How to ensure you never get bored of your home – the 6 tried and tested methods I use to boredom-proof my interiors
Keep your home feeling fresh and far from boring with these tips to never get bored of your interior design
If you're like me and almost as soon as a room is finished you start to get itchy feet, boredom-proofing your interiors is going to change your life. If you find yourself adjusting and readjusting shelves and rethinking decisions you previously labored over purely because you feel a little bored of the interior design style in that space, you're not alone.
The good news is, that ensuring your living spaces feel fresh and exciting doesn’t require a full renovation every 6 months. Instead, it’s about making smart choices and introducing some interior design tweakments, flexibility, and newness for enduring appeal.
Here, I share my 6 top methods and tips that you can very easily copy and implement in your own home for when that wave of boredom hits you.
How To Ensure You Never Get Bored Of Your Interiors
Personally, my current favorite method to ensuring I never get bored is to embark on an endless slow renovating journey where no room truly ever gets done, and there is constantly something new to introduce or update. But that's just me.
If you're lucky enough to have a finished home, here are my favorite methods I've employed in my past homes (and some tips I've learnt from the experts) to keep your home feeling fresh and far from boring.
1. Mix timeless and trending
Now I'm the first person to admit I can get really sucked into trends. Perhaps due to my background in fashion, where a new shoe style is easier to invest in, but when it comes to my interiors I do like to also dip my toe into the latest fads.
Introducing some of the latest interior designer trends to your home, like a pop of unexpected red, is a great way to make a space feel renewed. Mixing classic interior design styles with these trendy accents ensures that your interiors always look updated.
If you anchor your home with timeless foundations with your larger furniture pieces and wall colors, you can easily swap out trendy items as styles change, keeping your interior fresh and exciting without significant expense.
2. Use neutrals as a foundation
If you know you're prone to wanting to redecorate often, the biggest advice I can give you is to try and stick to decorating with neutrals for your paint colors. I know the maximalists among us are going to recoil, but hear me out, as this gives you the freedom to refresh your space with minimal effort and expense.
Think of your home as a canvas that can be continually updated with new furniture, artwork, textiles, and decor pieces that reflect your evolving style – without you having to call in the decorators.
A neutral palette allows your style to shine through in other ways like with unique furniture or decor items. By using neutral colors as a base, you can easily layer in more vibrant or trending accents without overwhelming the space.
3. Flexible furniture
Flexible, modular, and adaptable furniture is a game-changer for reinventing spaces. Sure, there's a lot to be said for custom banquette seating and corner couches that fit perfectly into your nook, but if you should want to move them around you're pretty stuck.
Unfitted furniture pieces are designed with versatility in mind, allowing them to serve multiple functions or be easily reconfigured to meet changing needs and minds.
Modular sofas, for example, can be rearranged to fit different room layouts or to create new configurations. While a farmhouse table instead of a fixed kitchen island can simply be moved, repainted, or swapped for something else entirely without any damage to your flooring.
4. Rearranging vignettes and displays
This is my favorite and most frequently employed tip to update a space. It sounds so simple, but it is so effective to give your displays and vignettes a fresh new perspective.
If you're wondering 'what is a vignette', it is simply a term for small curated arrangements of objects. These can be set up on coffee tables, mantels, bookshelves, or any surface that lends itself to a bit of decoration. Updating these can have a big impact on the overall feel of your space.
Start by shopping your own home. Move items from room to room to create new combinations and looks without buying anything new. Whether it's rotating through new coffee table books, switching out a lampshade, or displaying travel souvenirs, vignettes can be refreshed to reflect what's meaningful or inspiring to you at any given time.
5. Seasonal switches
Seasonal decorating is something you might only consider at Christmas time, but what about the rest of the year? I don't know about you, but I always feel like my house feels really empty and a little sad after taking down holiday decorations so I'm looking to create that feeling year-round.
Of course, there are obvious moments like Halloween decorating or Easter decorating that can bring something different to your interiors. But also don't forget to celebrate the current time of year and bring elements of that indoors.
In the spring, this might mean incorporating fresh flowers, light fabrics, and pastel colors. Summer decor ideas would focus on vacation and coastal-inspired decor and more vibrant hues. For fall decor, think a few cozier textures, warm woods and toasty tones and through winter, I like to bring in festive touches as early as I'm allowed. This keeps everything feeling new.
6. Throw pillows and blankets
My final and most easy to implement hack is to keep a basket, box, or cabinet with different throw pillows, cushion covers, and blankets to update and elevate beds, sofas, and seating areas.
These items not only add comfort and warmth but also offer an almost instant way to inject a new color, texture, and personality into any room. By changing out these accessories regularly, you can keep your space feeling vibrant without the need for a new couch.
This is especially useful for those of us who enjoy experimenting with different styles or moods. For instance, if you're pining after a bold green living room but have just had it painted blush pink, switching out the textiles in the room will let you try out that color without a huge commitment. Or you might like to opt for bright, bold patterns in the summer and switch to rich, cozy textures in the fall.
Making your home a space you never grow tired of might be an impossible task, especially if it is your 'forever home' or somewhere you intend to stay at for years. But, by embracing a few of these simple tips you should be able to keep your rooms feeling fresh and inviting as your mood or the seasons change.
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Charlotte is style and trends editor at Homes and Gardens, and has been with the team since Christmas 2023. Following a 5 year career in Fashion, she has worked at many women's glossy magazines including Grazia, Stylist, and Hello and most recently worked as Interiors Editor for British heritage department store Liberty. Her role at H&G fuses her love of style with her passion for interior design, and she is currently undergoing her second home renovation in Surrey - you can follow her journey over on @olbyhome
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