Simple Ideas to Give a Home Sparkle

Adding a little sparkle and something unexpected to a home and make it pop gives a home a new feel and a touch of one's personality. The folks from HGTV and Sunset Magazine as well as DIY Network offer a variety of suggestions to do just that. Here are five quick, simple and inexpensive ways to give your home a touch of your personality:

1. Change the outdoor color palette. Use muted browns and grays to give a cool outdoors feel, but put in a splash of color just as a deep blue on the door to make it pop.

2. Bold patterns in the corner of a room break up the monochrome pattern and give an interesting focal point to a sitting area in a little used corner of a bedroom or living room.

3. To from antique to chic. Hunt used stores or flea markets to find old interesting small items (most common is the candlestick holder, but any object such as vases or knickknacks can be used) and give them a coat of primer. Once the primer dries, paint with antique white paint (may need more than one coat depending on the object you are painting). New life from old lends itself to the shabby chic look.

4. While hunting at the flea market, pick up wooden frames of different sizes and styles to create a collage on the wall. Prepare the frames by sanding and priming with a primer coat of paint. Once the primer is dry, paint them the same color as your wall. The frames will give the illusion of disappearing onto the wall and making your pictures stand out. Giving them the change to give the splash of color.

5. Change the hardware of door and drawers. Almost anything can be used, such as old silverware, bent and attached can be used as drawer pulls. Glue small items such a glass gems or flat wooden shapes that have been painted to a flat wooden door knob for a child's room (a great project to get your children involved in to help them decorate their own place). Using a brass lamp spacer (can be found at any hardware store) and a long screw, such items as toy cars, puzzle pieces or even balls and dice can be used.

These are but a few simple ideas the help give your home a taste of your personality and make it more inviting to friends and loved ones.