When the Christmas decorations come down the house can sometimes feel bare and the beginning of January can often have you itching for change. However this time of year the bank balance often does not stretch to a full room makeover. Enter the concept of shopping your home.
Walk around your home and gather up lamps, artwork, trinkets, soft furnishing and even large furniture pieces. Anything that isn't built in or too difficult to move is fair game. Or if you have some accommodating helpers the big furniture can be 'shopped' too! The idea is, that by using what you already have and treating it like you have just bought it, helps you refresh your home, without needing more. If that bench in the front room has been there since you moved in, why not put it at the end of your bed? Always wanted lamps for the kitchen? Grab your bedside lamps and give it a go.
Worried about colour schemes clashing? Often when we shop we are drawn to things in the same colour palette, texture or finish (brass for example), that will naturally work together. Using 'red threads' (recurring colours or finishes throughout your home) in your home will help keep everything cohesive, no matter where you move it around. If artwork seems to jar in its new setting a great trick it to get out old paint pots of colours used in the room and paint the frames, mounts or (if you are really brave) the images themselves to help the tones blend in. Look at what you have collected and see how it works with other items or in different light offered by different rooms, you will be surprised at how fresh 'this old thing' can feel.
If you received homeware over Christmas, maybe new cushions or a blanket then this is a perfect time to take inspiration and work them into new schemes. If in the re-shuffle you find that a space needs filling or a room is left wanting, the January sales are a wonderful opportunity to snap up something to help with your change around. Or, if things are tight, take advantage of other people clearing out over the New Year, scour charity shops and second hand websites for gaps that may appear from shopping your home.
Scratching the reinvention itch can often be expensive. By shopping your home you can refresh a space and bring new perspective to your room. At the end of the day if you don't like it after living with it for a bit, then it can all be put back, but you may surprise yourself and feel like you have had a complete home makeover, without leaving the house.