A Soft Place

If you’ve already read our article on how you can clean your house for therapeutic benefits, then good for you (and if not, you should really check it out ASAP). However, cleaning your house is only the tip of the iceberg in some senses. It only allows you to restore what is currently in place, and maintain it. However, if you have the proper means, you can take it one step further – instead of just cleaning your house, try redecorating it! Let’s explain why this activity is not only different from cleaning your house in a general sense, but also some tips on how to go about taking on this endeavor.

Experience freedom. Unleash your creativity.

Society has always taught us that the man in the house is the one who makes all of the big decisions, including how the house should look. However, that is really not true in today’s day and age. More often than not, especially in a marriage, men and women have an equal say in how they run their lives, including all aspects of their home. However, many women don’t actually take advantage of this equality in their daily lives, or at least not on a larger scale. For example, things like what to eat for dinner, or what movie to watch this weekend are probably things that you have made decisions on, with equal regularity as your partner. However bigger life decisions typically are left for your husband, in part because of the mindset that society has taught us when we were younger.

And so by actually going out and redecorating your home, you can see the stereotypes of women being second in the household to men breaking down before your very eyes. Obviously, you should talk to your husband about any major redecorations to your home, but hopefully he is willing and responsive to such changes. Once that happens, you experience a unique sense of freedom. You feel empowered and like you truly have a say not just in your own life, but your family’s life as well, and that is a great reason to go out and redecorate your home in and of itself.

Redecorating also allows you to tap into your creative side that may have gone dormant since your early years. Making decisions on how to improve the look and feel of your home requires an artistic way of thinking, which will certainly be put to full use once you go about redecorating your home. And the great thing about redecorating is that it doesn’t necessarily require you to be a naturally gifted creative mind to do so. There are so many different levels of redecorating available that you can always find something that will rejuvenate your creative energies, without being too complex or difficult for you (more on that below).

Different Ways to Redecorate

There are many different forms of redecoration ranging from simple tasks that you can probably do on your own, to perhaps more complex visions of your home that will require some extra help (and money).

If you have never really redecorated your home before, the simplest thing you can do to start out is to move some furniture around in some rooms in your home. Not only is this the cheapest form of redecoration, it can also be done by yourself without any help, and can make a very significant difference on the look and feel of the room. For example, if your living room has all your furniture directed towards one corner of the room, try simply moving them to face another corner. You don’t’ even have to reshuffle the order of the furniture either, as the effects of redecorating will be brought out by the other static elements of the house remaining the same. The furniture and the space within the room will now feel completely different, simply because all of the furniture’s relationships to the windows and doorways are now shifted. Another great reason to try redecorating by moving furniture around is that nothing is permanent, and if you don’t like how it looks, you can simply move it back to how it originally was.

Along the same lines, you can also redecorate your home by moving around things like artwork or hanging pictures. Because we do not physically interact with these objects on a daily basis in the same way that we do our living room furniture, the effects will be a lot more subtle, but they can still add new and improved dynamics to individual rooms, and freshen up the overall look and feel of your entire house as well. Try moving around paintings in your hallways, or moving your bowl of (fake) fruit from the kitchen to the living room table. Again, small things can make a big difference so let those creative juices flow and try everything and anything to get the best look and feel for your home.

For women who are ready for more hardcore redecorating projects, there are plenty of different options to choose from. You can start by painting the walls of one of your rooms in a new color (or simply repainting the room with an additional layer). Or you could even take on significant projects like re-installing your kitchen appliances or even just redesign the entire kitchen. There are endless possibilities for major redecoration efforts, but keep in mind that depending on the project you decide to undertake, it may put a significant dent in your wallet, so be sure to discuss openly with your partner about your redecoration efforts and the monetary cost that it will take to make it happen. Be sure to mention how much you want and need this redecoration project on a personal level, in order to make sure he understands the value it brings to you. But if he is still wary about such an expensive project, it’s probably best to revert to a redecoration project that is a little bit cheaper, as risking your financial future is not worth modifying your house which is already perfectly adequate the way it is.

Spice up the look and feel of your home by redecorating today!

Redecorating is a great way to not only improve the overall ambiance and character of your home, but a fantastic way to exercise your freedom as a homeowner and exercise your creativity in a tangible, beneficial way as well. And as we’ve discussed above, you don’t necessarily require anything special to get started with your redecoration efforts. Whether you decide to take on the smallest of redecoration projects, or want to put in significant time, energy and money into something much bigger, redecorating is a valuable activity that should always be under consideration when you feel the need to spice up not just your home, but your life as well!