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New Year’s Home Decorating Resolutions

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New Year’s Home Decorating Resolutions

The New Year is the time for resolutions — since you get to start fresh after December 31st. The problem with resolutions is that most people give up on them before the end of January. Only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s resolutions.

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The reason for that is they haven’t made a solid plan for how to carry out their resolutions. Simply wishing for a redecorated house, for example, will not make it happen. But, if you resolve to redecorate your house in the new year, and you take it room by room, you can definitely reach your goal.

Redecorating can incorporate a number of different aspects in addition to new furniture. To get the cohesive new look you want, you need to consider certain overall decorating goals. Some home decorating New Year’s resolutions for 2016 can include:

Resolve to add color to your home this year.

Neutrals are always in style and are easy to decorate with because everything coordinates with everything else. However, too much neutral can give a bland appearance that is devoid of much style. You want your home to reflect your personal tastes and accommodate your family’s lifestyle.

Adding some color to your neutral décor is a great way to infuse some personality and make a change. Some people are afraid of using color in their décor, but it really is easy. Start with just an accent color. You could try some pillows on the couch or a colorful new bedspread. These are inexpensive items you could add to your home to bring in a little color.

Once you get used to the idea of color, you may want to include an accent wall. Choose one wall in your living room, preferably one opposite the windows, and pick out a color to paint it. Blue is the most popular color in the world with 42% of men and 30% of women claiming it as their favorite. Paint is also not very expensive and can be changed easily if you don’t like it. When you are ready, you could add a lighter, coordinating color to the adjacent wall.

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Rugs and accent furniture are other ways to bring color into your home. A painted nightstand or and end table can add a pop of color and are small enough to be relocated around your house to change things up. If you are only using these small pops of color, you’ll want to choose something bold so it stands out.

De-clutter your space for the New Year.

It’s easy to get used to seeing the CDs stacked up next to the stereo because that’s where you use them. The magazines are piled on the table because you haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. And the pile of shoes in the foyer doesn’t fit in the closet. If you de-clutter your house, though, it will give things a whole new look.

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The simple rule about getting rid of clutter is this: A place for everything, and everything in its place. There are two reasons why clutter appears. Either you haven’t taken the time to put things where they belong, or you do not have enough space to store everything you own. Eventually, everyone gets to the second reason.

You might not think of de-cluttering as decorating, but it is. The items you incorporate into your décor, like dressers, bookcases and cabinets, can solve your clutter problem and change the look of your home. There are several pieces of furniture you could use to hide your stuff — from coffee tables with drawers to small dressers that double as night stands.

De-cluttering is a matter of taking inventory of the things you own and finding furniture or attractive organizers to store them. Once you know what you have — how many CDs, pillows and blankets for the couch, books and magazines, even jars of spices in the kitchen — you can create attractive ways to hide them from view when they are not in use.

Update the look of your home this year.

Decorating is like building your wardrobe. Each year, you need to bring in some fresh pieces. Otherwise, before you know it, you’ll be completely out of style. And in your home, just like in your closet, when something new comes in, something old has to be discarded. There is a finite amount of space, so if you don’t swap things out, you run the risk of being overcrowded.

You may have undertaken a complete redecorating project several years ago, either when you first moved in or when you saw a style you really liked. After completing that project, you probably thought you never want to go through the process again. The good news is you don’t have to. If you update your décor a little each year, you will never need a complete overhaul.

Changing all of your décor at one time can be very expensive as well. It’s much easier on your sanity and your wallet to replace a little at a time. Maybe this year you replace the couch, a couple smaller pieces in the bedroom and the dining room carpet. Think about which pieces of your furniture are the oldest or in the most need of replacement. Try to stagger the purchase of larger pieces, so you don’t have to get a whole new bedroom set, a couch and a recliner all in the same year.

Go from room to room and figure out which pieces should be updated this year. By making at least a small change in each room, you’ll update the overall look in your whole house. If there is one room, the family room for example, where the décor is really dated, you can concentrate more of your efforts in there. Removing old

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wallpaper, getting new window treatments or adding some fresh paint in a new color can really change the look, even if you only replace one piece of furniture.

