Dawn Matthews | Jan 10, 2024
How to Refresh your Home Decor in Jan
15 Minute Read
January can be one of the toughest months for us to get through. The anticipation, and magic of Christmas is done, the decorations have been taken down, the excitement of the new year has worn off, and the warmer days of spring still feel a long way away. Keeping spirits up through the rest of the winter is important, and one of the things we can do to make ourselves feel better is to make our homes feel cosy during the colder weather. Feeling cosy when we get in – that hygge feeling that the Scandinavian countries love – is crucial for our wellbeing, and being happy in our home décor goes a long way to helping us feel that. With all that in mind, let’s take a look at the ways that you can refresh your home décor in January.
Free Ways To Refresh Your Home Décor
Most of us spend a significant amount of money over the Christmas period, and whether that is because we’re giving gifts, celebrating, or simply taking advantage of the post-Christmas sales, many of us don’t want to splurge further in January. Luckily, there’s loads of ways to make your home feel refreshed without spending a penny. Not only are these ideas budget-free, but because you don’t need to buy anything, they’re also sustainable – which is also high on our agenda.
Rearrange your furniture
There’s nothing like switching your furniture around to make your home feel fresh and new. Chances are, there is a different way you could set your furniture, and there’s a good chance that doing so will make your living spaces feel warmer, cosier, and different in the new layout.
It might also be that you could change furniture between rooms within your home too, and seeing different pieces in different rooms can make all the difference. The rug, lamp, or chair that you have in your spare room could make a huge difference in your living room or conservatory. By working with what you already have, you can create an entirely new look for your home.
Shake up your shelves
The satisfaction you can get from making your shelves look great is immense – which is why we’ve written about the #shelfie plenty of times now. As with rearranging your furniture, you don’t have to go out and buy extra items to refresh your shelves, because chances are, you already own plenty of items that would look great on your shelves, bookcases, sideboards, and dressers.
Play around with vases, books, ornaments, items from any collections you have, using items of different heights and so on to create different visual effects. You can change up your shelves and surfaces in all the different spaces throughout your home, from the hallway to your bedrooms, and so just by restyling your shelves, you can get a new look in each place. Our guide to decorate your shelves is here, if you’re stuck for ideas about how to start.
Thin out toys
The Boxing Day tradition of getting rid of the old is one that could inspire our January home refresh, and this idea is a good one to get children involved with too. Choosing the toys that they are ready to let go of can help to make their bedrooms feel less cluttered, and by donating toys that have plenty of life left in them, they can feel good about their old toys going to new homes.
Small and Inexpensive Home Décor Refresh Projects
For those of us that do have a little budget to play with for refreshing our homes in January, there are a few easy ways you can change the look of your home without a lot of cash, and without too much effort either.
Switch out soft furnishings
If your walls are decorated in relatively neutral tones, then changing the look of a room can be done relatively inexpensively by changing soft furnishings. In living rooms, change cushion covers and add cosy blankets to sofas and armchairs for a different pop of colour. To go a bit further and to create a coordinated look, you might change your curtains, lampshades, and rugs in the same colour palette, but with different textures to create more visual interest. Changing soft furnishings can be done easily in bedrooms too – a change to the colour of your bedding can make a huge difference without costing huge sums of money.
Get green and floral
We’re all looking forward to spring at this point, and while the first signs of growth might still be a little way off, you can bring them to your home! Decorating your home with plants can be a really easy and inexpensive way to refresh your décor, and to help you feel like spring is on the way. Many supermarkets have seasonal plants in stock with their cut flowers at this time of year, or a quick trip to your local garden centre or nursery can have your space looking ready for spring in no time. Don’t have the green fingers required to keep house plants alive? Cut flower arrangements are always an option too. Early daffodils hit the shops in late January, early February, and their cheery colour is exactly what we need to brighten our spirits. If you want flower arrangements you can keep for longer than a couple of weeks, look at dried flower bouquets, or silk/artificial flowers that you can reuse for your arrangements year after year.
Sort your storage solutions
When you can’t get out much in the evenings because the weather is wild, sorting out your storage is a great project to tackle. Pick a drawer per evening, or tackle a room per weekend – the timescale doesn’t really matter, what matters is the mental clarity you get from doing it, and the feeling of having your home feeling organised is a great way to head into the spring. Declutter and donate or recycle what you no longer want or need, and then find the best solutions for keeping what you do. Storage baskets, hooks, and coat racks are also good smaller projects that you can start with, as is finally getting around to putting up that shelf that you have been thinking about.
Bigger Ways To Refresh Your Home Décor
For homes where time and budget is less of an issue, these are some of the things we’d do to make the most of our homes in January.
Pick a new paint or paper
Perhaps this isn’t the fastest, easiest method to refresh your home, but if you’ve invested in high quality furniture that you love, then changing your wall décor will definitely make things feel fresh again. The aftermath of Christmas often leaves our homes showing up marks, and so putting up new wallpaper, or changing the colour of the paint will make things look and feel fantastic again. Just be certain to use plenty of drop cloths to prevent any spillages damaging floors and furniture – and if it is possible, getting a professional to do the job will certainly save you a lot of time and effort!
Choose new art
If you don’t want the hassle of changing your décor or your furniture, then you might think about replacing, or choosing new art for your walls. Choosing new art can be a long term project, but you don’t have to spend ages, or even huge amounts of money on it if it is purely to refresh your home through the winter. An inexpensive frame with a print, a photograph that you love, or even a painting you found in a thrift store can be a great way to change the look and feel of a space in your home. Can’t choose? Pick a range of frames that complement one another and have them on a gallery wall – you could even use a long shelf to stand your art and framed photographs on, so you can change the prints out as you prefer.
Final Thoughts
When you’re refreshing your home in January, it can be tempting to start from scratch, and spend loads of money in doing so. But we think it is best to start with the free, and inexpensive ways to make those changes – you can always go bigger if you find they don’t satisfy what you’re trying to achieve. When you’re refreshing your home, try to do so as sustainably as possible.
▪ Where you can, reuse, recycle, or donate anything you’re getting rid of.
▪ If you’re using cleaning products, paints, etc, do your best to choose the most eco-friendly options you can.
▪ When you’re buying, choose natural materials that have been sustainably sourced.
▪ Buy second hand or vintage to reduce the demand for new materials.
▪ Buy quality products – cheap items can be a false economy. Buy nice, or buy twice!
If you’re looking for new wooden furniture, shelving, or accessories for your home, then be certain to take a look at our range. We’re extending our products regularly, and we’re sourcing the best quality, from the most sustainable sources we can find, so you can be certain that you’re getting items that will look good, and that last.
When you’ve completed your January home décor refresh, don’t forget to tag us in your before and after posts on Instagram – we’re @bensimpsonfurniture.
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