Home Improvement Ideas

If you are looking to spruce up your home and give it a fresh updated look. There are some simple and inexpensive things that you can easily do to give your home that luxe elegant look. You really don’t need to break the bank or throw out all your furniture and start again! Here are some simple tips for how to make your home look expensive. How To Make Your Home Look Expensive Declutter! This is probably the best starting point and best of all it won’t cost you a cent! So if you want your home to look more spacious consider getting rid of things that you no longer use and that are taking up valuable room in your home. One of the things that you will notice when looking at luxury homes is that they are never cluttered. Once you get rid of the clutter then your home will look bigger and much more open. As well as neater and organised. If you are looking for some inspiration for decluttering then you might like to check out this post. Add Some Flowers Or Greenery Flowers or some nice indoor plants will add a special finishing touch to your home. Flowers provide a fresh natural element to any space. And if your home is decorated mainly in neutrals then you can display flowers that will add a really nice pop of colour. Buying fresh flowers can be quite expensive, so a few nice indoor plants will also incorporate an elegant natural effect into your home. Just the same as fresh flowers do. Another great tip if you are looking for ways to bring some greenery into your home. Is to simply go outside and cut a few branches from a tree or bush. If you display them in a glass vase they will look very high-end and absolutely gorgeous! Use White Bed Linen and Towels White bedding has a luxurious look just like you would find in a hotel. White towels also have that lovely high-end spa look. The great thing about sticking to white bed linen and towels is that they not only make your home look fresh. They are also quite easy to keep clean. If they start to look a bit grey then you can always just use some bleach to bring back the brightness. Stick To Classic Neutral Colours Neutrals don’t mean boring! Neutral colours are classic, timeless, and elegant. Neutral colour palettes are usually found in designer-styled homes. But if you really love colour then you can always add colour throughout your home in the decor that you choose. If you make a big colour commitment by painting your walls in a particular on-trend colour. Then you run the risk of having a home that will eventually look dated. Remember the peach colour craze from the eighties! Lamps Another great way to make your home look expensive is to update your lamps or lampshades. Ikea has some very nice luxe-looking lamps at a fraction of the cost that you would pay at a designer store. Hang Your Curtains Up High If you hang your curtain rods closer to the ceiling and then go for nice long flowing curtains that drop to the floor. Your home will look just as beautiful as the homes that you see in magazines and on Pinterest. Hanging your curtains up nice and high will give the illusion of a taller ceiling. High ceilings are a real feature that you will find in expensive homes! Consider Your Entryway Giving your exterior a complete makeover can be very pricey. So a nice and easy way to make your home look more expensive and have curb appeal without spending too much. Is to paint the door an elegant darker shade to make the entryway stand out. Or if painting is not possible then skip the paint and just add some nice tall pot plants. This will also give your entrance a great impact. Change Hardware Changing the nobs and handles on some existing furniture can take them from dull to luxe easily and cheaply. The same applies to the kitchen and bathroom. If you aren’t ready for a big kitchen and bathroom renovation. Then consider changing the handles on the doors and drawers. This mini-makeover is an easy way to make your home look expensive and it can make a huge noticeable difference. Add Some High-End Touches Throughout Your Home You can get fortunate and find some beautiful pieces from garage sales. All you need to do is bring them back to life by polishing or re-upholstering. Be on the lookout for decor items that are made from natural materials like leather, crystal, and solid wood. Adding these gorgeous high-end pieces will really lift your home giving it that elegant touch. Think About How You Style Your Home Elegant designer homes are always so beautifully styled and this is can be easily achieved in your own home without spending much money at all. You can style your home using favourite pieces that you already own. No need to spend money on expensive decor, just shop around your own home. And then achieve a designer-styled look by grouping your decor items using ‘The Rule Of Three’. When it comes to styling ‘The Rule Of Three’ means that you arrange items in groups of three because it is more visually appealing. Decor items arranged in uneven numbers give the rooms in your home a dynamic and overall aesthetically pleasing look. Make Your Home Smell Amazing Scent is very important when aiming to make your home feel cozy, inviting, and luxurious. This is probably one of the first things that you will notice when you walk into a home. Hotels and spas usually have a lovely subtle scent that appeals to the senses. You can easily achieve a beautiful scent for your home by incorporating things like Reed diffusers Scented candles Stovetop potpourri Room spray Add beautiful-smelling soaps in the bathrooms. Art Nice big

