The Modern Rules Of Choosing A Style For A Rug

With spring bringing in a new wave of good, sunny vibes to your day-to-day, you’re ready to add those same vibes to your favorite place—your home sweet home. And a new rug can go a long way in chasing out those winter blues and making your retreat space look and feel brand new.

Not so fast, though.

Not all rugs are perfect for every home situation. You don’t want to buy a huge rug that you’ll have trouble placing in your living room. And the last thing you want is a rug that adds an unwanted aesthetic to your space. On the contrary, the right rug can instantly add definition and color to your established decor, whether it’s a captivating modern one or an elegant traditional one.

The question is, with the wide range of rug materials, colors, and styles available today, how can you go about choosing the right rug style for your home?

Here’s a rundown on the top modern rules of choosing a style for a rug this spring.

Don’t Go Too Big

Size matters when you’re selecting a rug for your room. For example, if you have a tiny apartment with several pieces of statement furniture or eclectic objects in it, you don’t want a rug that will overpower your space. So, before you shop, be sure to measure the area in which you will be placing your rug.

As a general rule of thumb, your rug should cover the width and length of your furnishings if you’re placing it in your family room. A 5’ 0” x 8’ 1” rug or a 6’ 3” x 9’ 11” rug is typically a great size for clustering furniture around in an intimate space. If you wish to expand this space, choose a bigger size that will outline your area’s perimeter.

In your dining room, the rug you select needs to be big enough to provide ample space for your chairs, even after they’ve been pulled out from your table. So, measure your dining table and then add two feet to determine the best rug size for this space.

Also, in a space where your floor is wooden, try to keep between 18 and 24 inches of wooden flooring around your room’s perimeter. 

Consider Your Lifestyle

Think about how you plan to use the space where your new rug will go. Perhaps you plan to put the rug in an area that receives high traffic, like a family room or hallway. Or, maybe you have pets or young children? If so, look for luxury rugs that are simple to clean and durable, like wool rugs. And try to stick with a rug that is dark enough to hide dirt or stains.

Perhaps you’re planning to place a new rug in your home office. Create a sophisticated and classically elegant work from home space with a bamboo silk rug.

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Create the Right Mood

In addition to considering the usability of your space, think about the type of mood you want to create in your space when purchasing a rug. A rug anchors a room, so the style and color of your rug plays a major role in establishing its mood.

For instance, stick with rich, dark hues to define an intimate space. Meanwhile, choose light colors to make a tinier space look larger. Also, spicy colors—like red, yellow, or orange—add warmth to a room, whereas cool colors help to create a calm feeling, particularly in a space that is sunny.

However, as you search for rugs of certain colors, keep in mind that your target rug should ideally complement your room’s 2-3 main hues. As an example, you could choose a rug whose pattern’s secondary color matches your couch’s solid color. Then, try to make the rug’s third color match your room’s accents, like the wall, drape, or throw pillow color. This will help to tie your room’s look together.

Of course, you don’t always have to go with patterned rugs. Solid-colored rugs also work well in rooms, especially if your rooms’ primary furnishings are upholstered in patterns or feature elaborate designs.

Don’t Put a Pause on Patterns

Let’s dive into patterns a bit more. Patterned rugs are generally an excellent choice if you want to create an eclectic look in your room. Your patterns will instantly become the room’s primary focal point. For instance, feel free to choose rugs with floral or even zigzag spiral patterns. You can also choose rugs with more subtle patterns if you’d rather not harshly define the space.

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Choose the Perfect Rug for Your Space This Spring

Rugs have always been and will always be one of the most quintessential decorative accessories due to their ability to add warmth and personality to any room. But choosing the right rug—one that won’t take up an exorbitant amount of space, for example—is critical for making your dream look and vibe for your room a reality.

Consider the above-listed modern rules for choosing a rug that fits your style and your room’s layout this spring. In no time, you can bring comfort, coziness, and a chic ambiance to your living space this spring!


Author Bio:

Carolyn Mitchell is a freelance writer and content strategist with a passion for home décor. She can often be found re-painting and updating the furnishings in her home, and she is also a dedicated cat mom to two adorable kitties.

