It’s a new year, and whether you’re ready to move into a new home or just want to make your current home look fresh, home bloggers are ready to help you with your decorating and organizing resolutions. Organization projects help you declutter and restore order to everything from home offices to laundry rooms. New decorating ideas chase away winter doldrums and get your home ready for a bright new year. Home staging tips turn your favorite room into a showcase for the furniture and accessories you already own.
Closets aren’t something everyone sees, so it’s easy to let them get disorganized; if clutter gets too overwhelming, you can just shut the closet door. For Christy at Confessions of a Serial Do-It-Yourselfer, that was never an option. Her home’s original bare-bones storage wasn’t conducive to stylish organization and storage, so she made DIY designer closets her project for the new year. In her step-by-step blog post, she details how she transformed her small walk-in into a decorator’s dream space with shelving, rods and baskets. Even in a compact space –- her closet is about 6 feet deep and 4 feet wide -– you can find plenty of room for storage when you make the most of every inch. When everything has a place, organization is simple, and it starts with great storage solutions.
Closets are great for staying neat, but when you’re ready for something that lets you show off a room, putting color front and center might be more your style. At Bella Home Staging, Jennifer has a lavishly illustrated blog post on incorporating orange as part of your home decor. The cheerful color is perfect for counteracting nature’s neutral late winter palette of gray skies, white snow and bare brown branches. Surprisingly versatile, orange can give a room retro charm or look as sleek and modern as a museum piece. It can go as bold or as subtle as you like when you bring softer sherbet and peach shades into the mix. From rich spice hues that add depth to a color scheme to fresh citrus shades that liven up a kitchen or dining area, Jennifer’s suggestions could inspire you to add a splash of orange to any room in your home.
Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick is also getting ready for the rest of winter with an upgrade to an essential piece of furniture: the mud room bench. She’s making her bench herself from unfinished cabinets and enough lumber to create a base. When she’s done, the bench will serve as a place to sit and tug on a pair of galoshes for rainy days or to lace up heavy winter boots. It’s also a storage area with room for gardening supplies, extra shoes, seasonal sporting equipment and anything else she needs to keep close at hand yet out of the way. Not content to stop with her new bench, she also explains how to hang the bead-board she’s using on the surrounding walls. It’s still a work in progress and hasn’t yet been painted, but for fellow do-it-yourselfers, seeing projects underway can be as inspirational as a before-and-after shot.
Some bloggers are thinking ahead to spring, planning now for sunny afternoons and longer days. Rhoda at Southern Hospitality had a modest front porch on her Atlanta home but wanted a graceful portico to add curb appeal and welcome guests with a beautiful new entryway. She details how her building crew created her new porch and added details such as molding and columns for more visual impact. She isn’t finished with the project until the weather cooperates, but even in its bare-bones state, it serves as a great inspiration for anyone who wants to make a statement that’s visible from the street. Even if you aren’t planning on building a new porch, her decorating pictures could give you some great ideas for your own home’s entrance.
Curb appeal is important if you want to sell, but what’s on the inside counts for more. At the Rooms in Bloom home design and staging blog, discover why a room that appeals to all your buyers’ senses is the smartest kind of staging. Add visual interest with color and pattern, give buyers something to touch and let them feel how the room flows to entice them. The illustrations in the blog come from model homes in new subdivisions, but they illustrate concepts you can use when decorating a converted Victorian home, mid-century ranch house or newly built home of your own. Combining modern style with classic elements and paying attention to layout are some of Rooms in Bloom’s keys to successful staging. New homes can often feel a bit empty, so staging tips are especially handy for new owners moving into larger spaces.
Magazines are wonderful for finding home design inspiration, but what do you do with them when you’re done? If you’re like Kelly of My Soulful Home, you amass stacks of them, so you can use them as references, then forget where you read that great tip. She’s ready to make a clean break with her magazines, music and DVDs by condensing the information she can’t live without and recycling or donating the rest. Clipping and saving that fantastic pecan pie recipe or those do-it-yourself shelving suggestions lets you keep the useful parts of magazines you’ve enjoyed while freeing space in baskets and cabinets. Make this weekend your time to go through your house and shed all the ephemeral items you no longer use or need. Her post on reducing magazine clutter is just part of a series on editing your life, so check back with Kelly to see where she gets organized next.
Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage knows how important it is to give everything its own place if you want an organized home. She has a great simple suggestion for making your own fabric bins for small items around the house. Designer fabric baskets and bins can be costly, but with three easy-to-find materials, Gina shows you how to make bins that are the perfect shape and size to fit any space. She uses a spare box as a form, but you could use these straightforward instructions to wrap fabric around a round canister, create artistic folds of fabric or make freehand designs with cloth and fabric stiffener
Getting and staying organized isn’t just for adults. Kids also benefit from being part of the household’s normal chore routine, but they don’t always remember to complete the tasks they’re assigned. Jen at Tater Tots and Jello has an eye-catching suggestion that kids and parents will love with her chore chart using mason jars and craft sticks. The system lets kids see at a glance which chores still need doing and which have been completed. You don’t have to be a kid to appreciate a practical chore-tracking system, so if you tend to get your laundry days and vacuuming days confused, you might try this system too.
Get 2014 started right by getting organized, beautifying your surroundings and creating a more serene home. With decluttering and decorating tips that transform any space, you may already be living in your dream home. Discover how you can enjoy a new home in the new year even if you’re staying in the same place.
To Our Featured Authors
Congratulations! If your article was featured in our weekly roundup then we consider you a Smart Blogger Award winner. This award is our way of honoring you for publishing high quality content on the web. We chose your article because it reflects a deep knowledge in your discipline and provides great and insightful information. In appreciation for your excellent work, please feel free to embed these badges to your website so that your readers will know that you’re an award winning writer as well as an expert in your field. Thank you.
Copy and paste this code to your website:
Copy and paste this code to your website:
Click here to find great tips on how to make the most of this award.
