5 Tips on How to Start Refreshing Your Interior Space
I am certain you feel most appreciative with the space, room, apartment, or home that you have, but you also want to completely remodel to make your space look like what you saw on a home design Netflix show, Instagram, or Pinterest. Believe me, I have been there. To the point where I have overwhelmed myself by constantly searching and figuring out how to get my home from point A to point B in a week!
It is possible. Remodeling takes a large amount of planning, time commitment, and you already know- MONEY. However, finances, timing, skills, and life in general sometimes sets up the pace we should really plan on remodeling your home or interior space.
After owning my home for about 2 years- I have accepted the relationship of REFRESHING my home rather than remodeling my home. For the time being, I can easily work with what I have.
Since I am in control, I am slowly upgrading and refreshing various parts of my home to fit my style and needs without constantly being overwhelmed and staying within my budget. I want to share with you 5 tips on how you can start refreshing or upgrading your home!
1. Any Project Will Take Time
No matter what we see on TV or social media- please understand that those projects did not happen overnight. We typically see brief footage of the actual process (usually sped up) and the final project complete within 30 minutes.
I have fallen guilty of putting pressure on myself to complete painting 5 high ceiling rooms within 3 days. Why? I’ve seen people do it (in person and online). Why can’t I do it too? I put a lot of hours trying to paint and with very much appreciated help it took us a week.
Just know any type of interior project may take hours, days, weeks, or even months. If you have the means to hire an interior designer or contractor- yay for you and keep reading! If you feel as if you can do it yourself, keep on reading!
2. Figure Out The Space You Want to Refresh
Narrow down which spaces you feel can use a good refresh and which one you want to start with first. This can depend on the use of the room, the functionality, and how much you want to change.
For instance, the most used room for us is the living room. A common space for us to work, read, watch TV, play video games, and host gatherings. This room has always been a priority since we want to create a space that not only feels comfortable and inviting to us but also to our guests. So, this room continues to be in progress and slowly we have been refreshing furniture pieces more to our liking, budget, and style.
3. Find Inspiration
Thank goodness for unlimited accessibility to interior decorating on the internet. This is always the fun part.
You can begin by searching on the web browser you normally use by typing the name of the room you want to refresh. For example, “Living Room”. A lot of websites, videos, and images will show up for you! From there you can start narrowing down on a specific color, décor item, furniture, or design style for that particular space. Social media outlets such as YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest have always been a great help to browse through and get ideas.
As you are searching don’t forget about tip #1. As you browse through the most beautiful, decorated homes, remember that you will also have a magnificent, decorated home to your liking and that it WILL TAKE TIME.
4. Draw It Out
We can constantly picture how we want our house to be- mentally, but will that bring motivation, action, or just an idea. Before I started to really refresh the living room, I pictured it mentally.
However, what changed the game was drawing out what I wanted my living room to look like. This helped tremendously to follow through on what I wanted to change. Not only that - but the drawing is also not permanent. The more ideas you come across you can easily re-draw your design to how you truly want the room to look like.
I went the old-fashioned way and drew with pencil, pen, and coloring pencils. There are so many programs and applications that can be used to digitally draw or create your space, such as Photoshop and Canva. I drew my goal for our living room and all I need to do is complete it.
5. Research And Budget
As usual, it is about the quality not the quantity. But yo girl sometimes can’t spend $1,200 on a coffee table when she can buy a similar one at Ikea for about $150. Ikea is the BEST. However, there are certain furniture pieces that I am willing to spend extra money on because of the functionality and convenience of it.
For instance, I have bought beautiful rugs from Amazon but cleaning them was difficult. I needed to wash them outside with a hose, scrub them, and let them dry. That can take all day. Now, I am willing to invest $200 more to buy a machine-washing rug from Ruggable! Genius! Take your time and always make sure to look at various companies. You may just spot a deal.
Bonus Motivating Tip
By the words of Nike- Just Do It. Take your time, enjoy the process, and please let’s try not to overwhelm ourselves while creating something that can bring us joy and in the end comfort in our newly refreshed spaces.
Do you have other tips that have helped you refresh your spaces? Let us know!
-Elizabeth (Liz) & Maria