Once you have your overall redecorating goals in mind, you can make a plan for how to achieve them. One of the easiest ways to divide up the work is to take it room by room. Figure out what you want to change in each room, and then do one room a month until the whole house is redecorated for 2016.

Redecorating Ideas for the Formal Rooms

It’s a good idea to start with the formal rooms in your house because this is where you entertain company. Many people put the most money and effort into the décor in the living room and dining room, so their guests are comfortable and impressed with the sense of style. After the holidays, the formal rooms in your house may seem a bit tired.

Freshening up the living room can start with rearranging the furniture. The typical L-shaped couch and love seat arrangement can be reversed or converted to a parallel layout. Consider each grouping of seats like a conversation area — be sure the chairs are placed close enough together for people to carry on a conversation. Instead of arranging the furniture around the outside of the room in a modified circle, try breaking it up into two smaller groups with seats in the middle of the room, back to back.

When you change the furniture arrangement, you may notice a need for an additional occasional table. You want to be sure no matter where your guests sit, they have a place to set their drinks down. A sofa table is a good way to accommodate people sitting on the couch if your arrangement does not include a coffee table. The sofa table can double as a place to put out snacks for parties, as well as holiday decorations.

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The living room may be where you display knick-knacks from various trips you’ve taken or precious gifts you’ve received. If the look is starting to get a bit cluttered, you may want to consider a curio cabinet. Not only will it centralize your display and streamline the look of your room, but it will also keep your precious items safe and free of dust.

Another way to freshen up the look in your living room is to add some color. This is the perfect place for pillows that bring color and patterns into the room. You can also use the pillows on the couch or on upholstered chairs. If you use a wooden chair of some sort, like a rocker, to add extra seating in your living room, putting a soft, colored pillow on it can make it more comfortable for guests.

The other formal room you should concentrate on is the dining room. You may not have many options for rearranging furniture here. Most people’s dining room table and chairs take up most of the space in the room. You could try adding upholstered chairs to the ends of the table, though, to create a more opulent look.

The dining room is also an excellent place to add color on an accent wall. Shades of red are thought to increase appetite, so you might want to give that a try. Also, greens and blues tend to highlight the look of rich, wood dining room furniture. Remember, it’s easy to repaint a wall, so be bold and chose a rich color. You can always paint over it if you don’t like it.

Decorating Resolutions for the Kitchen and Bathroom

The kitchen and bathrooms in your house are the most functional rooms and tend to offer the same type of decorating restrictions as the dining room might. The majority of the space in these rooms is usually dedicated to built-in fixtures which are large projects to replace. If you aren’t going to replace the cabinets or appliances, there are still a few other things you can do to change the look of your kitchen and bathrooms.

Kitchens and bathrooms are another good place for a pop of color. Adding paint to an accent wall or tiles to the backsplash can give the room a fresh look without too much effort. Towels, linens and curtains are another good way to add color in these rooms.

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Kitchen and bathroom counters tend to get cluttered easily. Changing the look of these rooms might involve adding some organizational touches like decorative boxes or bowls in which to hide your stuff. If you have the space, some occasional furniture can help de-clutter, especially in the bathroom. Consider adding a small table or bookcase to handle the accessories. It doesn’t have to be made for a kitchen or bathroom to look good. Try bringing something in from another room to see how it works.

If you have additional floor space in your kitchen, you may consider adding comfortable seating. A couple of rocking chairs or even a small love seat can make the kitchen a more relaxing space. This is a traditional decorating idea from when the kitchen was the warmest place in the house, and everyone wanted to sit around the hearth on a winter day. Now, it’s a great way to relax while the bread is in the oven or to visit with whoever is preparing dinner.

