Design Tips That Can Instantly Make Any Room in Your House Look More Elegant

Your home is the one place that you know you can always go to relax at the end of each day. Your home should be an oasis, but you should also feel comfortable enough to entertain your family and friends without worrying about whether a room is outdated. When your home needs an update, consider these design tips that will give any room an air of elegance that people notice.

Paint an Accent Wall a Darker Color

Dark paint colors add an air of sophistication that makes any room more interesting. Currently, royal blue, slate gray, and charcoal are trending colors that you can use to update living rooms, kitchen and bathrooms. While an accent wall is the easiest way to try out a darker shade, you can also paint the whole room to make it even more glamorous.

Install Hardwood Floors

Outdated carpet makes your house look shabby, and people’s eyes tend to go straight to the floor since it is one of the largest surfaces in a room. If your house has old linoleum, tile, or carpet, then consider upgrading to a hardwood floor. Wood floors are classic, and they come in a variety of shades that you can choose from to create the look you want.

Add New Light Fixtures

Pendant lighting gives an instant sense of glamor since it directs the light right where you want it to go, such as on top of a granite countertop. However, you’ll also want to explore how other types of light fixtures can increase the elegance of a room. Consider placing a floor lamp near a chair to create a reading area in your bedroom. You can also place two matching lamps on end tables by the couch to make the decorating scheme more cohesive.

Place Decorative Pieces Strategically

A few conversation pieces that reflect your style round out any room. In the living room, consider placing an interesting vase on the mantle or side table. You’ll also want to choose wall art carefully in rooms where others will visit. You can often find quality art at local markets that is affordable and gives you a story to share with visitors.

When you’re updating a room, make sure to start from the ground up. Once you’ve got beautiful floors, you can then move on to painting and adding the light fixtures. By the time that you are through, you’ll notice a dramatic difference in the general ambiance of the room.

Ways To Dress Up Your Fireplace Surround

If you have a fireplace in your home, it can make or break the design of a room. A fireplace can often cause your room to feel dated, and it can be hard to style around. But when you do it correctly, a fireplace can be a great accent and attention-grabber. Keep reading to learn the best ways to dress up your fireplace surround in any room of the house.

Style Your Mantel

If you don’t currently feature any mantel decor, or if it’s been some time since you swapped it out, try investing in some new decorations. You can display anything from photo frames to mirrors to potted plants on your fireplace mantel. Anything you include can help give your fireplace more character and tie the overall style of your room together. If your mantel is large enough, you could even mount your TV above your fireplace to draw attention to the entire surround.

Add Accent Details

If the decorations themselves aren’t enough to provide the fireplace makeover you’re looking for, try adding a few accents to the surrounding wall. You can achieve this by adding some molding along your mantel and surround. Molding is a great choice for guiding the eye vertically or horizontally along your fireplace wall. You could also turn the surrounding wall into an accent wall by painting it a fresh, new color.

Try a New Background

If you’ve tried redecorating and adding accents, and nothing seems to achieve your style goals, it might be time for a renovation. Sometimes, one of the best ways to dress up your fireplace surround is with a redesign. You could completely replace your fireplace surround material for an entirely new look. For example, if your surround currently features wood paneling, swap it out for a more modern steel frame to give it a more industrial look. There are many different material options for your fireplace surround, including tile, stone, brick, and more.

Five Weirdly Awesome Ways to Paint Your Room

Our room often serves as a sanctuary for us. After all, they are where we rest, relax, and enjoy our favorite calming hobbies, like reading and journaling. So, we must make these sacred spaces vibrant and unique reflections of our sensibilities. Learn about five weirdly awesome ways to paint your room and make it a place to find your peace.

Give Your Ceiling a Splash of Color

One of the best ways to make your room’s paint job truly unique is by adding a splash of color to your ceiling. While there’s a long-standing question of whether you should keep ceilings white or not, there’s a lot to say about using this fifth wall to spruce up your space. Additionally, there are so many unique ways to paint your ceiling. For instance, you could go with a pattern like plaid or paint it a bright color to accent the rest of your palette.

Use Painters Tape To Create a Pattern Wall

Another one of the five weirdly awesome ways to paint your room is using painter’s tape to craft the perfect pattern for your walls. This is especially effective if your sensibilities lie with geometric patterns like honeycomb or horizontal stripes. You can also use painter’s tape to create wall features that help accentuate shelving. No matter how you decide to use it, painter’s tape is an excellent way to get a precise pattern on your walls and give your room some character.

Go With a High Contrast Color Palette

You can also add personality to your favorite areas by going with a high-contrast color scheme. To illustrate, painting with stark colors, like black and white, with pops of yellow will instantly add drama to any space. If you want to mix things up, it’s wise to use darker colors to decorate the bottom half of the room and reserve the lightest colors for the upper parts. In between, you can add some funky accent patterns for a fun twist that makes any area pop.

Try Your Hand at Ombre Accent Walls

Ombre walls are a quirky, modern painting trend that we adore for the super unique and dynamic effect it brings to any space. This isn’t as complicated as you might think; you’ll choose the colors you wish to ombre, paint your walls in even sections of each color, then use a tool to blend. This is a fabulous choice for those who want to put a dramatic twist on their accent walls.

Craft a Unique Ambiance With Hand-Painted Lines

Similar to the patterns you can create with painter’s tape, hand-painting vertical stripes down your most central walls can also create a powerful accent in any room. This method is fantastic if you’re looking to get a less structured, decorative look out of your paint. We suggest doing semi-even lines in alternating shades of the same color for an excellent accent that brings a spark of fortuitous beauty to any room.

There’s no doubt that our rooms are some of the essential areas in our homes. So, when you embark on decorating yours, don’t be afraid to crack open a can of paint and get creative.

Mistakes To Avoid When Flipping Your First House

Congrats on deciding to flip a house! This investment opportunity can be an excellent way to generate income or have some fun cultivating a side project. To limit the potential risks, here are some mistakes to avoid when flipping your first house.

Spending Too Much on the House

The first rule that all house flippers need to follow is the 70 percent rule: when buying a house, never spend more than 70 percent of the projected after-repair value. You want wiggle room for when unexpected costs come up. Furthermore, you will also be putting hours and hours of work into this house—you deserve to make money for this!

Miscalculating the Repairs

This may be a painful lesson to learn for newbies and goes hand-in-hand with not purchasing the house for too much. You can avoid paying more on repairs than expected by working with a trusted contractor to quote you prices and give an accurate timeline for fixing everything. Ask for their advice on what fixer-upper projects to prioritize and any tips for flipping houses they can share.

Neglecting Easy Fixes

If you miss out on the low-hanging fruit of easy fixes, you are making one of the biggest mistakes to avoid when flipping your first house. It might be tempting to expand the kitchen or completely renovate the master bathroom, but these won’t mean much unless everything else is in tip-top order. Luckily, you’ll still find a bunch of buyers who are comfortable with unspoken simplicity. Plus, this is easier on your budget anyway.

Going Overboard With Fancy Upgrades

Know your market and what sells in the area. Not all fancy upgrades will fit in your local housing market. You don’t want to spend more than necessary on silly upgrades that turn away buyers. Visit other open houses in the area to get a feel for what is selling nearby. Be mindful of upcoming trends as well. If mid-century modern is all the rage in the area, then you don’t need to be splurging on maximalism-inspired finishes across the floor plan.

Becoming a home investor takes a lot of trial and error. Be conservative in how you spend money, plan for unexpected costs, and learn along the way.