Smart Home Decorating: Things that Make Your Home Interiors Look Cheap

“Your home should tell the story of who you are, and be a collection of what you love”-Nate Berkus

One of the excellent ways to home our creativity is to decorate the interiors of our homes.

The possibilities of expressing ourselves are practically endless and the ways you can create a home fit to your liking are limitless. In this regard, home decorating can be seen as an avenue to convey our artistic thoughts and transform them into expressions in furniture placement and décor application. However, most homeowners are under the misconception that decorating their homes is an expensive endeavor. Consequently, they would then cut corners in a misguided attempt to mitigate home decorating costs and still end up with a home that is passably beautiful at the very least. Unfortunately, while you might be saving yourself some serious cash in cutting corners, you are also inadvertently compromising the overall aesthetic quality of your homes. The result of a home that is cheaply decorated (and with too many corners cut) would be anything but beautiful.

Keep in mind that interior decorating does not always have to be expensive. And the best part of all this is that a cheap-looking home is not actually synonymous to a cheaply decorated home. There is a myriad of ways you can decorate your home for cheap and end up with an elegantly sophisticated result without breaking the bank—you just need to be extra careful about what you buy and how to apply it. Remember, regardless of what your decorating budget might be your main goal should always to improve your home’s interiors and beauty. More importantly, you should endeavor to create an aesthetically inviting and pleasing space that would beckon you inside. Create a space that makes you anticipate coming home instead of dread it. So, whether you are decorating your condominiumin Ortigas Center or elsewhere, here are some of the things you might want to avoid applying in your interiors if you do not want your homes to look cheap:

Mass produced art

One of the integral elements of a well-decorated home is art--more importantly, a homeowner’s particular taste in art. Unfortunately, a collection mass-produced art that often comes cheap do not emulate the same effect as artworks that are uniquely curated and chosen. Even worse, it can greatly cheapen the interiors of your home as well. An original piece of artwork can do wonders even in a simply decorated room when appropriately applied. However, if you are unable to afford original artworks and paintings, look around in websites such as Etsy which would make it possible for you to afford original and unique art at any budget. Alternatively, if you have a keen eye for decorating and would like to attempt the DIY route, you can even choose to do your own original artwork. This novel idea would then inject a bit of originality into your homes and make it look even more beautiful.

Overstuffed Entryway

The minimalist approach is the way to go. Keep your entryways tidy and devoid of too much stuff as it tends to create visual noise. More importantly, make sure that the objects in your entryway are organized and clean. To make this possible, you should apply as little décor and furniture as possible. Entryways should look sophisticated and polished. Remember, this gives visitors a brief impression of what the rest of the house looks like. So, in this regard, make an excellent impression by investing only in a select few pieces of functional furniture and original artwork. While you may want to keep the place beautiful, it should still be functional first and foremost.

Overdone Themes

Themes are great and they are an excellent way for providing cohesion in the décor and furniture items you buy. However, overdoing them is another thing. You might have wanted a nautical themed living room but trust us when we say that is going to look tacky. After all, it is not like the room is solely for the use of a thirteen year old. In this regard, it might be best to replace decorating themes with decorating styles which is an entirely different space. One of the fastest ways you can cheapen any space is to have too much of one thing. Yes, you love the beach and plan on putting ocean themed accents in your living room but a little too much of it would give off the vibe of a themed motel room. Skip the theme and insert a bit of panache by opting to do styles instead.

Rug that is too small

A rug that is too small would be easily overwhelmed by other objects and furniture in the room. More importantly, it would somehow be telling of how you cannot afford an even bigger rug for which you opted with the much smaller one. Sometimes, a rug might be an extraneous décor. Sure, it can go with everything in your living room but the size seems off and would consequently make the rug feel like an afterthought. In any case, if you are committed to adding a rug, be sure to pick one that fits right under your furniture so that it does not appear as if it is just floating in the room. Be careful not to choose one that is too large as well or it would make your homes look too full.

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Home Organizing Endeavors: Five Decluttering Techniques We Can Learn from Marie Kondo

“For the longest time, I thought I needed to be more organized. Now I know I just needed less stuff”-Author Unknown

If someone told me that a show about sprucing up and organizing homes would be such a hit series, I would dismiss them as raving lunatics.

And yet here we are, craving for the next season of Netflix’s innovative, albeit unconventional series: Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. Capitalizing on her book series (and presently, TV series) Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant who shows us alternative home organizing methods that do work. The fact that the series is such a big hit amongst homeowners can give us two key takeaways: Primarily that many homeowners struggle with the general mess and clutter in their holds. Secondly, alternative methods—no matter how unconventional-- do work. While Marie Kondo already made waves with her book, she garnered international acclaim and fame through her Netflix series and sent homeowners and netizens all over the world in a cleaning frenzy and a decluttering craze.

In sum, the book’s radical cleaning method can be broken down in a two-pronged approached to tidying. First, you have to take stock of everything you own which means you have to put your hands on everything that you own. Ask yourself whether a particular item sparks joy and if it does not, thank it for its service and get rid of it. Second, when everything that has remained sparks joy then put every item in a place where it is visible, accessible and easy to grab and put back. As a result, you will then experience the nirvana of housekeeping and may never have to clean again. So, if you have any cleaning endeavors lined up for the week, you might want to take a leaf out of Marie Kondo’s book and apply it in sprucing up your homes or your ready for occupancycondo in Ortigas. Here are some of the critical takeaways of her book that you can apply in your cleaning method:

Tackle categories, not rooms

In lieu of tackling clutter by room, do it by category instead. While this technique may seem more overwhelming than simply going room to room and getting rid of the clutter, it yields better results. Kondo’s first rule is to tidy by category. Deal with every single item in a category before you proceed to the next one. Start with the least emotionally loaded household item you have: your clothes. From there, you can work your way up until such time that your homes are devoid of unwanted items.

Respect your belongings

You might have been content seeing your clothes squashed together and looking like a general heap of messiness. Kondo’s technique is to consider your household belongings’ feelings: Do they like being mashed together? Are your clothes happy that they are being crowded onto hangers or that they have seemingly no space? It might not occur to you now, but it might just be that your things are seemingly discontent with the general disarray of everything.

Do not cling onto items because you are nostalgic

Nostalgia is not your friend. Yes, some items spark fond and nostalgic memories that make you reminisce of good times, but they are rarely worth it. Focus on only one category and do not get laid by sentimental feelings by recalling the good days you had with a particular household item. You might ask yourself what the point in purging your closets is. More importantly, you might even ask yourself if you can manage with little clothes. However, do not fret. While it might seem like a significantly big and sudden change, you will manage.

Fold. Do not hang

Once you have properly sorted all of the things you wish to keep and discarded the ones you wish to get rid of, it is time to organize what is left. More often than not, our first instinct when it comes to our clothes is to hang them immediately. However, hanging every article of clothing can quickly spiral down to having closets bursting at the seams with clothes. This is because hanging clothes takes less time than deliberately and meticulously folding them. However, Kondo suggests that you fold your clothes using her special technique which would not only save you space but would actually take you less time to complete as well.

Any box will do

A rather unfortunate occurrence that happens in most cleaning endeavors is that people would seem to think that the lack of appropriate storage is a setback which can really waylay your plans. But the truth is tidying up your home does have to mean several trips to the storage store and purchasing more storage items. Doing so would be counterintuitive and would only add to the clutter. Do not get hung up about the lack of storage space as practically any box will do. Marie Kondo even uses a shoebox to organize bedroom and bathroom items. Take note: If you need more storage items, you might have an unreasonable amount of clutter left behind.  

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