is large enough so that you can let a lot of light in, but at the same time close them so it remains a private space.
People today live incredibly busy lives. For one, they work longer hours than they ever have before. Two, people are spending more of their free time sitting in traffic, as the cities across the United States continue to grow and become crowded. Also, in the modern world, people simply like to have things when they want them. The Internet and all of the other technological advances, albeit amazing, have helped to create a culture of impatience. People simply don’t like to have to wait for things. Today’s culture is one of convenience. There’s nothing wrong with that, because it helps people to accomplish more with each day that they have. However, it also makes it difficult for people to find time to handle particular tasks. One such task is maintain their home or apartment. Often, since people are living such busy lives, things that need to be taken care of at home simply don’t get done. That leaky faucet in your bathroom? It can wait until another day. The running toilet? It can be taken care of on Saturday. Those pesky shades that don’t seem to be willing to open or close anymore? Some other time. Fortunately, many of the companies in the world understand just how busy people’s lives are, so they have developed strategies to get jobs done for people in the most convenient way possible. This is certainly true for some companies that sell shades. Many people simply don’t have time to stop by a showroom and browse through their collection to find the perfect set of shades for their windows. This is why so many companies now will come to your home, so you don’t have to worry about cramming anything else into your schedule.
Many of the window treatments on the market are designed to let in sun and not heat in to the room. This allows for the area to be well lit and at the same time not become a greenhouse for all of the people that are working in there. At an old office, this was an issue because during the mid morning, around ten o’clock, the sun would be shining in the lobby, making the receptionist hot, but the other people around would not be affected until they were overrun with the air conditioning. It was not the easiest building to get used to and as a result, one of the changes has been to apply some of the window treatments to ensure that all of the sun being let in does not increase the temperature too dramatically.