How to Feel Good About Your Home This January
Spending lots of time at home? Make sure you enjoy it. These thoughtful ideas will keep the love for your abode alive
Cold weather, short days, a bank balance still reeling from Christmas… There are many reasons for staying in during January. So if you tend to go underground during the first month of the year, at least make sure your home is a worthy venue. Show it some love and it will repay you handsomely. These tips will help you enjoy it and benefit from it, too, so this wintry month sails by on a gentle breeze of domestic bliss.
Rearrange for a new look
Nothing refreshes a room as cheaply and easily as simply moving it around. Shift furniture, rethink a display or swap pieces in from other rooms. Seeing familiar objects in new arrangements or locations is a great way to appreciate them anew and will remind you why you loved them in the first place.
Nothing refreshes a room as cheaply and easily as simply moving it around. Shift furniture, rethink a display or swap pieces in from other rooms. Seeing familiar objects in new arrangements or locations is a great way to appreciate them anew and will remind you why you loved them in the first place.
Carry out a New Year clean-up
Put away all your Christmas decorations and take your tree to the community recycling point. Now, time for a deep clean.
Homes often feel messy and lived-in after the festive period, when lots of family and friends have been in or visiting. Clean and straighten the house, wash the bedding and be sure to vacuum up any pine needles scattered by the tree. Gather up boxes and used wrapping materials to recycle, and find homes for holiday gifts.
Put away all your Christmas decorations and take your tree to the community recycling point. Now, time for a deep clean.
Homes often feel messy and lived-in after the festive period, when lots of family and friends have been in or visiting. Clean and straighten the house, wash the bedding and be sure to vacuum up any pine needles scattered by the tree. Gather up boxes and used wrapping materials to recycle, and find homes for holiday gifts.
Take your kitchen on a health kick
If you aim to eat more healthily in the New Year, begin by clearing out your kitchen cupboards. Ditch any out-of-date ingredients and weed out those less-healthy options and leftovers.
Keep fresh fruit and other tasty ingredients where you can see them, and store any appliances that will support your healthier lifestyle, such as a juicer or blender, where you can easily reach them.
In this way, your home will help you to feel good. In turn, that helps you to feel good about your home.
If you aim to eat more healthily in the New Year, begin by clearing out your kitchen cupboards. Ditch any out-of-date ingredients and weed out those less-healthy options and leftovers.
Keep fresh fruit and other tasty ingredients where you can see them, and store any appliances that will support your healthier lifestyle, such as a juicer or blender, where you can easily reach them.
In this way, your home will help you to feel good. In turn, that helps you to feel good about your home.
Plan for a makeover or more
Use the downtime created by short winter days and cold weather to make plans for your home in the year ahead. Imagining improvements for your rooms, from a fresh paint colour to a full-on renovation, will help you to feel excited about its potential. Take time now to plan and research.
Use the downtime created by short winter days and cold weather to make plans for your home in the year ahead. Imagining improvements for your rooms, from a fresh paint colour to a full-on renovation, will help you to feel excited about its potential. Take time now to plan and research.
Nurture the birds
Cold winters hit garden birds hard, so give them a helping hand by feeding them frequently. Remember to leave some water out, too, during icy or dry periods.
Whatever the size of your outside space, whether you have a large garden or a tiny balcony, you can still help. This will improve the feel of your home, too, by fostering a connection with the outdoors and the natural world.
Cold winters hit garden birds hard, so give them a helping hand by feeding them frequently. Remember to leave some water out, too, during icy or dry periods.
Whatever the size of your outside space, whether you have a large garden or a tiny balcony, you can still help. This will improve the feel of your home, too, by fostering a connection with the outdoors and the natural world.
Ramp up the comfort
Make your home the perfect warm, cocooning space by adding a handful of soft, new pieces. Extra cushions, a beautiful throw or a toe-tickling rug will welcome you home on a cold winter night.
Make your home the perfect warm, cocooning space by adding a handful of soft, new pieces. Extra cushions, a beautiful throw or a toe-tickling rug will welcome you home on a cold winter night.
Tweak the lighting
Good lighting improves the functionality and feel of any space and makes it more enjoyable to be in. Adequate lighting is particularly essential in winter, when natural light is in short supply.
Really gloomy spaces may need a thorough rethink and the services of an electrician, who can fit wall and ceiling lights. Or you may find that simply buying a new lamp or two, upping the wattage of bulbs or lighting some candles will work wonders on light levels and atmosphere.
Try these 10 simple steps for brightening a dark bedroom
Good lighting improves the functionality and feel of any space and makes it more enjoyable to be in. Adequate lighting is particularly essential in winter, when natural light is in short supply.
Really gloomy spaces may need a thorough rethink and the services of an electrician, who can fit wall and ceiling lights. Or you may find that simply buying a new lamp or two, upping the wattage of bulbs or lighting some candles will work wonders on light levels and atmosphere.
Try these 10 simple steps for brightening a dark bedroom
Explore your collections
Spend some time reacquainting yourself with all your possessions, so you stop seeing them as the backdrop to your life and start actively enjoying them.
You don’t have to have a clear-out (although you might find this inevitably happens), just spend some time exploring your collections. Dip into old photos, flick through your library, handle all your decorative bits and bobs and display them where you can enjoy them afresh.
Spend some time reacquainting yourself with all your possessions, so you stop seeing them as the backdrop to your life and start actively enjoying them.
You don’t have to have a clear-out (although you might find this inevitably happens), just spend some time exploring your collections. Dip into old photos, flick through your library, handle all your decorative bits and bobs and display them where you can enjoy them afresh.
Fill your rooms with scent
Help your home appeal to all your senses, and soothe away the January blues, by making sure it smells great. Light scented candles in the evening and hide a tumble dryer sheet in every room to create a fresh but neutrally scented backdrop 24/7.
How do you feel the love for your home during January? Share your tips in the Comments below.
Help your home appeal to all your senses, and soothe away the January blues, by making sure it smells great. Light scented candles in the evening and hide a tumble dryer sheet in every room to create a fresh but neutrally scented backdrop 24/7.
How do you feel the love for your home during January? Share your tips in the Comments below.
It may be freezing outside, but you can still bring a hint of spring into your home with fresh flowers. Choose inexpensive cottage blooms, grow your own hyacinths indoors, like these (by ‘forcing’ them to flower out of season), or look out for simple daffodils and tulips, which are often on sale in January.
Discover simple tips for creating a flower bouquet like a pro