How To Amp Up Your Small Rental Apartment

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Renting a new apartment is an exciting opportunity for decorating your place in a way that lets your personality shine through. Even if the rental apartment is small, there’s no reason to compromise and not go big on style. Depending on the type of apartment you have and your own personal taste, there are tons of ways to decorate your living space! We have a few ideas on how to amp up your small rental apartment.

Lighting

One of the best places to start with when it comes to amping up an apartment is the lighting. Picking the right set of lights can give your room a defining character and become the standard by which you add the next set of furniture and decor.

If you’ve been staying up to date with lighting trends, you’ll know that certain styles of lighting can trick visitors into thinking the space is much larger than it actually is. Ceiling fixtures that hang down draw the eyes upwards and open up your apartment in a way that makes it feel larger than it actually is. If you have permission to swap out your ceiling fixtures, this is a great place to start!

As for floor lighting and lampshades, you’ll want to go for softer, more incandescent lights as they make your room feel inviting and warm, as opposed to colder tones that can often appear uninviting.

Lastly, an aspect of lighting that many people don’t quite appreciate enough is reflections. Intelligently using mirrors both as decor and as an instrument to complement and improve lighting in your apartment can go a long way in creating a more open, brighter space that radiates positive energy. You’ll want to place mirrors directly in the path of light coming in from the windows to bounce the light around and give the impression of a larger room.

It’s The Small Things

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not always big statements like oversized doors and beds that give small apartments character and size, but rather tiny items that can make a big impact. Attention to detail goes a long way in spicing up any apartment and every little change you make counts.

A great place to start here is with doorknobs. It might sound random, but they’re actually one of the items we interact with the most in any home. Rustic door knobs can add a unique life to your apartment, and convey a thoughtful, nostalgic sense of style with just a glance. Certain well-crafted door knobs also combine form and function by being incredibly appealing to look at and use, as well as secure thanks to modern locking technology. If you have permission to change out your doorknobs, this small change can make a large visual impact.

For even smaller apartments that might not even have doors to open, there are still several things that you can do to enlarge and beautify the space. A common piece of decor that people use in small apartments is a glass partition. Adding a glass partition is an ingenious idea for small studio apartments that often have just one room to boast of. Partitions stretch small spaces while still allowing for light to pass through. For apartments that might not be able to accommodate glass partitions, consider a foldable wooden divider. These serve a similar purpose, and can even be a better fit aesthetically for some apartments depending on lighting and other decor.

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Work With The Bed

Smart home design in small apartments revolves around intelligently managing bedroom decor. Since beds take up a large amount of the limited space available to you, how you decorate and use it can have a big impact on your quality of life. For starters, using trundle or retractable beds that you can use as a sofa or slide away when not in use is a common sight in smaller apartments.

As for decor, certain visual tweaks like using bright and bold handmade pillow covers is an easy way to make a statement. You can pair these with a comfortable and slim duvet that folds up easily into your bed’s storage for clever space management.

Utilizing Space

Renting out a small apartment, even one that’s been renovated recently, comes with its own quirks. These quirks take the form of unique nooks and crannies that you can take advantage of to make your space your own. A common example of this, particularly in cramped cities like New York, are the tiny alcoves below the windows found in small apartments. Adding a small couch or table here can do a lot to create a cozy space for you to inhabit.

Living Large

Being smart about how you decorate and use your small rental apartment is all it takes to make the most of what you have. Use your apartment’s unique features and accent them with subtle decor to live larger than ever before.


Author Bio:

Carolyn Mitchell is a freelance writer and content strategist with a passion for home décor. She can often be found re-painting and updating the furnishings in her home, and she is also a dedicated cat mom to two adorable kitties.

Top 10 Organization Tips For Spring Cleaning This Year

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A clean home is a happy home. Participating in spring cleaning can do wonders for opening up the space in your home, as well as provide you with mental clarity. When you’re no longer stressed about the state of your home, you can put more effort into planning activities or simply living in the moment. If you’re looking for a little divine inspiration, we have you covered. Let’s go over our top 10 organization tips for deep spring cleaning.

