Personalizing Your Space

Thanks to sub-zero temperatures, much of the country is homebound in January. Being stuck indoors, it’s become an after-holiday tradition to redecorate the home in which the winter has made you a prisoner. While that’s not an issue in sunny, warm Arizona, January is still a good time to look at your living space, no matter how beautiful, and consider changing it up with a fresh look for the new year.

Personalizing Your Space
 

Here are some simple ideas to personalize your home:

Bookcases
Not often used for books anymore, bookcases are excellent venues for displaying decorative items that tell a story about you and your family. Photos, souvenirs, vases, miniatures, lamps, clocks, or seashells can all become attractive displays. You can create a theme or mix it up. Paint the bookshelves in bright colors, in black and white, with metallic paint, or wallpaper the back of shelves. Put a bookshelf in your bathroom to hold towels and potpourri. Let the artist in you take over. You can’t make a mistake.

Lighting
Nothing changes the look of a room like a change in lighting. Each room should have three light sources. You already have beautiful overhead, track and pendant lighting, so add area, table, or floor lamps, and ambient, candle, sconce, or decorative lighting. Use dimmers to instantly change the mood in a room. Experiment with different lampshades by altering the color or shape of the shade. Different types of light bulbs use different parts of the spectrum to bathe a room in a subtle warm red or a cool blue. Discover which hue suits each room best. A light’s intensity can also change the look and feel of a room.

Area Rugs
Buy a few small, area rugs for your living space. Area rugs can define space by creating an island on which chairs, sofas, or tables are placed. They can be an attention-grabber at an entryway, or they can brighten a dark hallway. Area rugs can contrast with their surroundings or can blend with other room colors. When buying area rugs, consider the look you’re trying to achieve, the size you’ll need, and the type of wear the rug will undergo.

It’s the Little Things
Buy a variety of colored bottles to put on windowsills or countertops; install an interesting shower curtain; find a cool bedspread; get different types of pillows to scatter around your living area. Little changes in everyday items can cumulatively create a major change in your décor.

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