Sometimes life is so busy that you don’t get the chance to stop and look around. It is easy to become blind to how your home looks when you see it each and every day. Over time you may get so used to your living space that you don’t notice that it’s looking tired and needs a bit of love.
When life is hectic, the days and weeks fly by, so it can be hard to find the time to keep up with regular maintenance inside your home. Sometimes it’s only when you are expecting a visitor, or are spending more time at home that you realise that it is looking a little tired and unloved. Restoring your home to its former glory can feel like an off-putting task, and you may struggle to summon the motivation to get started, but it doesn’t need to be a dreaded task. This guide contains plenty of helpful tips to get your home looking as good as new once again.
Start Small
Bringing your house back to being a home you can feel proud of can take a lot of work. If the idea of the amount of work involved is enough to make you need a lie-down, don’t think about the bigger picture, start small instead.
Pick one room to start with and take a good look at it to see what needs to be done to get it looking good again. If the amount of jobs needing to be done is overwhelming, write a list of each task. Not only will this stop the clean-up seeming like just a vague notion, but it will also enable you to tackle it one step at a time. A huge bonus of using lists to tackle projects like this is that you get the satisfaction of ticking off the jobs as you complete them, and you can also physically see that you are making progress.
If you are short of time, then spending just 20-30 minutes per day on each job will all add up to make a big difference.
Declutter
With the best will in the world, trying to restore your home to how it looked when new isn’t going to be possible if it is jam-packed full of clutter. Now is the ideal opportunity to go through and decide what you will be keeping and what you will be giving away. This gives you the chance to make some extra cash by selling your unwanted stuff and also enables you to free up lots of space for the things you really do want to keep. The decluttering process is surprisingly therapeutic, so it’s well worth doing.
Just make sure that the stuff you are getting rid of doesn’t add to the clutter problem, by staying bagged up in the hallway ready to go to the charity shop for weeks on end!
Clean Up
Once the clutter is gone, you should have a better idea of what you are working with in your home, and what remains to be done. Now is the time to begin a deep clean of the house to start restoring it to its best.
Here are some of the jobs that you may find in need of doing:
- Clean the insides of the windows
- Wash net curtains/dust blinds
- Clean skirting boards
- Vacuum underneath and behind furniture (if possible)
- Use a carpet cleaner to get your carpets thoroughly cleaned
- If you have stone floors, use a Stone Floor Cleaning Machine to bring them back to life and looking as good as new
- Clean/polish internal doors
- Dust over all surfaces
- Clean kitchen worktops, cupboards and kickboards
Cleaning your flooring, in particular, makes a massive difference and is incredibly satisfying. Giving your flooring an intensive clean will probably provide the most noticeable results of all your cleaning efforts.
Decorating Time
At this point, your home is already going to be looking like it has had a significant transformation. However, you will probably find that there are areas now visible that still need a bit of love. You may notice walls that could do with a little freshening up, so you may want to apply a fresh coat of paint to revive them. On the other hand, you may feel so inspired by your efforts so far that you want to go a step further and redecorate the walls completely!
Step Outside
If the home transformation bug has now bitten you, you may want to turn your attention from the inside to outside. Weeding and tidying up the garden, along with mowing the lawn are simple tasks that make a massive difference to the overall look of your property. As you cleaned the insides of the windows, why not get the outsides looking clean and sparkling too? You could also add an extra pop of colour by repainting your front door in your favourite shade. Add some outdoor pots of flowers and some hanging baskets for some extra kerb appeal.
Finishing Touches
Now is the time that you get to take a step back and admire all of your hard work. Completely transforming your home is no mean feat, and definitely something worth celebrating. As you adjust to life in your newly rejuvenated home, you will probably find yourself falling back in love with it once again, and enjoying spending your time there once more.
Why not reward your hard work by making your home even more comfortable? Brightening the place up with some new candles is a lovely way to add to the feeling of relaxation you have created. To make your home even more comfy, some new cushions and a new throw for the sofa are an excellent idea. You may want to show the walls some love too, by adding some framed photos of your loved ones, or a piece of artwork that you love. Now is your time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour, and rediscover your passion for your home.
Image by programmingibc from Pixabay