Bedroom Redecorating Ideas

Bedrooms, whether they are the master or a guest room, offer a lot of options for redecorating. Start by looking for different ways to rearrange the furniture. Maybe the bed can be repositioned to face the other direction, and the dressers can be moved. You may want to add a night stand and lamp to the side of the bed, too.

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Most people like to read or watch TV in bed, so you’ll want to accommodate that in your new arrangement. With reading materials and electronic equipment, bedrooms can get rather cluttered. This could be a good time to get an armoire to hide the TV and other components. Having the right dressing table or jewelry armoire will also help you hide some of the other clutter in the bedroom.

Of course, if you really want to change the look of a cluttered bedroom, move items that don’t really belong, like the treadmill and the ironing board, to another room in the house. This will make your bedroom a more relaxing place to be. It will also free up some space for more comfortable furniture. You might want to add an upholstered reading chair and floor lamp to give your bedroom a luxury hotel feeling.

You can continue that luxury hotel feel with new bed linens. A down comforter or a new quilt and matching pillow shams will freshen the look in your bedroom or guest room.

Adding color to the room is also easy with new linens. Even just a few extra throw pillows on the bed and the chair will change the look and make the space feel more luxurious.

Redecorating Family Rooms for the New Year

The casual rooms in your house probably get more use than any others. The game room, the man cave and the media room are where you entertain yourself and your family. You want to be able to lounge around comfortably in these spaces, so this is where you want to make a big impact when redecorating.

The game room where the kids hang out and entertain their friends is a good place to start the New Year’s redecorating. Cleaning and de-cluttering this space will make a huge difference — watching a movie on TV is a lot more relaxing in a room that has been de-cluttered. You may want to add a chest to store toys and games out of sight. With some big pillows, the surface of the chest could also provide extra seating.

If the couch in the game room is worn out, you might as well get a new one. The couch is a big item, and you won’t be able to change the look of the room with the same old tired couch in the middle of it. Another way to redecorate, though, is to add a colored throw and some pillows to the couch. That will bring in some new color and disguise the old couch.

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As the kids get older, you might want to consider adding a table to one corner of the room for board games. Also, it may be fun for the kids to have a pizza party with their friends in the game room, and a table would provide an easy eating surface.

Many of these same redecorating ideas could apply to the man cave where it may also be time for a new couch or table. In the man cave, however, the bar area may also need attention. You may consider adding a bar or wine cabinet to change the look of the room a little. Fine cabinetry can add some style and practical storage space to one corner of the man cave.

If your man cave doubles as an office, you may need additional file cabinets. Keeping the clutter out of sight will make the room more inviting for relaxing with friends or unwinding at the end of the day. A file cabinet can double as an additional surface to put drinks or snacks on, too. Adding some wall-hangings that represent favorite items like motorcycles, sports or hunting could also enhance the décor.

Many times, people skip the décor in the media room because it is all about the electronic equipment. However, adding some style to your media room is a great way to redecorate inexpensively. Choosing a rich color to paint the walls will add to the theater-style ambiance and can help darken the room even during the day for easier TV viewing.

Chances are the media room is also full of CDs, DVDs, video games and other items that can contribute to a cluttered look. Take an inventory of all of the stuff in the media room, and then find a dresser, bookcase or media cabinet to store them in. Incorporating wood furniture is a great way to create a more high-end look in the space, while still keeping it casual and comfortable. You may even be able to borrow pieces from other rooms in your house to see how they’ll work.

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Seating, of course, is a primary concern in the media room. No matter how many chairs you have, you could always use one more. Big, comfy seating takes up a lot of space, but you may be able to squeeze in a smaller, accent chair. Increasing the seating capacity in your media room might be a nice upgrade for the New Year.

Home Decorating for New Year’s 2016

The new year is a great time to make a plan for redecorating your home. If you want to redecorate, resolve to take an organized approach and go room by room to get it done. Adding color, rearranging furniture, increasing seating capacity, reducing clutter and adding new pieces to store your stuff are some easy goals for your redecorating projects. It will be a sure way to get a fresh look for your family and guests in 2016.

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