Let’s be real for a moment. Not all of us totally and completely love our homes. We may even be in a transition between our ‘for-now’ home and our future ‘forever’ home. And that’s okay. That’s why I wanted to pop in today and encourage you by sharing my best tips on how to enjoy your home even when you don’t always love it (like me!).
~ Wherever I can, I will provide links to the products or stores mentioned, some of which are affiliate links. Should you choose to purchase through them, this blog makes a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my disclosure policy here. ~
How To Enjoy Your Home Even When You Don’t Always Love It
Confession time: I’ve lived in several places – apartments, townhouses, single dwelling homes – and I’ve never lived in what I would consider a “dream” home.
I believe that’s the case for most of us.
For many, it’s more than likely that things are deteriorating much faster than you have the time or the budget to fix or replace.
While it would be easy to love your home when you have the funds or loads of DIY skills, most of us fall somewhere in the middle.
Whether you are dealing with,
-
a cramped rental
-
scuffed up walls
-
gaping holes in walls and ceilings
-
sagging or hand-me-down furniture
-
random accessories
-
or just an outdated look
I believe we are all trying to play ‘catch up’ with our homes in one way, shape or form.
I’ve faced ALL of the above (and more).
So when it comes to decorating your home, it all seems trivial when everyday expenses and bills need to be paid.
I would argue, however, that creating a comfortable home for you or your family is never a meaningless endeavour.
Creating a home to enjoy while living within your means plays a vital part in building a “nest” not only for yourself (if you live alone), but also for your loved ones as you build a life together.
So if that resonates with you, here are some of my best tips on how to enjoy your home, even if you don’t always love it.
How to Enjoy Your Home Even When You Don’t Always Love it
Tip #1 GRATITUDE
Before finding fault with your home, think about the things you ACTUALLY LIKE about it.
Here is my list:
1. Our backyard view (pictured above): we have no backyard neighbours, a walking path, and greenspace directly behind us. It’s my favourite view from inside our house.
2. Open concept: I love how open and spacious our home feels. Not to mention, it’s nice to have a conversation with someone in the living room from the kitchen.
3. Single floor dwelling: We live in a bungalow with just one floor (plus a partially finished basement) making it much easier to clean and maintain (and I can barely keep up with even that!).
4. High ceilings: Besides being open concept, our bungalow has high, vaulted ceilings, which also helps our bungalow feel far more spacious than it actually is.
5. Garage size: While we don’t have a double garage – it’s only a one-and-a-half size – we can just squeeze in both our vehicles with room to spare. Definitely something for which we are grateful!
Reminding myself of the things that made me fall in love with our home helps me enjoy what we do have (rather than dwelling on what we don’t).
And while there are many home improvement projects that we’ve tackled over the years – including an ever-growing list for the future – I can still remain grateful for the space we have now.
Tip #2 CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
Speaking of home improvement projects, we don’t need highly specialized DIY skills to make our homes feel comfortable or beautiful.
By implementing some creative solutions, you can create interest in your home without spending a lot of money.
1. Rearrange furniture or decor to keep things feeling fresh and new.
Here are just a few examples of decor that I often re-use in different parts of my home to keep things fresh.
I also have a Seasonal Capsule Decor system with items I pull out for each holiday or season, allowing me to keep our space feeling fresh and new throughout the year.
2. If you’ve got a wall that needs love, but you can’t afford that pricey art piece, then make something for your walls using supplies you CAN afford.
Here are some examples from our home.
This lovely DIY Mixed Pampas Grass Wreath helped fill a large and very bare bathroom wall, inexpensively.
This Quick & Easy Rustic Wall Swag helped finish off this vintage-inspired gallery wall and foyer area.
Below is the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of an exceptionally long half wall in our Great Room. After some deliberation, I finally decided on this budget-friendly DIY cubby wall display that I’ve had for several years now.
Even this high impact gallery wall was reasonably priced with frames from IKEA and inexpensive art prints.
3. If your space feels drab, then you’ve probably heard this one before (and for good reason): apply a fresh coat of paint, whether it’s on a door, trim, or an entire room.
I’ve been sharing every step of the process of updating our front foyer/entry on Instagram here including the re-painting process.
The interior of our front door also got a fresh coat of paint, as I shared on Instagram and in this Door Painting 101 Tutorial here.
It takes time, but in the end, I know it will be worth the effort to make these small, budget-friendly adjustments to a once-drab space.
4. Another affordable option is to replace small fixtures or door handles to elevate your home.
One of the first things we did when we moved into our home was to replace all of our old plastic floor grates with these brushed nickel ones all throughout our main floor.
At the time, these floor grates were discounted at our local Home Depot, so I don’t know if they carry them anymore, but there are lots of other budget-friendly options to choose from.
A few other subtle swaps we’ve only recently begun to make is to replace the door knobs and handles in our foyer.
The change here is subtle, but enough to give this passage door a bit of a refresh.
In my endless journey to update our foyer, I believe it’s all the little changes that will help elevate this often-neglected area of our home.
