If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the thought of home improvement, taking things slowly and tackling the smaller aspects room by room helps get the job done painlessly.

When we think about home improvement we usually think of major disruption, building works, knocking walls down or building extensions. Often it seems like too big a job and therefore gets put off. Meanwhile, the home slowly gets more tired looking and this creates a vicious circle where the vision of improving our living spaces just becomes even more of a challenge.

We need to look at the task in smaller chunks and maybe realise the value and impact that just adding or replacing smaller items can have. For instance, simply replacing the knocked and scratched television stand with new oak tv corner unit can improve the visual effect of a room and give the surrounding furniture a boost as well. Read on for more tips on some quick but effective home improvement tricks.

Updating Tricks
You don’t have to completely redo a room in order to give it an immediate update effect and bring it in line with current decor fashions. Think about affects you can create by switching out these common household items:

Cushions
Curtains
Rugs
Lamps
Ornaments
Door handles
Pictures

The items at eye level are often the first things people notice. It can be a useful exercise to try to see your room as though for the first time. Notice what you eye falls on first. Do the cushions on the sofa draw your attention, or is the art on the walls that make the biggest impact? If you can identify those areas, you have your starting point to begin an improvement project.

Soft Furnishings
The textiles and fabrics that run through your home are amongst the most important and dramatic items. Curtains, for instance, are normally large areas of colour or pattern, on even the smallest windows. Just by changing the curtains, updating the colour or the style, can massively change the mood and atmosphere in a room. If your curtains are on a pole, consider changing to a track and vice versa. If you currently use net curtains for privacy, consider installing vertical or venetian blinds.

Rugs provide splashes of colour below the natural eye level, but are more noticeable when guests are seated. They also add a sense of luxury or cosiness to a room and help to break up large areas floor as well as damping down noise or hard floorings. You can either contrast or match the existing colour scheme, but try to avoid having too much pattern in a room. If you have a patterned carpet, choose a plain or self-coloured rug, for instance.

Hard Furnishings
These include such items as coffee tables, side or end tables, dressers or sideboards and cabinets. You may also have telephone stands or book cases, all of which can benefit from an update.

Replacing chipboard furniture with natural wood, such as in the case of the previously mentioned oak tv corner unit, is one of the best ways of creating a modern, quality look.

AUTHOR BIO:

Jan Small is a home and gardens writer whose work has appeared in many sites across the internet. Click here to know more about furniture to improve your home.