By Haidee Eugenio Gilbert
As the world copes with COVID-19 travel restrictions, a familiar destination awaits: your own home. It’s time for staycation.
You’re sheltering in place and practicing social distancing, so it only makes sense to glam up and redecorate your home to make it as nice and cozy as possible.
Or simply clean it up or organize it, one room at a time. After all, you’ve been wanting to do that for quite a while but was just too busy at work, right?
Here are 10 easy ways to make your home beautiful, comfortable and HGTV-worthy, without having to spend a fortune and without several trips to a DIY shop.
1. A bedroom fit for staycation
Ditch the multi-colored bed linens and replace everything with whites, from pillow cases to comforters. Pair them up with a calming wall art, and you’re set.
Instantly, your bedroom is transformed into a space that looks and feels fresh, serene and luxurious.
You’ve given your bedroom the style, comfort and feel of a hotel, perfect for staycationing while on self-quarantine.
Don’t fret about staining the whites fast because they’re just one easy bleach bath away.
2. ‘Marie Kondo’ your closet
Does that red dress still give you joy? Do those jeans still fit?
Now you’ve got the time to organize your clothing items by color, shape, size, season or functionality. If that proves to be overwhelming, use a method that Japanese organizational expert Marie Kondo popularized.
It is basically organizing your closet by getting rid of items that “do not bring joy into your life” anymore, or at all.
You’d be surprised with the amount of space you can free up.
Using mismatched hangers sometimes adds to the look of a cluttered closet, despite your best efforts at organization. By sticking to one type or color of hangers, everything fits and looks nicely.
If most of your hangers are made of wood, then get rid of the plastic and metal ones. Or, if most of them are white hangers, then use white throughout. Easy, isn’t it?
Not every clothing item needs a hanger. Some can be folded and kept stacked neatly on open or closed shelves. Do not underestimate the use of hooks for clothing accessories.
Put to good use the spaces at the top and bottom of your closets.
After carefully curating your clothes, move on to selecting fun items to add a little pizzaz to your open shelves. If you have an interesting collection of bags, even if they’re not the tongue-twisting brand, put them on display.
Works of art, live plants, a pop of colors, fun knick-knacks and dramatic fashion statements surely make for an interesting overall closet visual.
3. That beachy feelin’
Pick a theme for your home, or at least your living room, and stick with that theme.
Start by thinking of your interests and favorite places. Would you go for an old Hollywood glitz, an Asian-inspired motif, a coastal feel, or a rustic vibe?
If you want to bring the look and feel of the beach into your living space, think of the calming hues inspired by turquoise waters, blue skies, white sandy beaches, drift woods and sea shells.
Nothing changes the vibe of your room more quickly than colors inspired by sunshiny days at the beach. Combine watery shades of blue with whites, plus drift wood-inspired pieces.
Live plants, wall art, a glass buoy, sea shells, drift woods, nice rugs, beach-inspired throw pillows and coastal beach trays complete the package.
Because a coastal theme is flexible, it’s easy to do it in most parts of the house such as the dining room or the kitchen.
4. Curtains: Small step, big impact
Changing up your curtains or putting window blinds may just be what the design doctors have ordered. They are a small step with big and immediate impacts.
Bring the tranquility of the seaside with your choice of curtain colors. Carefully pick curtains and blinds that not only enhance your room’s appearance and provide privacy, light filtration and insulation, but also capture the essence of your design scheme.
Your coastal theme may also extend to other rooms of your home, such as the bathroom. A shower curtain printed with the image of the sea, skies and sand lend a cheerful aesthetic appeal and privacy.
5. No wall left behind
Chances are, you have some bare walls while some wall art and decors remain in the storage room waiting to be showcased. Now is the time to put a touch of art on those surfaces.
Hallways leading to the bedroom, kitchen, the living room or any part of the house need not be neglected. Turn them into art galleries.
6. A touch of green
Freshen up your home décor with a touch of green. House plants not only make your living spaces more inviting and luxurious but they also improve the home’s air quality.
An interesting green space can also be created with a combination of real plants with artificial ones.
7. Bathroom luxury without toilet paper
In glamming up your home, don’t forget your toilet and bath. You may have read the news and seen the social media memes about people fighting over toilet paper as COVID-19 rages on. It was unimaginable that a global pandemic could lead to people hoarding toilet paper.
It’s time to say hello to hand-held toilet sprayers or bidet showers. They not only reduce people’s reliance on toilet paper, but also adds a touch of luxury to your toilet and bath space.
An ultimate tushy-cleaning tool, a bidet shower is a hand-held triggered nozzle that does the private cleaning for you after your every toilet use. It’s similar to that on a kitchen sink sprayer.
There are types that are affordable, and you don’t have to do toilet paper run anymore.
8. Work away from the office
With social distancing ordered in the time of coronavirus, more people are now working from home. It is important to designate a space in your home where you could focus on office work that needs to get done timely and efficiently, rather than using the bed or the couch.
It need not be a separate room, unless there’s already an existing office room. For those with limited space, it could just be a sturdy desk that gets enough natural or artificial light.
9. Clean it up, declutter
Sheltering in place gives you the extra time to finally clean and organize every space of your home, from the toilet and shower to the kitchen and garage.
Sometimes, all that your house really needs is some serious decluttering and efficient cleaning to free up space to make it the dream home you’ve always wanted.
While some people hoard toilet paper during a global pandemic, others hoard volumes of knick knacks that not only eats up valuable home space but also turns the whole house into one big dump at any given time.
A tidy and organized house more than makes up for lack of character or style. Your home is your personal sanctuary, make it feel like one whether in time of a global pandemic or not.
10. Oasis in your own backyard
Social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus doesn’t mean you have to spend all your time inside the house.
Unless you’re sick, experts recommend getting out of the house from time to time to get some sun, breathe in fresh air, and do some outdoor stretching within safe distance from others.
This is a great time to take up gardening or grow your own vegetables. Yard work helps boost your health, lift up the spirit, and prevent developing cabin fever from prolonged stay indoors.
Transform your backyard into an oasis, a beautiful place in which to escape when you want to unwind, relax, have fun, and appreciate nature, with or without a global health crisis.
Enjoy the sun, the shade, the views and fresh air from the comfort of your lounge chair, swing or a hammock and under an umbrella, on a wooden deck or by a swimming pool.
If you are lucky enough to live in a home with an ocean view, a mountain range, or lush greenery, create a space from which to enjoy the scenery. Frame the view with appropriate landscaping and place just the right amount of furnishings.
Tiki torches and outdoor LED lights help set the mood and ensure that you get to enjoy the outdoors long after sundown.
