5 Things to Do to Freshen Up Your Home in the New Year

“New Year, New You”…you may have heard this common saying when the month of January rolls around yet again for the beginning of a new calendar year. People usually take this time to set goals they want to accomplish in the next 12 months. It’s also a great time to take a look around your home and think about what tweaks you’d like to make to create a more liveable, user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing environment. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Create a Disorganization Hotspot

We all have a spot in our home where the stacks of papers end up. Instead of having one large stack of unsightly papers, invest in a decorative acrylic desktop file box with folders for each common type of paper that lays around your house: bills, kids’ school papers, recipes/meal planning, mail, etc. Teach every member of the household to use it. Create an ongoing organization system as a way to deal with paper clutter.

2. Rearrange Your Furniture

We’ve all been spending a lot more time at home the last couple of years thanks to the pandemic, and our eyes may have gotten tired of staring at the same room setups. Why not sit down and create new furniture arrangements for several high-use rooms. Sometimes rearranging furniture makes you feel like you’re in a whole new house!

3. Update Your Lighting

Lighting can change the entire feel of a room. If low ceilings or lack of space is causing your room to feel cramped and claustrophobic, large table or floor lamps and wall lighting can be used to throw light (and the eye) upwards, opening up the area around them. Accent lighting is another innovative method that can easily be employed to emphasize certain areas of a room in order to draw the eye to a specific focal point. Colored lighting can give a warm feel to a room. Whatever change you’re looking for, updating your lighting will definitely refresh a room.

4. Clean Out Your Kitchen

A kitchen accumulates lots of small items: a juicer you had to have during that juice diet a couple years ago, that cool set of knives you saw on an infomercial, a pizza stone you purchased from an online kitchenware party…you get the picture. Start the new year with a freshly cleaned out kitchen. Go through all your gadgets and cooking utensils. Which ones do you use frequently and which ones no longer serve you? Sell or give away those that are just taking up space. Also…take a look in your pantry. Go through all of your canned and boxed goods. Throw out any food that is past the expiration date. Put anything that you don’t think will get eaten into a box and take it to a food pantry.

5. Refresh Accessories

You don’t need to buy a whole new suite of furniture to refresh a room. Buy some new pillows and a throw blanket for the couch. Find a unique centerpiece for your coffee table. Replace your welcome mat. Paint your kitchen chairs. A little change in accents goes a long way in changing the feel of a room.

Varma Realty Group is happy to provide you with real estate tips and tricks. If you have any questions regarding listing or buying a home, please reach out to us at varun@varmarealtygroup.com.