How to Personalize Your Home

Many people struggle with ways to personalize their home. When people move house, they often do not want their new home to just look like a carbon copy of the house next door or across the road. They often want it to have an individual touch, so that their personality and tastes come through. Here are some tips on how you can personalize your home.

How to personalize your home #1 Re-decorate

When you first move in and you have white or magnolia walls, you will have one of three reactions, indifference, a liking for the colour scheme or an absolute loathing for it. If you are like me and you are indifferent, then just keep what you have. You have just saved yourself a lot of hard work and time! But if you are keen to add your own "stamp" to it, then work out what will work best for you. If you are single, then this will be much easier. But if you share a house with your spouse, then you will need to work out a compromise that you will both be happy with. I have not come across a man yet who would willingly decorate the walls pink or some other "girly" shade. Remember that the house will have to reflect both tastes. So play it safe by choosing gender neutral colours.

How to personalize your home #2 Add curtains

If your home came with blinds, then you may not have felt in any particular hurry to put up curtains. But after a while, some people decide to add their own touch by putting up curtains. I am very partial to net curtains, but others may prefer fabric curtains that match the furniture or some other feature in the house. Again, choose fabrics and colours that reflect your personality and likes.

How to personalize your home #3 Hang pictures on the walls

Some people shy away from putting holes in the walls, particularly if their home is a rental property. But there is a way around this. If you have very high ceilings, try to hang pictures higher up than you would normally. Make sure you do not drill large holes into the walls. Then if you decide to move out, the holes will not be visible. People do not tend to notice small holes that are high up on the walls, so you can usually get away with hanging up paintings or photos of family and friends.

How to personalize your home #4 Display ornaments

A home that looks personalized has objects that reveal the personality and special likes of the occupants. That would include ornaments or a collection such as toy cars, porcelain dolls and so on. So if you have a collection, display your items to good effect in a glass cabinet or on shelves.

How to personalise your home # Add some rugs

Rugs are a great way to personalize any home, and that would include runners as well as full length rugs. They show your particular taste and they can also complement your surrounding furniture. Take for example, the humble dining room table. If you display it just upon the carpet, it will not stand out. But if you place a full length rug undreneath it, the result will be much more striking and make more of a visual impact. I did this recently and was surprised to see the difference the rug created.

It can be fun trying to work out what looks best and personalizing your home. If you are married, just make sure that your spouse agrees with the changes you are making. After all, no man wants to live in a full scale version of Barbie's penthouse suite!