Cleaning & Organizing
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How to make home a nice place to live?
I'm never happy with how our home looks. I think it's a combination of reasons. We never have enough money to buy furniture or accessories, there is a major lack of natural light, furniture doesn't match, and i'm a bit of a hoarder and struggle to stay on top of things that come into the house that could cause clutter.
This might be a silly question, but how do you all make your house look good on a tight budget, keep things looking light when there's little natural light available, and stay on top of clutter?
Re: How to make home a nice place to live?
I can relate: I am currently not working and on just one income, we can't afford to buy all new furniture and decorations at once. What I do is just make the most of what I do have. My mom loves antiques and thrift store shopping, so she offers me a lot of stuff that she bought but doesn't have room for. I do only take what I need because I hate clutter.
I repaint it to make a lot of furniture I find at yard sales or thrift stores to make it look fresh and modern and to tie in with other stuff I already have. You can also find cute throw pillows at TJ Maxx that can change the whole look of your couch. Pictures are another way to decorate inexpensively...I printed off some of our pictures at WalMart in black & white and found some cheap picture frames at Hobby Lobby and hung them in a series...it actually looks pretty good!
If you don't have a lot of natural light, find some lamps and light candles to illuminate the room. It always makes things seem a lot more "homey" and cozy.
I can totally relate. I live in a north-facing condo that doesn't get much light, and when I started living there, I was a student who just couldn't afford nice stuff.
Keeping your place clean and clutter-free goes a LONG way to making a place feel homey. So get out those trash bags and start purging. If something comes into your house, find a place for it; if it doesn't have a place, get rid of something else to make a place for it.
Little things like straightening the books on your bookshelves and piling things neatly can make a big difference in making a space look more appealing.
Add lots of lamps - lighting from multiple sources is more inviting and easier on the eyes.
If you can't afford to replace large pieces right now, get some cheap accessories that coordinate with each other to tie a room together. Places like Target have lots of stuff. Picture frames can always be found on sale. For wall art, get a couple of 10x14" frames, print off a vacation photo from Shutterfly, stick it in a mat, and stick that in the frame.
Pick up a $10 fresh bouquet from the grocery store every now and then
PIB of my teeny tiny little condo. Nothing in there is super expensive (though we did slowly have it renovated over the past 6 years so it's got good bones).
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How do you all make your house look good on a tight budget?
If you want to have matching furniture but can't afford to buy new, get some slipcovers. Otherwise try to arrange what you have so similar items are together. Look around at places like TJ Max, Ross, Marshalls, etc. Even Goodwill, Salvation Army, craigslist, freecycle, etc will have cast offs from people who get bored with their decorations often. Try to shop on the clearance racks. In about 2 months, all of the fall colored items will be on clearance... so if you want to decorate anything in deep red, orange, or brown you should be able to find plenty of stuff.
How do you keep things looking light when there's little natural light available?
Aside from light paint, furniture, etc always try to hang a piece of glass (a picture, a mirror, a candleholder sconce) directly across the room from a window. It's a little trick people used before there was electricity (all houses had minimal windows back then because too many windows made the house hard to heat). The glass from a mirror, a picture, or the globe around a candle sconce would reflect the available light around the room.
http://pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi#general
A CLEAN TIDY SPACE MAKES A HUGE IMPACT.
DONT BRING THE CLUTTER IN.
ONCE ITS NICE AND CLEAN, THEN YOU CAN START THINKING ABOUT DESIGNING IT AND MAKING IT PRETTY.
I watch shows like "Sell this house" and other house-staging shows on HDTV for ideas. Most of those shows have a $2K budget, and that's to get an entire house ready to sell (so includes re-doing the bathroom, putting in granite, etc.).
A fresh coat of paint goes a long way, as does window treatments (which you can buy inexpensively at Target, Kohl's, HomeGoods, etc.). Also, keep things "un-busy," streamlined.
Reduce clutter and keep the house clean. If you look at the house staging shows, they even cut out 2/3 of the books out of a bookcase.
Take things one at a time. I am currently concentrating on de-cluttering, then I'm going to focus on getting new bathroom window treatments.
REPAINT- not only does it brighten things up but it gives your house a fresh smell (after the paint smell goes away of course)
GET RID OF CLUTTER- even if you just clean out one drawer or cupboard a day. every little bit helps! Designate a place for everything. If you never use it, throw it out!
SHAMPOO CARPET -doesnt cost much to rent one for a day
CANDLE, PLUG IN, OR AIR FRESHENER- nothing like coming home to a yummy smelling house
If you have a small house and don't plan on living there for the rest of your life you can buy a storage tote and put all the small sentimental things that you can't throw away) put it in a guest closet or storage room
Only keep seasonal clothing in your closet and dressers. During the winter put all your shorts and tank tops or summer dresses in a tote box or bag (the ones that slide under your bed are very handy!) It will clear up all that closet clutter and make it so you don't feel overwhelmed whenever you are picking out an outfit.
Lastly, here is one tip that I dont necessarily recommend for everyone but its a huge OCD of mine. I only buy clothing hangers in one color. All of my hangers are black plastic. It looks so much better then having a million different styles and colors, especially when some are wooden or metal and others are plastic. They are cheap to replace too! My family makes fun of me for it but I just love the feeling when I open my closet and it feels so organized. Also if you notice in all the home magazines all the hangers are all the same too! lol
" All of my hangers are black plastic. It looks so much better then having a million different styles and colors, especially when some are wooden or metal and others are plastic. They are cheap to replace too! "
LOL @HOLLYMAR87-All mine are bright green from Wal Mart-a pack of 25 was only $2.00!