I am always looking for ways to make my home smell amazing. I just love coming home after being out or at work, opening the door, and catching a nice welcoming fresh fragrance. Here are a few simple tips that I use often to keep my home smelling great. Open Your Windows The most obvious way to keep your home smelling fresh is to open your windows to circulate some air. This can be a bit tricky during winter but I find that opening windows is the best way to get rid of any musty or cooking smells. Then you can go ahead and scent your home in various ways and you won’t be just masking unpleasant smells. Scented Candles Burning a candle is a quick and easy way to keep my home smelling good. Over the years, I have tried a variety of brands and scents. So far, my favourite candles are soy candles from Ecoya, and the fragrance that I like the best is called French Pear. Use Cleaning Products That Have A Lovely Fragrance I love using cleaning products that leave a lovely fresh smell and I have a real weakness for citrus or any fruity smells. I clean my bathrooms with this Earth Choice Shower cleaner. It is free from nasty chemicals and it leaves my bathrooms smelling divine. The gorgeous subtle orange smell lingers for ages, It’s just the best! I keep this Method multi-purpose cleaner in the kitchen to wipe the countertops. I’ve tried other Method sprays but I love this scent the best, it’s called Wild Rhubarb. Add Essential Oils To Your Vacuum Cleaner Filter Next time you vacuum add a couple of drops of essential oils to your filter or vacuum bag. Then when you run your vacuum cleaner the scent of the essential oil will diffuse around your home as you clean. Stovetop Potpourri Another way to make your home smell amazing is by making some easy stovetop Potpourri. You can boil just about any food that leaves a beautiful aroma in your home and it will smell so good. Things like orange peel, lemon peel, cloves,  cinnamon, vanilla, mint, rosemary, and apples. Manage Dampness In Your Home Dampness and moisture in your home can leave it smelling less than pleasant. We’ve just had so many weeks of rain recently and so I made sure to get some pots of DampRid. These pots are great as they absorb a lot of dampness and I am always amazed by how much liquid I will always find in the bottom of these pots after only a couple of weeks. You can also get some DampRid sachets that you can hang inside your wardrobe. This will keep your clothes smelling fresh and avoid that damp funky smell. Keep Your Bathroom Smelling Amazing Avoid leaving wet towels and washcloths in your bathroom. Anything that is left damp will smell unpleasant in no time! Another trick I like to use to keep my bathroom smelling fresh is to spray some perfume that I don’t use anymore on the inside of the toilet roll. It’s such a simple trick and you’ll find that every time you spin your toilet roll you’ll catch a nice scent. Sprinkle Bicarbonate Of Soda On Carpets Or Rugs You can sprinkle Bicarbonate of Soda or Baking Powder (both are the same thing but with different names) on your rugs or carpets. Bicarb will absorb dirt, oil, and odours. You need to leave it on for a minimum of 15 minutes. But the longer you leave it on the more effective it will be. I like to sprinkle some on my living room rug at night before bed and then vacuum it in the morning. Put Some Vanilla In The Oven Your house will smell like you’ve been baking yummy cookies if you use this trick. Just add about a cup of water with a good dash of vanilla extract into a small oven-proof dish. Then pop it in the oven at 170C for about 40 minutes. Clean The Garbage Bin Take out the garbage and clean the bin regularly. Food scraps can very quickly release unpleasant odours. Keep the bin smelling nice and fresh by wiping it with some disinfectant. Diffuse Essential Oils Essential oil diffusers are a great chemical-free way to make your home smell fresh. Essential oils can also have some pretty amazing benefits for your health and mood. Indoor Plants Indoor plants look beautiful around the home. In addition, the great thing about indoor plants is that they also clean the air. These are just a few tips that I like to use regularly to make my home smell amazing. I hope you find them helpful! Some Other Posts You Might Enjoy How To Make A Home Feel Cozy      

Let’s look at 5 quick and simple tips for how to make a home feel cozy. It’s been cold again here in Sydney. We had a couple of weeks in August when it was unusually warm, hot even! September came with all the glorious promises of warmer weather and longer sunnier days. Then boom we got hit with some gloomy blustery weather. I can’t complain though, or rather I shouldn’t because Sydney really does dazzle with bright blue skies and sunny days even in winter. Back to Cooler Weather Since it went back to being cold I brought out our warm soft throw blankets for last night’s movie night with the family. We watched ‘In Bruges’ which was an interesting black comedy/drama, certainly didn’t leave me feeling warm and fuzzy but I did enjoy it and it was fun being with the family. I have also been lighting candles and went back to sipping lots of warm drinks. I think it’s usually around mid-October when we finally end up getting consistently warm weather. So for the last few days, the word cozy kept coming into my mind. I love a cozy home and feeling cozy, reading cozy books, and lighting cozy candles. The word cozy itself I guess sounds very cozy. I associate cozy with autumn and winter.  There is absolutely no desire to be cozy in the summer months here in Australia. It just gets so unbearably hot! The recent sharp snap back to winter weather has left me wanting to experience cozy all over again. I am happy to have a few more days of cooler weather so I can get snuggly and warm before the season ends. I also know that many of my friends live in the Northern hemisphere and they will soon be right into enjoying all the cozy things like warm socks, soft blankets, flannel sheets, and pumpkin spice! Ha!! I’m almost jealous. So How Do You Make A Home Feel Cozy? Thankfully it’s not that hard and it shouldn’t be expensive to create a cozy comfortable and inviting home. Most of the things we need we probably already own. Have a look at the things you might already have lying around and get creative. I have put together a list of 5 easy tips for creating a cozy home and I hope you find them helpful. 