It takes a while to settle in a new place, even after moving and unpacking all the boxes. There’s a certain unfamiliar, almost weird, feeling that follows the big change and prevents a true sense of comfort.
Sometimes, the uncomfortable feeling goes away after you redecorate and bring out your personal stuff. Other times, it lingers around weeks and months after moving day and never truly goes away.
The truth is, making your house feel like a home is more than just being there and unpacking your belongings. It takes time and effort to design a house that reflects your style, highlights your memories, and makes you feel cozy and warm around the heart.
A sense of home is all about perception and personal feelings, and it doesn't only rely on where you are at the moment. You can feel at home anywhere around the globe as long as you evoke the atmosphere that makes you safe, comfortable, and happy.
Here Are A Few Ideas For Making Your House Feel Like Home Quickly And Without Overspending:
Create a Lively Atmosphere Through Lighting
We start the list with lighting for a good reason. Once the sun sets down and the night wraps around your house, you switch to artificial lighting, relying solely on it for illuminating the area and making a cozy atmosphere. That’s when the lighting temperature, color, and intensity turn out to be of great importance.
Harsh Light Out, Ambient Light In
If you want to design a warm house, you need to stop relying on harsh, single overhead lighting and complement rooms with floor and table lamps, candles, and ambient lighting. When you illuminate only certain areas (coffee table, points of conversation, and similar), you get to create a more comfortable atmosphere throughout the entire house and reduce stress on your eyes.
Changing the Lighting Temperature
Of course, introducing additional lights is not always an acceptable financial option. That’s when we recommend changing the lighting temperature throughout your house with warm bulbs. Warm lights usually come from yellow bulbs with 3000k, compared to cool lights that result from blue bulbs and measure around 5000k.
While cool lights are often used for commercial purposes and working environments, warm lights are more suited for residential purposes. The former offers unmatched illumination but is harsh for the eyes, especially at resting hours. The latter doesn’t offer much clarity but certainly feels better for the eyes. Remember how candles make rooms cozy and warm? That’s because they have only about 1850k! The lower the K (kelvin), the warmer the light.
Bring Life with Plants and Flowers
Have you moved all your plants to your new house? If you didn’t or you don’t have any at all, it’s time to go shopping! Plants add life to every home and create a fresh and enjoyable atmosphere. You can also mix and match them to complement the interior and make it pop out.
Now, if buying is not an option and you still want to freshen up your home with lush greenery, there are a few alternatives. You can learn to propagate the plants you already have or ask your neighbors and friends for cuttings. Propagating the fallen succulent leaves from gardens is also an option.
Fresh flowers and living plants are a beautiful touch but if you feel this is too challenging for you, consider faux greenery. Fake plants and flowers can look as lovely as living ones. You only need to look through the market to find the most realistic pieces.
Warm Up the Space
One of the ways to make your house feel like a home is to increase the overall warmth. Nothing beats the feeling of warmness in your house during the winter. You get to enjoy your days without worrying about the extremely low temperatures and piles of snow lying on your lawn. This alone makes every house more like home, no matter if it’s a cottage or a mansion.
You can create warmth in your home in several ways. Having a good and reliable heating system is definitely necessary, but insulating the house is sometimes even more important. Placing layers between yourself and the floor and filling gaps at doors, walls, and windows guarantees a warmer and cozier feeling.
For avoiding direct contact with cold floors and preventing chilly drafts from entering the house, we recommend fluffy rugs and draft stoppers. A soft rug will keep your toes toasty and boost up your interior aesthetics at the same time. Draft stoppers, on the other hand, will