On rainy days, we especially lack light and warmth. How to make your home cozy and light without undertaking repairs? Here are five simple tips to help you make your apartment’s transformation effortless. Our consultant is a designer-architect of the “Architectural group 888”, a participant of the “School of Repair” program at TNT Daria Kunavina.
February 12 2014
We almost always look at the windows of our apartment when we approach the house. It is the windows that greet us first. So let’s make the meeting enjoyable.
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First of all, say goodbye to New Year’s illuminations and dark winter curtains. Choose curtains in warm fall colors. Give preference to fabrics in lingonberry, orange or wine shades. They radiate warmth.
To make the windows elegant and cozy, decorate the cornice with curly flowers, ikebana of dried flowers. Take a Christmas pine wreath as an example and make a similar one out of dry twigs, leaves, and ribbons.
You can transform the appearance of windows using flower frames. In winter they are usually empty, and in vain. They can be filled with the same dried flowers or artificial flower arrangements. Today, such decorative elements are not uncommon and are sold in many stores.
Bright warm light helps to wake up and invigorate. In winter, it is practically absent. However, no one bothers us to bring the sun into the apartment and arrange our own summer.
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Textile lampshades and floor lamps are much better than their plastic counterparts, they transmit light and are easy to transform. Having bought such a lampshade, you can cover it yourself with a warm fabric. The main thing is to choose the right texture. Velvet and corduroy eat up the light, so stick with cotton and silk.
If you arrange the trim of the lamps in the same range as the curtains and cushions, the light will spread evenly and brightly around the room.
By the way, do not limit yourself to one chandelier in the room and the central lampshade in the kitchen. Lighting above the kitchen or work table, a small lamp on the coffee table or near your favorite armchair will add coziness to your home.
Don’t want to make your interior boring? Say no to beige
Few people start repairs in winter. But if you really want bright changes, you can transform the apartment with the help of the interior. Such changes will not require a lot of time, effort and expense.
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Feel free to experiment. Even a sad old wardrobe can be made newer by wallpapering it over and decorating it with decorative elements.
Let’s say you’re tired of an old sofa. Do not rush to buy a new one, give your furniture a second life by changing its upholstery. Buy a ready-made cover or cover the sofa, chairs and armchairs yourself. Are you afraid of not coping with the fitting of furniture, but you want new details? Start simple: decorate the boring parquet floor with a new carpet, hang curtains instead of doors in the doorway, place floor vases filled with dried flowers or cones on the sides. Highlight travel photos to remind you of summer. If the sight of bare walls makes you bored, select photographs of your favorite paintings by famous artists and print them on canvases. This service is now in vogue and is available in almost any photo pavilion.
If you like frequent changes, give preference to paintable wallpaper. Once you get tired of the color of the walls, you can easily and quickly change it. Choose the color scheme of the wallpaper, not based on the dogma “green relaxes”, but according to your inner feelings. Don’t want to make your interior boring? Say no to beige, it is found in 95% of apartments. To make the room more spacious, get rid of dark, bulky items, for example, huge sofas. Most often, such furniture is used only half, but it eats up space great.
Your home is your fortress. And this fortress should be pleasant to you not only to the sight, but also to the touch. Therefore, when choosing interior details, pay attention to their texture. Nice things are associated with warmth and comfort.
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Leather and lacquered furniture, as well as accessories made from these materials, give off cold and bring office style to the apartment. Interior details should be made of natural coatings (not synthetic fabrics, not varnished wood), matte texture. If you like to spend evenings reading a book in your favorite armchair, let this armchair have a warm blanket, velvet or chenille upholstery, and cushions and lamps covered with cotton or silk. Add wood details – lamps, coasters, Provence style trays in white, beige or faded blue.
In winter, when it’s gray and cold outside, we really miss nature and greenery. You can look forward to spring and look at bright pictures, or you can invite nature to you.
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Small live Christmas trees in pots are an option not only for celebrating the New Year. Such a plant can delight you all year round. Just put the Christmas tree on the table and decorate not with toys, but with flowers.
Indoor flowers do not have to live on a windowsill and hide behind curtains. Create a green area at the front door or room door. Buy a couple of tall trees in stable pots and place them on the sides. So your door will be framed by green “columns”. Are you worried that your plants won’t have enough light? Attach phytolamps over them, and the trees will grow well in the dark zone.