Here are a few tips by guest contributor Jennifer Gilligan on how you can transform your home into a classy abode.
Whether you've lived in an apartment for a week or been in your house for 30 years, sometimes it's just nice to change things up. Your surroundings can have a huge impact on your mood, so you'll want to opt for a calm, refined style. Here are a few ways to give your place some much-needed class.
This is easier to do in a house you own instead of an apartment you rent, but you'd be surprised at how much a change in lighting can make a difference to your place. Get rid of those harsh lamps in the living room and grab a few sets of wall-mounted lamps. Go all out in your dining room with antique furniture and a huge chandelier, which will run about $200. These small, easy changes will make a huge difference.
Whether you're looking to class up the place or just a single room, make use of mirrors. Mirrors appear to expand the space you're in, so use mirrors in corners of rooms that are otherwise cramped. If you paint several smaller mirrors the same color and group them together, you've turned that cramped corner into a stylish, open wall.
You want your space to feel comfortable and classy, and what better way to do that than adding plants and flowers to your home? Flowers can brighten up the room as well as your mood. Plants, especially Lilacs, will make your home smell wonderful.
Since it's your space, you'll want to display items that are important to you. You can use pushpins to pin them to the wall, then decorate around them. Whether you want to display a collection of music, shirts, hats, or anything else you can think of, using pushpins and hanging personal items will make your home decorative and classy, depending on the items and how you style them.
It's really frustrating that this option has to even be included, but you'd be surprised at how many people just refuse to do this. Clean your space; it's as simple as that. A clean home equals a clean mind. You can try all of the tips in the world, but if you live in a messy home, it won't be classy. Hire some help if you have to; just make sure your place stays neat and clean.
There's no way you're ever going to get the perfect style tip from any sort of article. Every person is unique, so what's deemed classy to one person may not be deemed classy to another. Mix and match styles. If you have something that's small and round, like a table, complement it with something long and square. As long as you match colors, you should be able to carve out a style that's all your own.
This is the part where you can let your creativity flow. You can paint your own pictures and hang them around your place. If you're not a great painter, go for the Jackson Pollock method and dip your paintbrush into some paint and throw it down on the canvas and see what happens.
If you have the freedom to paint your walls, invest in some chalkboard paint. This can allow you to have whatever design you can draw on the wall. Even better, it'll allow your friends a place to sign their name or draw you a picture, whichever they decide to do. If you choose to do chalkboard paint, be sure to complement the walls with appropriate silver lighting fixtures.
If all else fails, you can choose to make everything in the room white. White opens up rooms and draws attention to whatever pieces of furniture are in the room. If you add a large mirror on one of the walls, the room will appear even more open than the white furniture already makes it seem.
This is one of the first things you should do anyway, but in case you forgot, here's your reminder. A new set of knobs, whether they're on a set of cabinets or a doorknob on your front door, can do wonders. After all, isn't the first thing someone sees, aside from your door, the doorknob? The doorknob will set the entire tone for the house, so make sure to choose an elegant one. They're fairly inexpensive and can class your place up in a hurry.
These are just a few of the cheap, easy things you can do to class your place up and make it your own. What are some unique ways that you've classed your place up?