5. Use spray paint to give household items new life, whether it’s a thrifted piece you’ve just purchased, fixtures in your home, or smaller furniture that needs a refresh.
Take this DIY that I shared on the blog using a thrifted bowl and some pinecones. This was one of my favourite ‘cheap and cheerful’ seasonal displays that year.
In the example below, I painted our foyer closet door knobs to match our new sleek passage door knob. It is a temporary measure, but it does the trick!
Sometimes, we focus all too much on the “BIG” changes, rather than those little subtle edits we can make, affordably, and with little effort.
Tip #3 WHERE TO SPLURGE & WHERE TO SAVE
For decor lovers, part of enjoying your home is creating a decorated space – whether it be minimalist or maximalist – and one that is designed within your means.
That’s why it’s important to determine what you should splurge on and what you should save on.
This is a COMPLETELY PERSONAL thing.
BUT, what I can say is that you can SAVE on a LOT MORE THAN YOU THINK.
Here are the items that are on my ‘SAVE’ list.
DECOR
Some are cheaper than others, but for the most part, I purchase the VAST MAJORITY of my decor at discount and department stores like:
HomeSense (Canada)
Structube (Canada)
Walmart
Amazon (for US site go here; for Canadian site go here)
H&M Home (for US site go here; for Canadian site go here)
Michaels (for craft supplies)
My local grocery store’s decor section
For inexpensive prints and frames, my go-to sources:
Etsy
Amazon (US site / Canadian site)
Opposite Wall
The Poster Store (or its sister company, Desenio)
Thrift stores
For craft supplies, my go-to sources:
Michaels
Etsy
Thrift stores
Any local dollar store
Don’t get me wrong on this – it can get pricey in these stores as well, BUT there are some amazing deals, too.
Take my living room: Nearly EVERY accessory comes from the stores listed above.
I truly believe that you can decorate tastefully and beautifully on a budget.
SELECT FURNITURE & TEXTILES
Before I purchase or replace any furniture or textiles (like curtains or rugs), I ALWAYS search the shops that offer my favourite styles that are also within my means.
My personal go-to online shops for this, include:
IKEA (US site / Canadian site)
Article
Wayfair (US site / Canadian site)
Amazon (US site / Canadian site)
Structube (Canada)
If you are a reader from outside Canada, you likely have some of these as well as other go-to sources, including:
Target
World Market
But sometimes, even these stores will carry items that are simply out of reach.
That’s when focusing on decor, crafts, small repairs and cosmetic changes can make a BIG difference.
At least that’s been my experience.
TIP #4: DECLUTTERING FOR A MORE ORGANIZED HOME
Most of us have heard the expression “messy home, messy mind.”
Living in a cluttered, disorganized space makes relaxation at home near impossible, and can have a significant impact on our mental health.
For me personally, my anxiety levels increase dramatically as the house gets more messy and clutter accumulates.
That’s why I’ve been on a journey these past few years to get my home decluttered and more organized.
NEED SOME TIPS TO GET STARTED? Click on the links below:
– 3 Simple Steps To A Less Cluttered Home (+ free checklist)
– 9 Hidden Storage Types We Regularly Rely On
– How To Organize a Linen Closet & Maximize Space
– Junk Drawer Organizing Tips (+ Drawer Organizers, starting from $20)
– Simple Decluttering & Organizing Ideas To Get You Motivated
It is an ongoing journey, but one that I continue to tackle, one project at a time.
If decluttering and getting your home more organized resonates with you, then I have a few other recommendations.
The following are 2 of my favourite home organization YouTubers who never cease to inspire me:
The Minimal Mom
Her content is among the most practical for me. She is a great example of the expression:
Everything In Its Place and a Place for Everything
Meaning, she strives to own ONLY what she can manage. And as the clutter builds in her own home, she will often share her specific process of downsizing, whether it’s a drawer, a closet, a surface or an entire room.
I really appreciate her straightforward, practical advice.
Clutterbug
A self-proclaimed ‘slob’ (so I can relate), this mom provides creative, budget-friendly solutions for organizing the items you already have. I particularly love her “one size does not fit all” approach to showing her clients how to declutter and get their homes organized. Her “Organizing Styles” quiz was a real confirmation about my personal organizing style (I’m a Ladybug!) and why some advice online doesn’t resonate with me personally.
You can check out her organizing style quiz here.
BONUS Recommendation:
While not totally unrelated, staying on top of our cleaning chores can also go a long way towards enjoying our homes. So if you’re feeling particularly motivated, you may want to check out the Clean My Space YouTube channel, which provides practical cleaning advice on every subject from the most efficient way to clean a bathroom, kitchen or bedroom to how to clean a mattress, sink, garbage pail (true!), and much more.
She has every conceivable kind of cleaning advice right here on her channel!
FINAL THOUGHTS
With social media showing us impossibly “perfect spaces,” it’s hard not to feel like our homes “just don’t measure up.”
So I hope these tips on how to enjoy your home even when you don’t always love it, can help you find creative, achievable solutions to loving the home you have.
PIN Now & Save for Later!
If you enjoyed this post, check out these others from A Pretty Fix:
No Comments