Maybe you used to love your home but now you’ve lost that spark. Or maybe you’ve never loved your home (or apartment) but would like to, or at least learn to be content in it. If so, here are 5 tangible ways (using our 5 senses!) to love our homes again.
10 Simple Ideas to Love Your Home (Again)
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–Sight–
1. // Remove Unnecessary Items
Are you sick of hearing of Marie Kondo yet? I’m a minimalist and even I’ve about had my fill. But, this step is still so important! This will be the biggest section so I am going to spend the largest amount of time on it. Before I get into the “fun” visual tips, we have to talk about the not so fun word – decluttering.
Why?
The pile of towels sitting on our couch or the stack of papers on our dining room table stresses us out. They are not pretty to look at and every time we see them it reminds us of another item left undone on our to-do list.
Also, unnecessary clutter takes up unnecessary space in our homes. It forces us to clean more – because we have more stuff to move around – and takes up precious mental space. When our homes are clean, clutter-free, and organized it allows us more time to focus on what matters most.
EXERCISE!
- Clean up! (Check out this DIY all-purpose cleaner DIY all-purpose cleaner)
Oh, and the great news is that this step is FREE and will bring the biggest transformation in your home.
2. // Color
This is one of my favorite tips. I love either all white rooms or bold, bright colors. There are no in-betweens. If it were up to me, I’d paint every wall white but since that does not appeal to my husband we have color on our walls. Marriage is about compromise, right?
Paint is a simple change that makes a HUGE difference. Yes, it comes with a cost and definitely takes some time to finish, but once it’s done it can change any space. (If you want to see a more dramatic transformation, my husband and I knocked down two-walls when we redid our kitchen.
I love the color light pink and have even painted all my apartment bedrooms in that color. (Shout out to my husband who had to help me paint them.)
Right now, we have a nice light neutral on all our walls. It’s Sea Salt from Sherwin Williams. I am a big fan of SW paints and would recommend them. They are quality paints and clean well. The most important part is to pick a color YOU love. White, pinks, and blues make me happy. Find what colors make you happy. If you need some help getting started, find out how paint colors affect our mood.
3. // Light
And God said let there be light! The majority of us like light-filled airy rooms, right? So if you often leave your curtains shut or blinds down – open them up. If your home is dark, paint your walls a light color. You can also hang up more mirrors to reflect the light more.
P.S. Do you want to love your home again? Are you ready for a reset? Do you want to walk through the door and see a place of safety, calm, refuge, and good memories?
—-> My friend Emily created a 10-day course to RESET your entire home and create a more tidy, peaceful, and calm place that FUELS your instead of stresses you out. Also, use PRETTY SIMPLE at checkout for $2 off!
4. // Patterns
Patterns bring visual interest to a room. One way to bring patterns into a room is by using wallpaper. My friend helped me wallpaper my baby’s nursery. You can find beautiful floral wallpaper at Anthropologie, ocean waves on Etsy, or even farmhouse plaid wallpaper on Amazon.
Besides wallpaper, wall stenciling is also making a comeback. I plan on stenciling a wall in my sunroom. Not only is it cheaper than wallpaper, but will be easier to change in the future. If you end up stenciling a wall make sure to use acrylic or latex paint as they adhere to walls best.
Moving away from the walls, throw pillows, window treatments, tablecloths, and rugs are all great ways to bring in more patterns. Be careful not to mix too many together though.
–Smell–
Step One is to remove any unpleasant smells. I have a baby, so I understand unpleasant smells. Take out the trash. Empty the diaper bin. Clean out the fridge. Then if the weather permits, open the windows. Nothing can clear out the air better than some fresh air.
Now it’s time to create some wonderful smells. Smells are powerful and can even transport us to the past. Ever smell a perfume you used in high cool? I can’t help but think of my high school days whenever I come across Victoria’s Secret “Love Spell.”
Light candles. Bake chocolate chip cookies. Diffuse your favorite essential oils. Buy fresh flowers. I’d avoid any plugins though because they are often filled with chemicals. Sadly, I also avoid most candles for the same reason. Look for candles made with soy and essential oils.
If interested, here is a more in-depth post on how I make my home smell good all the time (even with babies & pets.)
–Touch–
Touch is such an important factor in loving our home. I like to touch my baby’s cheeks, pet my cat, and feel warm water in a bath. You can bring in touch through soft throw blankets, cozy sweaters, or yes, even take a bath. It’s important to round out our senses in our home.
–Taste–
Taste! Keep good food around. Simple right? I like to eat healthy because it makes me feel better, but the food also has to taste good or I don’t want to eat it. I also know that we have to have some things around that aren’t necessarily good for our bodies, but sometimes are good for our souls. Hello, chocolate and peanut butter. A delicious, home-cooked meal can also help you love your home a little more.
–Sound–
This last one is a little bit unusual. What kinds of sounds make you feel at home? I love to hear my baby laugh, my cat purring, and my sound machine at night. During the day I like silence as much as possible (it helps me write) but if I clean I usually like to blast music. I also love white noise.