1.    Plan Ahead For Springtime Pests

When spring arrives, so do the bugs. Enjoy your sunshine-filled days to the fullest without the stress of bug bites or home infestations. Keep unwanted visitors out of your home with preventative DIY pest control. Combat all your common pest problems without the hassle or expenses of booking an exterminator. Secure your entire property line with easy-to-use pest control spray equipment. Bask in the beauty of spring with the comfort of knowing your home is safe from household pests.

2.    Switch Out Your Wardrobe

Out with the winter and in with the spring! As the days get warmer, will you really be wearing that turtleneck? It’s an important question to ask when you’re trying to emulate that clean-slate, spring-clean feeling. Be sure to use space-saving containers that can easily fit in any storage area, so your winter clothes are out of sight and out of mind. Plus, going through your wardrobe is an excellent excuse for another key spring organizational tactic.

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3.    Donate What Doesn’t Bring You Joy

It can be easy to let your collection of clothes build up over the years. Rather than continue to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of clothes you have accumulated, take time to sort through your seasonal wardrobes and create a donation pile. You’ll feel a lot better, lighter, and more inclined to enter the next chapter of your style. And don’t forget that clothing donations qualify for a tax deduction.

4.    Create A Cleaning Plan

In a perfect world, a complete spring cleaning can happen in a day. Most of the time, this isn’t an option. And that’s okay! Plan ahead for the effort it takes to clean your home. Schedule out a week-long or multi-week cleaning plan checklist that you can refer to as you work room by room. It’s entirely up to you, your schedule, and your preferred cleaning methods. If you need some inspiration, there are plenty of spring cleaning resources online.

5.    Find Functional Storage Hacks

The internet is ripe with tips and tricks for creating usable storage in the smallest spaces. Think your situation is helpless? Think again! There are plenty of online organization experts ready and willing to share their secrets. Check out creative storage hacks for immediate improvements to your home’s organizational system.

6.    Put Effort Into Your Kitchen

Your fridge, pantry, and kitchen cabinets should bring you peace amidst life’s chaos. The last thing you want to do is come home to a disorganized kitchen that brings stress before meal planning. Craft the kitchen of your dreams with a spice organizer. Deep clean remnants of old produce and eliminate expired condiments from the fridge. You will feel the weight of stress lift off your shoulders in no time. A clean kitchen should feel like a weekly fresh start and not a constant chore looming over your head.

7.    Deep Clean Your Mattress

When’s the last time you did this? Many people skip their mattress entirely when it comes to an annual spring clean, but it deserves some TLC. Get rid of dust, bacteria, and sweat with an easy sprayable cleaning solution made of dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, and a little baking soda. This also may give your mattress a longer life expectancy. Pro tip: flip your mattress twice a year for maximum comfort and even use!

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8.    Take A Crack At The Garage

Ah, the garage. To many people, this is the no-fly zone when it comes to cleaning. The overwhelming feeling of staring into a disorganized garage is not for the faint of heart. Give yourself a day during your spring cleaning journey to do some damage. Starting is half the battle. Sometimes all it takes is just a mindless clean to give yourself a future organization game plan that you can stick to all year long.

9.    Create a Calming Atmosphere

Create a calming atmosphere in your home with house plants, essential oils, or even a decorative candle or two. Your home is your sanctuary and it deserves to be treated as such. Create a clean atmosphere that you look forward to entering every day. Try a citrus-scented air freshener for a natural odor eliminator that smells delightful or experiment with seasonal scents you can’t get enough of.

10. Keep It Sustainable

If you decide on a super complicated organizational system for your fridge, how likely are you to stick with it? Be honest with yourself. The goal of spring cleaning is to set yourself up for success, but make sure your system is maintainable for you and your family. A realistic cleaning organizational system will keep your house in great shape and give you the opportunity to focus on other parts of life.

Let’s Get Cleaning

However you decide to start your spring cleaning process, be sure to plan ahead. Set intentions and goals, and try your best to see them through. Giving your home a well-deserved deep clean is an awesome way to enter springtime feeling like you’ve turned a new leaf.


