Hi Everyone! I don't know about you, but I always feel like our home
looks so sad and empty once we take down the Christmas tree and all the
holiday decorations. Everything seems so bare and dark without the
twinkling lights and the colorful ornaments, and the cold, gray weather
outside doesn't help much! This time of year is when winter starts to
drag on, at least for me, and feels like it's going to last forever.
I've been trying to brighten up our living room a little bit this week,
adding in some warmth and color with a few simple touches and wanted to
share a couple of simple tips with you today!
Bring in warm colors.
You don't necessarily need to change the wall colors or buy new
furniture in order to bring in some warmth into your living room. You
can bring it in with small accent pieces and little pops of color around
the room. This will close the space in a little bit and make it feel
cozier and friendlier. Add warm colors (I used browns, yellows and
golds) through throw pillows, blankets and throws placed on armchairs
and couches, flowers, candles and other decorative accents. We have a
lot of white furniture in our home, so I'm always trying to bring in
some more color, but if you don't have any white pieces, that's another
way to brighten your space up.
Bring in more light.
Literally brighten up your living room. Do this by adding in extra light
fixtures like small lamps on end tables, changing out your light bulbs
for ones that give off white light (not yellow light) and adding candles
that will add soft mood lighting in the evenings. Lamps can also be
great decor pieces and if you pick ones with metallic or reflective
bases, they will reflect even more light and create the illusion of
being even brighter.
Bring the outside inside.
What I mean by this is bring in some fresh accents into your home.
Things inside your home can feel so dead and sterile during the winter
when you can't leave the windows open to get fresh air in because it's
too cold, and there isn't much greenery outside your windows. So to
bring more life and warmth back in, get some colorful fresh cut flowers
and place them in fun vases, or use big bowls of fruit in a single color
(limes, apples, oranges, lemons) for a fun pop of color!
Bring in some mirrors.
Mirrors are a great tool to use because they serve two purposes. Use
large mirrors to reflect light by hanging or leaning them against places
where they will catch as much light as possible. This will not only
brighten the room up, but it will also make it look bigger. Hang the
mirror near a window or opposite a window for the best effect. Either
use a big mirror with a fun, statement frame, or if you don't have a
large mirror, use several small ones and create a theme throughout the
room, or use them all on the same wall and create a collage out of them
to add some interest. This way, the mirror(s) also double up as decor
pieces!
Bring in happy memories.
I have moved so many times in my life, both with my parents, on my own,
and with my husband. I have moved countries and continents, and know
that moving can be very stressful and overwhelming! Setting up a new
home can be both exciting, but also difficult if you have a lot of
things to move and take care of, or if you're having a hard time being
in a new place. After all of our moving around, I've found that you can
also "mentally" brighten up a room, and it does almost as much as the
physical brightening will. To do this, fill the room with happy
reminders of family, friends and good memories. Use pictures, things you
bought on your travels, family treasures that have been passed down to
you, your favorite books and other meaningful objects that will brighten
your day as you look at them. I love this quote that says, "A room
should feel collected... not decorated", because that's what a home
should be. A collection of your life so far.