For many of you, you can’t live without music and like playing it constantly. Bring more sound into your home that brings you joy.
Last minute exercise: before you begin list 5-10 things that you love about where you live right now. It could be close to work, close to family or friends. Maybe it’s affordable. Or maybe it’s where you make memories with loved ones. There are always blessings hiding in every situation we’re in and it’s good to remind ourselves of them too.
Also, here are 4 Ways I Decorate on a BUDGET.
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These are great tips! I especially agree about choosing colors for your walls that you love. It doesn’t really matter what colors are “in”, it matters what wall color is going to make you happy when you look at it day-in-and-day-out! Also, yes – let there be light! haha
Exactly! If you like orange…go for it. hahaha
We bought our home a few years ago. I guess we are long overdue for a purge. I am so unhappy with all of the clutter and I wish our home looked as neat and tidy as it was when we moved in!
You can get there again for sure!
All great tips. I love having soft blankets, etc. around for touch and I’m all about candles or nice smells!
-Lauren
Yesss for good smells 🙂
These are great tips! Smell makes a huge difference for me and loving my home. I’ve noticed when I’m feeling down I need to fix my house smell and it makes a world of difference.
I love that and totally agree!
This is so good! I love all the suggestions and can’t wait to do this-this weekend!
Have fun!
All of these are great ideas! I love bold colors in my decor with white walls! I think I sometimes neglect the importance of natural light but that’s something I’ll remedy. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Natural light is definitely a mood booster haha
Your suggestions are perfect! I start to feel something about my home and it’s little things that can totally change it for me.
yes! small changes can make a huge difference
I love this ideas, I kind of want to paint all the walls in my house now ahah
same same. lol
Great tips! I really need to branch out a little more in my pattern choices.
These are really great and simple ideas. I’m a sucker for clutter and I’ve told myself that I like my home to look like people live in it. But I think it actually stresses me out so being organised seems a better option!
It’s definitely a balance!
I just bought some new curtains and plants for my office! And it makes a huge difference!!!!
yay! I love pretty curtains!
Love this, I have been trying to remove unnecessary and excess “STUFF” for some time now and I am finally making some progress! We just had our basement finished (yayyyy!!) so I have a whole clean palate of fresh space so I will be incorporating some lovely blues to go with my white and grey farmhouse style <3 I am a homebody so anything that makes my home more comfortable I am down with.
congrats on the basement! I love farmhouse style with blues
Love these tips! I’m currently going all Marie Kondo on our house and it really has made a huge difference.
get it!! haha
I love these ideas! We move clutter from table to table sometimes and it is just ridiculous! I hope to spend some time this week and really clear out some clutter that has been accumulating since January. Soy candles with essential oils are one of my favorite things now!
ugh we’ve totally played the move clutter game too. lol!
Thanks for this! I’m planning to give our home a spring makeover and this is just so timely!
perfect!
I love these ideas to fall in love with your house again! Sometimes it’s the smallest change that makes the biggest difference! Thanks for sharing!
exactly!
Great tips, however, SW is Sherwin Williams, not Sherman, no biggie but thought you’d like to know.
haha thank you, Linda!!
Purging is SO important! I’ve found especially that clearing surfaces (specifically the kitchen counter) is so important. It helps me so much.
I need to keep my counters clean too!
What a refreshing way to think about our homes that does not cost any money! It is easy to focus on the things we want to change about our home but it is so important to be grateful and appreciative of our home as well.
🙂
Decluttering made me feel so much better about my apartment. We’ve still got a ways to go in that department, but just the act of throwing all the unused clothes in a pile on the bed released a lot of tension!
isn’t it wonderful??
Great suggestions! I love how you used our senses to define things we can do make our homes more homey! I’ll be walking around my house with all my senses aware today.
All great tips. I have 5 kids ranging from 1 to 16 so having candles in every room is so important to me. I love having my home smell fresh or with some spice! Its the best to walk into from a long day.
Ooh some spice – I love it!
These are great and perfect after being stuck inside all winter!
I have started doing some of your suggestions and now feel even more motivated & encouraged to continue. Decluttering is a big undertaking here BUT I never realized how much stress it really does cause. It hinders any productivity in the house too.
Agreed. And once it’s gone it feels like we can breathe easier.
love these changes. we just moved into our home and we have been making these small changes here and there to make it a home we love
I love how you’ve incorporated the senses into creating a home you love. It’s not something I’ve thought about, but it makes so much sense. Everything we experience is through our senses, including how we dwell in our homes. Love this!
Yes – exactly!
I love the way you’ve centered the ideas around the 5 senses.
I totally agree- this was such a well-presented post. Each thing you listed made so much sense. All I can think of right now is switching up my living room curtains with light, white flowy curtains. I can already feel the light coming in through them. Thanks!
Yessss, I love that!
These are such great tips Sarah! I have learned when I do a lot of these things it just brings me more peace! 🙂
Yes – I love how they can bring peace too! Thanks, Nicki.