Your home is a sanctuary for you and your family. Whether you work from home or leave it each day, making it a place you can relax and enjoy yourself improves your overall health and happiness. If the state of your house currently makes you want to just leave, here’s a few ways to improve its comfort!
Identify the Issues
Before you get started on making changes around your home, you need a starting point. You need to know what about your home is uncomfortable, so you know what to fix. One of the best things you can do is give your home a self-inspection. Sit on furniture for a few minutes, and assess how comfortable they are. Spend a couple of hours in one room and look for issues such as lighting, clutter, clashing colors, headache-inducing patterns, or bad smells. You can also hire a home inspector to look for and explain certain problems that you notice, like drafts, mold, bad air conditioning, or insufficient heat in your home. Improving your home starts with identifying areas for improvement–really, this part is half the battle!
Prevent Pests
Pests are a major annoyance to any homeowner. They can cause a myriad of problems around your home including causing damage to your home as well as presenting a health risk. Preventing pests around your home is essential. To start off, it can be helpful to understand what pests are common in your area. This can give you an idea of what measures to take. Next, you want to remove anything that will make it easier for pests to survive in and around your home. This includes any food sources or living spaces. For example, many pests will make a home in crawl spaces under your house, so you should take preventative action to keep them from entering those spaces. Additionally, you want to seal all entrances to your home, especially doors and windows. Keeping your home clean can also prevent pests because there will be less to attract them.
Keep It Clean
There are many reasons you should be keeping your home clean. First and foremost, a clean home is a far more comfortable home. You should start by removing excess clutter in all the rooms in your house. Having a specified place for everything as well as plenty of storage will help with this. You also want to make sure you dust, vacuum, sanitize, etc. all the surfaces in your home. Second, cleaning is also a great way to remove allergens from your home which makes it easier to breathe and sleep. Last, cleaning helps to keep everything in good condition. Cleaning your wood furniture regularly will expand their lifespan, and generally improve the cleanliness of your home. The comfort of living in a clean environment can’t be overstated!
Improve the Lighting
The lighting in your home can do a lot to set the overall tone in your home. To make your home feel more comfortable, you should consider different styles of lighting. For example, having bright, white overhead lights can make a space feel more industrial and less inviting. In a home, you might want to consider adding lamps to dark corners and err on the side of warm lighting. String lights in particular can be very aesthetically pleasing and inviting. If you have a fireplace, then lighting the occasional fire could also help create a more comfortable mood in your home. If not, consider installing a fireplace or even just lighting candles. Really, the best way to make your home comfortable through lighting is to provide yourself with options. You can incorporate overhead lighting, lamps, spotlights, pendants, etc. so you can change up your lighting throughout the day based on your needs. Dimmer switches are also a great way to do this.
Make it Smell Nice
All of the five senses should be considered when trying to make your home more comfortable. The smells in your home can really make a difference in whether or not it’s a comfortable place to be. Obviously, you want to make your home smell good. There are many natural ways you can remove odors in your home or create better smells while cleaning. For example, vinegar can help to deodorize different areas of your home. You can also put citrus peels in your garbage disposal to improve the smell. To make your overall home smell nice, you can add pleasant smells. This can be done by burning candles or incense, using an oil diffuser, or even slow-cooking foods with pleasant smells.
Add Pleasing Decor
The decorations in your home can really impact the atmosphere of the space. To make your home feel more beautiful, inviting, and comforting, you should add decorations that reflect that. For example, you can hang pictures of happy memories to look at. You can also try being conscious of the colors you use around your home. Bright colors like orange or yellow can enliven a space and add energy. Blue can be very calming. Add color to your home through paint or add pops of color with pillows, curtains, rugs, and so on.
Address Your Entryway
The entryway of your home can have a major impact on the tone of your home. To start off, you want to take stock of the exterior of your home. Having a clean door and front porch is important. You might also want to update any fixtures and even replace your house numbers. You can make this area more inviting by adding some potted plants and a welcome mat. Inside your home, you want to make the space uncluttered but welcoming. Your lighting can come in handy here, and decorations will also have an impact. Some common decorating tips include having a rug, a mirror, or some interesting artwork to welcome guests as well as yourself after a long day.
Everyone wants to enjoy their home, so take steps to make it a comfortable place. Start by addressing any underlying issues and then work your way up to the cosmetic elements of your home. The more time and care you put in, the more comfortable your home will be.
Want to maintain your home correctly? We provide Standard Home Inspections in the Chicago area!