*Contributed Post
If you haven’t taken the time to establish the personality of your home and add a little “you” into your décor choices, it can feel lacking. It can look nice, there’s no doubt about that, but it doesn’t feel like it’s yours. It can feel almost like you’re living in a showroom. If you want to add a little personality, you don’t need to spend too much to do it, either. Here are a few budget ideas that can add a little warmth, creativity, and personality to a home that direly needs it.
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Find your palette
Creating a working, consistent colour scheme for the living room is going to have a big impact in establishing a sense of identity. You can start with a palette from scratch and find furniture that fits it, but that’s a rather expensive way of doing it. Rather, establish a key piece of furniture or two and find a colour scheme that includes it. Contrast it with a new coat of paint for the wall and some cushions that can help you create a visual identity that runs through the room without having to kit it out completely.
Create a gallery
If you have a wall that could use a little love, then all you might need is a few choice pieces to hang from it. Creating a gallery wall is simple as shown at https://www.theguardian.com/. You want to consider your choice of art carefully, however. If your style is more minimalist, then you don’t want highly detailed impressionist pieces. Similarly, if your style is rustic and cosy, then pop art can look horribly out of place. When creating a gallery wall, make sure that you have a visual on it regardless of where you are in the room. Use it as a focal point so that it draws attention rather than having to battle for it with the rest of the room.
Show what you love
If you’re not super into art, you don’t have to force yourself to make it a feature in the home, either. Instead, think of what it is that you love. There are plenty of ways to feature it in your style. If you love reading, then adding some shelves to the wall to act as a bookcase or creating a reading nook is an easy solution. If you love films, then get some framed film posters to hang in place of art. If you love music, you can create a collage of your favourite album art or even fix vinyl records to the wall. You can’t forget the heart-warming impact of a photo display of some of your most treasured memories, either.
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Go off the wall
The last wall-centric tip we’re going to feature. If you’re aiming for a minimalist style, then you might not want to add too much to it. If the room is relatively clutter-free and clean, then a wall that has stuff hanging all over it can look very out of place. So, why not give the wall a little personality of its own? The easiest way to do this is with a wall mural from places like https://www.wallpaperink.co.uk that goes from one end of the room to the next. Accent and textured walls can create the same appeal, often with a little texture of their own as well. Create a feature of the wall, rather than adding features to the wall.
Detail your furniture
Most living rooms have a few key pieces of furniture that already tend to draw the eye. It might be a display cabinet or a coffee table, but most often it’s a sofa. Whatever your key piece of furniture is, why not maximise its visual appearance by dressing it up a little? Dressing up a sofa, like https://www.sofasofa.co.uk can highlight an existing focal point while helping to add a little depth to its visual identity. A throw over the back, the right distribution of pillows, there are a lot of different ways to dress up the furniture in your living room. Once again, you don’t want to overdo it as it can look a little more like an avant garde art installation than a practical piece of furniture, but don’t be afraid to add a little detail of your own.
Invigorate the senses
Let’s not focus entirely on the visual side of personality, either. The room can hit all of your senses, and some senses are more emotionally evocative than others. In fact, perhaps the most impactful of all is the sense of smell. Scents are tied directly to our memory, so they can transport us to different scenes and create a sense of place that sometimes visuals simply can’t match. Making use of aroma diffusers, incenses, and scented candles in the living room can add personality to a whole new dimension. It’s all about experimenting and finding which scent works best for you.
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Upcycle to success
Do you have old furniture that’s looking a little worse for wear? Or perhaps you want some display pieces that aren’t going to cost you an arm and a leg? If you want something that’s wholly unique to you, reflective of your personality, and affordable on almost any budget, then you want to look at upcycling. Sites like https://www.popsugar.com feature tons of upcycling projects, making use of what you already have to create something entirely fresh and unique to you. It’s worth taking a few practice runs first. If you’re not used to being crafty, then your first attempt may look as amateur as you expect. But get the hang of it and you can really add a touch of yourself to your décor.
You don’t need to use all of the tips above to establish a sense of identity in a home, of course. Pick out two or three that are going to make the most impact and use them thoughtfully. Don’t try and clutter your way to a sense of personality. Make it a highlight of the room, not just another part of it.
