9 Quick Ways to Refresh a Room
These projects to perk up your interiors don’t require much time or money
When you long to freshen up a room but your hours or funds are limited, consider one or more of these speedy little projects. By dabbling in DIY or simply switching things around, you may be able to satisfy the urge for a new look without having to commit to a full-on makeover.
2. Bring in greenery. No time to dash to the florist? Head outside to gather an armful of greenery and arrange it in a big vase for an instant injection of color.
Use whatever’s in season — blossoms in spring, lush foliage in summer, evergreens in autumn and even bare twigs in winter. If you don’t fancy the idea of one big vase, try arranging a few stems in a collection of smaller vessels instead.
Find vases to match your decor
Use whatever’s in season — blossoms in spring, lush foliage in summer, evergreens in autumn and even bare twigs in winter. If you don’t fancy the idea of one big vase, try arranging a few stems in a collection of smaller vessels instead.
Find vases to match your decor
3. Lay a rug in the kitchen. If you’ve been flirting with the idea of a kitchen rug, borrow one from another room to test it out. Maybe you even have one rolled up somewhere because it no longer goes with your living room color scheme.
Either way, the trial run won’t take long, so, if you like the effect, you can spend a little extra time browsing rugs online to make one a more permanent fixture.
Either way, the trial run won’t take long, so, if you like the effect, you can spend a little extra time browsing rugs online to make one a more permanent fixture.
4. Rearrange the furniture. It’s easy to become “room blind” when you’ve lived somewhere for a while, so try moving furniture from one space to another to get a different look.
This easy chair is in a bedroom, but it also could work in a kitchen. Or try swapping a side table for a bedside cabinet, or moving lamps into different rooms or even just to a different area of the same room.
This easy chair is in a bedroom, but it also could work in a kitchen. Or try swapping a side table for a bedside cabinet, or moving lamps into different rooms or even just to a different area of the same room.
5. Add hooks. Whether to display pretty items or store necessities like coats and mugs, hooks easily change the look of a space. Since this branch rests on the shelf supports, with S-hooks hanging off it, there wasn’t even any need to get out the drill.
6. Hang a strip of wallpaper. Papering a whole room in an hour or so might be pushing it, but a narrow strip is doable. A powder room like this is an ideal place to experiment, but a narrow wall or alcove in a hallway, bathroom or kid’s room would work well too.
Browse wallpaper
Browse wallpaper
7. Paint a door. Give an interior door a rubdown with sandpaper to prepare the surface and then add an unexpected splash of color with a coat of paint.
8. Show off a collection. A few hooks on the wall — that’s all it took to elevate, literally and figuratively, this collection of baskets. Plates or framed paintings, postcards or photos can all get a new lease on life when taken off the shelf and put on the wall, so grab a drill and get to work. If the pieces you want to hang are reasonably light, you could even use removable Command hooks.
An Insider’s Guide to Creating the Perfect Gallery Wall
An Insider’s Guide to Creating the Perfect Gallery Wall
9. Shuffle display items. Have you had the same knickknacks on the sideboard for so long that you never even notice them anymore? Look at your surroundings with fresh eyes and enjoy moving things about. Regroup, swap stuff around or bring in items from a different room for an easy way to update your design.
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A slim shelf and nightstand painted the same color enhance the effect.
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