1. Good Lighting Is So Important I think that good lighting is probably the most important thing when it comes to creating a cozy home. Try and avoid any harsh single overhead lighting. Years ago we needed new lighting for our very old kitchen. We didn’t want to spend much money as we knew we wanted to renovate in the not too distant future. So we chose a cheap fluorescent lighting panel and I HATED it! Ugh!! every time I went into the kitchen I felt like I was walking into an operating theatre. My eyes hurt and it was just awful. Thankfully our kitchen is now renovated with beautiful under-cupboard lighting and much nicer and warmer downlights. So if you can, definitely try and stay well away from cold harsh lighting. Fairy Lights Fairy lights can be used in bedrooms and living rooms. This kind of pretty lighting makes rooms look so magical and inviting. Lamps Go for desk lamps, table, and floor lamps. They give off lovely warm lighting for your home. The bonus is that you can fit these with energy-saving light bulbs. This will hopefully also mean savings on your electricity bill. 2. Make Your Home Smell Nice There are so many ways to make your home smell nice. There are candles, melts, reed diffusers, and flowers just to name a few. Go ahead and find a scent that makes you happy. After trying so many different scents I have finally settled on French pear from Ecoya and bought both the reed diffusers and the candles. I really love the range of candles and diffusers that Ecoya has available. 3. Fresh Flowers Fresh cut flowers are just so beautiful and really lift the level of coziness in a home. I am lucky enough to have a whole lot of lavender growing just outside my front door. In the spring when it is in full bloom, I always make sure to cut some and display it in my favorite vase on my small entry table. 4. Greenery  Plants will instantly liven up any living space and I don’t think it really matters whether they are real or fake. I have a mixture of both in my home and I think they look great! There is now such a huge range of faux greenery that it’s almost hard to tell that it’s not real unless you get up really close. Sprinkling some greenery around your home using a variety of vases and pots makes a home look very inviting. 5. Art Work There are many affordable prints you can find at places like Kmart or Ikea. These can look really nice and add a lovely vibe to your living areas. You could even create your own! Bare walls can be pretty boring so try and find some artwork that you enjoy looking at. Choosing artwork for your home can also be a great way to add a touch of your own personality to your home. You don’t always have to buy it as you could even create your own! Having a favorite photo or poster framed also makes fun unique artwork for your home. Artwork for your walls doesn’t have to be limited to paintings or prints. Juju hats and wire wall art can make your home look very stylish, inviting, and cozy! I hope you enjoyed looking at some simple ways for how to make a home feel cozy and don’t forget, small changes can make a big difference to the level of coziness and comfort of your home. Have a look around, what things could you add or change? Have fun and enjoy making

We had dreamt of a new kitchen for ages but the thought of the mess, expense, and upheaval made us wait. Gradually when things in our old small galley-style kitchen started falling apart, literally. We decided to go for it and do a complete Ikea kitchen renovation including appliances and everything! We’re huge fans of Ikea and even though we visited a few other options we just felt we loved Ikea kitchens the best. The Planning Stage of Our Kitchen Renovation- After I was done hyperventilating at the thought of what we were about to embark on, we went into our local Ikea store and met with the lovely Ikea kitchen planner. She was absolutely amazing! and she also happened to look just like Scarlett Johansson. Every time she was out of earshot I’d say to my husband “Psssst doesn’t she look like Scarlett Johansson”. His reply “Ruth, I’m concentrating and trying really hard not to look at her and get distracted” bahahaha !! Bless Him! Anyway, Scarlett  I mean the kitchen planner was super knowledgeable and very friendly. She just made everything very easy and designed the most perfect kitchen on the computer right in front of us. Afterwards, we left the store feeling much more confident and excited. A couple of weeks later we had an in-home consultation for about an hour with a kitchen company called Eternity Kitchens. This company installs their own kitchens however, they also specialize in Ikea Kitchen Installations. They remeasured for accuracy and tweaked a couple of things. I have to say we were extremely happy with this company. They were very professional and super accommodating. The in-home consultation was well worth it. We were now so much happier knowing that the measurements and all the details were on point. We signed the contract, paid the deposit and I’ll admit I might have had a mini panic attack. Surprisingly the whole installation process went quite smoothly. Yes, it was messy, dusty, and it definitely tested the neat freak within me but it was so worth it. We could not have been happier with the final result! I think it’s beautiful and looks just as fantastic as the super expensive high-end kitchens. And while ours wasn’t exactly cheap. I don’t think we would have gotten everything we wanted for the price we paid if we’d gone elsewhere. Hello under cupboard lighting! So if you’re considering an Ikea kitchen renovation I say Go for it!! This is the Original Kitchen Before The Renovation I took this photo the night before the kitchen was demolished. See that gap between the countertops. That’s where the fridge went. It was so awkwardly placed. The Renovation- Haha, it’s not blue. It’s just the plastic protection Finally-The Kitchen Is Finished I took this picture at night so you could see the under-cupboard lighting which I totally love! I really can’t recommend an Ikea kitchen enough! We had such a positive experience from start to finish. Plus now we’ve been using it, it is an absolute dream. My food even tastes better! I think I’ll eventually do a post about my super cute storage ideas and kitchen organization in general. Thanks so much for stopping by and having a look. I hope you have a sensational week.