Author Bio:

Carolyn Mitchell is a freelance writer and content strategist with a passion for home décor. She can often be found re-painting and updating the furnishings in her home, and she is also a dedicated cat mom to two adorable kitties.

Fully Refresh Your Living Space And Mind During Spring Cleaning

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When does everyone start adopting the mantra, “out with the old, in with the new?” Springtime, of course. When winter leaves us and all of the pretty flowers, plants, trees, and buds blossom, all of us start thinking about reviving our living spaces.

However, spring cleaning should encompass more than straightening up your house and getting rid of things you no longer need. Instead, your spring cleaning activities should also be geared toward refreshing your holistic health.

Your physical health, mental wellness, and emotional well-being benefit when you spring clean effectively. Let’s explore those benefits in-depth and how to fully refresh your living space and mind during your spring cleaning. 

Organize and Declutter

Getting rid of things you no longer need and organizing your living space are critical for a total refresh this spring. It’s one thing to deep clean, redecorate your rooms, refresh paint, and add new accessories to your household. It’s another to organize and declutter it.

Be sure to clean and organize your surfaces while also removing as much clutter as possible. As a result, you’ll be able to do more in your physical spaces. Additionally, organizing and removing clutter from your home will prompt you to declutter your mind. This will improve your focus, productivity, and inner peace.

So, start with one room, go section by section in that room, make a decluttering checklist, and take breaks during the process when needed.

Additionally, don’t just organize and declutter your living space, redecorate and refresh it, as we mentioned above.

Redecorate and Refresh Your Living Space

Redecorating and refreshing your living space is integral to your spring cleaning. It starts with a deep cleaning of every room in your home, from your bedroom to the kitchen to the dining room to the bathroom to the living room, and beyond.

By deep cleaning your entire living space, you can clear any allergens, dust, and other toxins that could’ve been affecting your physical and mental health.

Then, redecorate your rooms with new accessories. Refresh them with new paint on the walls to create a relaxing atmosphere. Experiment with new lighting. Also, re-pot your houseplants and add more greenery to your house for better air quality and natural vibes.

Once you’ve tackled your physical living space, work on fully refreshing your mind.

Strengthen Your Mindset

Fully refreshing your mind is a long-term process. However, you can get started during your spring cleaning. Commit to strengthening your mindset this spring so that it becomes inherently positive over time.

With a better mindset, you start to see life as happening for you instead of to you. You’re able to better embrace change by asking yourself, “what can I learn from this experience?”

Start strengthening your mindset by keeping a journal. Document how your mindset evolves and what your emotions do because of that evolution. Also, begin doing daily affirmations and immediately replace any negative thoughts with positive ones. Don’t allow negative thoughts and vibes to perpetuate this spring.

Also, take self-care seriously when refreshing your living space and mind during spring cleaning.

Take Self-Care Seriously

Your living space isn’t the only thing that needs love this spring. You must focus on taking care of yourself during your spring cleaning. Learning to care for and love yourself is the key to fully refreshing your mind, heart, and spirit.

Valuing yourself more and filling your life with purpose and passion is directly connected to creating a self-care routine and sticking to it. So, first, get rid of bad habits, people, and influences in your life. Then, implement a self-care routine that helps you develop positive habits, surrounds you with good souls, and even better influences.

Also, practice mindfulness and meditation. By doing so, your mind will become more precise. You’ll also be more emotionally grounded and spiritually connected. Start with just a minute of meditation a day to ensure you aren’t taking on more than you can commit to.

Lastly, address how you’re going to fuel your body during spring cleaning.

Pay Attention to How You Fuel Your Body

It’s so important to pay attention to how you fuel your body this spring. This means implementing a regular exercise routine and good nutrition.

Feeding your body the right things and exercising it regularly increases energy, keeps you in peak physical condition, betters your focus, and boosts self-confidence. Focus more on consistency than anything regarding exercise.

