Making Your Home More Elegant In Five Easy Steps
We all want to try to bring a little more elegance into our lives.
At the moment we’re being bombarded with Christmas and all the glitter and wild decorations that come with it. While that’s great, and extremely exciting and fun, it’s also a little overwhelming, especially when bright colours aren’t our usual style. Here are five tips for you to focus on after Christmas, to make your home more elegant when the holidays are over.
Declutter Your Surfaces
Tidy away the Christmas presents that have been discarded by your kids, clear up the final scraps of wrapping paper, recycle all the Christmas cards. If you’re having problems figuring out what exactly you should be throwing away, take the queen of tidying Marie Kondo’s advice, and get rid of possessions that don’t spark joy in you.
Go For Neutrals
A neutral palette is the best way to turn your home into an elegant clean slate where you can try out as many different ideas as you want. Although magnolia used to be the wall colour of choice, it’s no longer particularly fashionable – instead go for off white or pale grey for a cool, crisp look that means you can add your own splashes of colour in your rooms without it turning into something a little too overwhelming.
Accessorize Less
Coco Chanel said "before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off". This fashion advice also applies to interior design. Remember less is more and go for clean surfaces, sharp edges and neutral colours. Ornate isn’t really in any more if you’re going for a modern look. When you think you’re done with a room, remove one colour or one item. Whether that’s a gaudily coloured throw pillow or a painting you never really liked, you’ll be pleasantly astonished at the incredible difference it will make to your space.
Add Artwork
A few pieces of carefully selected artwork can do wonders for your home. Choose prints by your favourite artists or buy oil reproductions if you’re looking for a little texture in the art in your home. Black and white photography usually looks extremely striking, and you could also look for some sculptures to take centre stage in your rooms. For true elegance, the artwork shouldn’t take over the space – rather, it should add to it, and complement the rest of your home.
Make It Comfortable And Luxe
The most important thing about elegance is that it should also be comfortable. The woman in lower, comfortable heels automatically looks more elegant than the woman wearing high heels and wincing all night long – you know which one you’d rather be! Make sure that your home is comfortable – add throw pillows to your couch and make sure when you’re buying chairs that they’re ones that you’re actually comfortable to sit on for an extended period of time. Buy a large fake fur throw for the couch: it’ll look great and it’ll be extremely warm and cozy to snuggle up under on long winter nights.
