Initially revealed in July 2021
Take into consideration the final time you walked into a house and felt one thing. Perhaps it was curiosity, a way of calm, or a shift in vitality you couldn’t fairly place or describe. A house’s character isn’t restricted to distinctive accents, charming home windows, or authentic hardwood flooring. It’s the fruits of particular person expression inside its partitions. It’s the way in which we add life to an in any other case empty shell. It’s what makes our properties private.
Restricted budgets, Instagram envy, and overwhelm can all contribute to the sensation that having “character” in your house is out of attain. I’m not resistant to wishing I had another person’s ground plan, price range, or broad sense of fashion. It occurs to all of us. So why not search for methods we are able to embrace what’s ours and let the character come from inside? It may be simpler stated than accomplished, however this put up is supposed to offer you a head begin.
These are seven of my favourite methods so as to add character to your own home…
1. Think about the distinctive qualities of your house.
Having an understanding of the small print of your own home you gained’t change is a good place to begin. A big facet of constructing “character” in a house is determining easy methods to create a singular mixture of components that characterize your private fashion. The best place to begin is to brighten your own home with items that distinction the fashion of the structure.
In case your house is tremendous conventional, the distinction of midcentury fashionable items could possibly be a good way to infuse extra character. Geometric-printed pillows on a standard sofa would make for a superbly distinctive assertion.
In case your house is industrial, a crystal chandelier may shine in a completely completely different method.
In case your house is fashionable, a daring de Gournay-inspired print on an vintage chair would create a shocking point of interest. Take the (very) fashionable residence the place Joe and I first lived collectively, pictured under, for instance. Amid all of its sharp traces and white partitions, I did what I may to infuse character. I added vintage items, just like the trunk pictured under, and substantial furnishings that contrasted towards the in any other case ethereal really feel of the house, just like the adjoining outsized leather-based chair.
2. Embrace items with “imperfections.”
There may be nothing I really like greater than a little bit little bit of effortless-looking put on and tear on a chunk of decor or furnishings. From the worn spines of books to the nicked edges of a espresso desk, imperfections = LIFE, and life breathes vitality into a house. A chunk like a classic rug with holes shouldn’t be instantly seemed over when procuring. With a patch or restore, it might probably contribute its personal distinctive high quality to the general story of your own home.
This can be a significantly useful factor to bear in mind when procuring thrift shops, vintage retailers, and FB market. These imperfections could also be simply what your own home wants, which brings me to my subsequent level.
A house’s character isn’t restricted to distinctive accents, charming home windows, or authentic hardwood flooring. It’s the fruits of particular person expression inside its partitions. . . . It’s what makes our properties private.
3. Store secondhand!
Nothing makes a house really feel extra distinctive than one-of-a-kind items. I really like procuring at locations like Goal as properly, however I discover myself extra connected to the items I’ve discovered amid the issues nobody needed, realizing that sourcing the identical merchandise elsewhere is unlikely.
The hunt can really feel overwhelming at instances, and in case your first few journeys to the vintage store are usually not fruitful, you might need to hand over earlier than realizing the magic of discovering that good merchandise hidden behind a bunch of junk. However I guarantee you, in the event you keep the course, the search will nearly at all times be properly price it.
For my procuring suggestions, learn this text: “7 Thift and Vintage Purchasing Tricks to Assist You Discover Objects You Love.”
4. Show your collections.
A lot of my decor is centered round issues I like to gather—vases, brass collectible figurines, colourful candles, and lace tablecloths, to call a couple of. Small decor components look nice in odd numbers (three, 5, seven) and may add visible curiosity to bookshelves, espresso tables, and facet tables, particularly when styled in various heights and sizes. Absolutely anything can develop into a set!
5. Make house for hobbies.
Along with displaying off your collections, dedicating house to the fruits of your favourite hobbies can add some life to your own home. Love puzzles? Add a little bit cafe desk in entrance of a window, drape it with a tablecloth, and stack a few of your favourite puzzle packing containers on high. (Anthropologie at all times has a stunning number of puzzles!) Instantly you’ve added a brand new seating space, a bit of cloth for texture, and a reasonably little vignette that additionally works as a refuge after an extended day’s work.
6. Add colour and sample.
Whether or not it’s by contemporary flowers, contrasting throw pillows (these pillows are so fairly), patterned blankets, or prints in your wall, each house advantages from the life that colour brings. That doesn’t imply portray an in any other case “uninteresting” room with a heat coral colour is correct for everybody, however typically we neglect that even in essentially the most minimal of areas, we are able to discover a goal for one thing dynamic. It could possibly be a big rug in royal blue or a small-scale patterned print on curtains.
Some properties scream colour, whereas others use it in ways in which make you really feel it earlier than you discover it.
For extra on the facility of colourful house decor, learn this text: “5 Colourful Properties and Precisely What I Love About Every One.”
7. Gown your home windows with texture.
One in all my favourite methods to make blah home windows look “full” is so as to add blinds AND curtains in differing textures. Woven wooden shades (these are my favourite) with striped linen curtains? So so beautiful and layered, with zero development required. Valances have a nasty rep for feeling stuffy, however in case you are adorning a bed room that lacks architectural curiosity or just wants some “oomph,” this may be a good way to make it really feel polished.
Inform me, what’s your favourite method so as to add character to your own home?
Editor’s Be aware: This text accommodates affiliate hyperlinks. Wit & Delight makes use of affiliate hyperlinks as a income to fund the operations of the enterprise and to be much less depending on branded content material. Wit & Delight stands behind all product suggestions. Nonetheless have questions on these hyperlinks or our course of? Be at liberty to electronic mail us.
Kate is presently studying to play the Ukulele, a lot to the despair of her husband, youngsters, and canines. Observe her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.