In addition, learn about food and nutrition. Dive deep into how to fuel your body with food rather than just eating what tastes good. Explore plant-based, keto, low-carb, and other diets until you find the one you can stick with long-term.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article gives you a starting point for fully refreshing your living space and your mind during your spring cleaning. Remember, “out with the old, in with the new.” That goes for your living space, mindset, physical health, and emotional well-being. 

Interior Design As A Form Of Expression

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Your home can be a reflection of your personality and who you are, even if you don’t put any thought into the interior design consciously. Some people like to take control of this creative pursuit to develop an even more cohesive narration of their self-expression. If you think that you’d like to take your interior design to the next level with a more personalized, thoughtful perspective, it might be time to consider how exactly your home decor choices can make a difference. Check out this exploration of interior design as a form of expression and integrate some of these ideas into your space.

Colors Can Change Your Mind

Many people already know that color can affect them on a psychological level. Businesses use this tactic all the time to entice people to utilize their services. Have you ever noticed that fast food places use yellow and red because it makes you hungry, security firms use blue to enhance their authority, and hospitals use green for its soothing aura? These are just some of the ways that colors change your mind.

Wondering what different colors mean to your brain? Here’s some basic color theory to get you started:

  • Red: Energy, Action, Excitement
  • Orange: Uplifting, Friendly, Fun
  • Yellow: Happiness, Confidence, Optimism
  • Green: Hope, Balance, Revitalization
  • Blue: Trust, Authority, Serenity, Intelligence
  • Purple: Creativity, Individuality, Spirituality

Incorporating color into your home can be subtle or showstopping. Use home decor accessories in the colors you love to accent your space and add life to your home. Looking for something bolder? Consider painting one of your walls in an accent color to change the whole feel of the space.

Display Your Hobbies

Changing the colors in your home is a big deal, but it can still feel a little impersonal. So what are the things that really express your personality? Hobbies and passions, of course! Do you love reading? A bookshelf display can showcase your passion, create a cozy reading nook, and ensure your books are accessible at all times. Love crochet? Use your own designs to decorate your space with sofa covers, doilies, and more. From gardening and painting to woodcraft and music, you can use tables, walls, and cabinets to decorate with meaningful accessories and collectibles.

Personalized Rooms

If you have multiple people living in your home, they probably each have their own room. When it comes to kids, especially, you want to help them express themselves within their space by putting up their artwork, asking for their input, and exploring a variety of options for everything from doorknobs and cabinet handles to curtains and bedsheets.

Furniture Made for You

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You might think that you should buy furniture based on fashion trends you find on Instagram or Pinterest, but that’s not the way to express who you truly are. Pick things that make sense in your space, make you happy, and work cohesively to create a stunning design that you can’t wait to use. Don’t forget that mounted light fixtures and chandeliers also have their part to play in your furniture design!

Showcasing Your Past

While you might have spent a lot of time organizing decor accents that show off your hobbies and passions, don’t forget to do the same for your favorite memories. If you have any blank spaces on your walls or empty surfaces on your tables, you can fill them in with framed photos of the most important people in your life. Whether it’s family photos on snaps from adventures with friends, complete your design with souvenirs of places you visited together!

Spotlight Your History

Everyone’s family is different, but if yours is one that passes down special objects through the generations, you might want to make them part of your home decor. Whether it’s a cookbook or a music box, these items deserve a unique display. You can even start your own collection of heirlooms to pass down to future descendants for them to restore or upcycle when the time comes.

Transforming Your Home

All of these home decor techniques are different ways you may choose to express yourself. Whether you do them all or just choose one or two that really speak to you, these changes aren’t made overnight. Take your time deciding which accents, colors, and focal points make sense to you, and consider how they relate and express your personality.

As you embrace every aspect of who you are, from the most quirky to the most mainstream, you’ll find that you feel much more comfortable in your space. When you use your home as your canvas, you’re acting as an artist with control over every element and decision. You might make a conscious effort to bare every part of who you are, or you may choose to limit your self-expression to one or two rooms. Just make sure that whatever direction you go takes into account your entire lifestyle, family, and everyday activities.