- Keep The Big Picture in Mind: Home decoration starts with a solid concept. Whether you are going for a total makeover or are just adjusting some details, never lose sight of the big picture. Before you start it’s important to have a concept in mind: a particular style or atmosphere that you want to create. This will serve as your guiding principle. Recurring colors, motifs or handles are easy ways to bring unity and harmony in your home.
- Make It Warm & Welcoming: Large open spaces that melt into one another create a spacious feeling. To prevent the room from becoming too impersonal and cold you can make cozy corners with pillows & bookshelves.
- Choose One Type of Flooring: Different types of flooring can look too busy. This holds true for large spaces but also for more traditional homes with multiple rooms. Be consequent and use one and the same floor covering throughout the house.
- Combine Different Colors & Materials: The choice of materials largely determines the overall appearance of your interior. A limited number of colors and materials creates peace and atmosphere. Warm-colored wood a rough wall in slate or a soft wool carpet transform your house into a warm nest. Combine dark flooring or furniture with white walls or vice versa.
- Bring in Natural Light: Natural daylight is a free source of atmosphere we should all take advantage of. Bear in mind that natural light which falls in from above is always the brightest and most pleasant.
- Try White: If you are still in doubt about the color palette, lighting plan or furniture placement in your home, try this little trick: paint everything in white and live in the house for a while. After a while you will notice dark corners, walls that need decorating and the best place for that trendy sofa.
- Show Off Ur Books: Books bring life to a room. Therefore don’t hide your library behind closed doors but let it be part of your interior. Other personal and decorative items can have the same effect. Think about a beautiful vase or candle on the table or a bunch of soft pillows on the sofa. Just remember, less is more. One well-chosen eye catcher is much better than a motley collection of knick knacks.
- Consider installing solar panels. Although solar heating has been used to warm homes for thousands of years, solar panels are totally modern and very green.
- Replace all the standard light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent ones.
- Roof improvements. Believe it or not, research indicates that roof color and the type of material used can help to lower attic temperatures. Light colored tile roofs out perform the shingle ones when it comes to decreasing temperatures.
- Don't waste water. Check your home carefully for leaky faucets and get them repaired as quickly as possible.
- Install low flow shower-heads.
- Clean out your air conditioner filters or replace them regularly.
- Install glass doors for your fireplace. Glass doors are safer than fireplace screens. They also reduce the amount of heat that escapes through the chimney from your home.
- Use power strips for your home computers. Even after you turn off your computer, power continues to flow to peripherals like printers and scanners. Power strips prevent the energy from being wasted.
