5 Easy But Effective Ways to Style your Home! + A Bonus Tip

As you may know, I moved house not too long ago. Okay, admittedly, it has been over six months at this point.. But I have come to the realization that furnishing and styling up a home basically from scratch is a lot of time, effort and most of all: money. I know I’m not alone in saying how crazy expensive everything has gotten.

But I digress! This isn’t a finance blog after all, I am in no way, shape, or form qualified to talk anything finance. Instead, let’s talk about something I have spent a lot of time thinking about and doing over the past months: making our house a home. It’s easy to find a house (well, somewhat), but making it feel like you and a place that you feel 100% comfortable in is actually pretty hard! So here are my X easy but effective ways to style your home!

Now, before I dive in, please keep in mind that my taste in home decor might drastically differ from yours. So just take this post as some easy inspiration, and then go and put your own spin on it.

#1: Greenery, Plants & Blooms

This one of course is a no brainer. Plants, be it just green ones or actual cut flowers, make such a difference to any home! And don’t be afraid if you’re not much of a gardener: there are so many plants that are super hard to kill! My favorites include different types of ivy, as they basically thrive in whichever environment you thrust them. Plus, types like the ivy arum are super easy to propagate: just snip off a piece and put it in water – a couple of weeks later new roots will have formed and you can plant it. Doesn’t get much easier than that!

You can also get seasonal with your plants. Just have a little look around nature – there is nearly always something in season! Be it conifers during the Christmas period, fresh flowers during spring and summer, or potted herbs in autumn. Find a couple of things you like and introduce them into your home or a cozy vibe.

#2: Books

I would describe my style as modern-traditional countryside-esque. I don’t really like trends. I’m not into the whole minimalist-scandy-vibe. I do like a fair amount of color in my home – mostly different shades of green. And I like to combine very old and rustic pieces with new and modern ones.

One of my favorite ways to tie in the old with the new or vice versa is by strategically placing either very old or very new books around my home. I have been to many a flea market over the past few months, always on the hunt for nice old books. Think muted/neutral colors, linen bound, gold lettering along the spine. Raiding your parents’ and/or grandparents’ book shelves is also a great way to source lovely vintage books. And by doing so, I have racked up quite the interesting collection, ranging from books about fish to old table tennis year books. I must admit, I have not read them all… But they do make for a great feature on my shelves!

Alongside the vintage books, I do like to pop a new one or two. When I do buy new books, meaning I also pay full price for them, I do make sure they are actually interesting to me. For example, I have bought a few books on interior design, like City Farmhouse Style (which I already featured in this post), Feels like Home or The Art of Home. Not only are they fun to flick through, but also educational, as they teach you a thing or two about interior design you might not have known before. And, of course, they look great when put out on display.

#3: Vintage Vases & Pots

Going along nicely with the previous two tricks, hunting for vintage vases or pots on said flea markets (or basements) is another great way to style your home! My favorite style for any vessel is a rustic farmhouse vibe, and never mind if it’s got a chip or crack in it. The more rustic/vintage looking, the better. Don’t limit yourself to a certain color scheme when it comes to vases, pots, etc. It is super easy to (spray) paint it in a color or style you love for your home! There are a lot of tutorials online on how the achieve the look you prefer. And if it doesn’t go as planned – hey, if you only spent a couple of bucks on it, it’s probably not that big of a deal…

#4: Ambient Lighting

The right lighting makes all the difference! Fun fact: we don’t have a lot of ceiling lights in our new apartment. At first, this kind of bothered me, as I kept crashing into doors early in the morning because I couldn’t just flick on the light and thus it would be very dark. Now, we have a lamp in place every few meters. And honestly: the kind of warm light you get from a lamp is so much nicer than the oftentimes very harsh and bright light you would get from a ceiling light. So when styling your home, make sure you have at least one lamp in every room – preferably with a warm bulb.

I have also found the perfect lamps for window sills or coffee tables – basically anywhere that doesn’t have a socket close. The answer is pretty simple: rechargeable lamps. I bought mine a while ago off Pooky and absolutely love it! They have such a wide variety and you can pretty much customize your lamp as your heart desires. And their battery life is pretty good as well.

#5: Seasonal Fabrics

Last but not least on my list of easy and effective ways to style your home is choosing the right fabrics. This applies to all fabrics around your home. Think curtains, towels, rugs & carpets, bedding, pillow cases, sofas… I really love changing around the fabrics in my home along with the seasons. For example, the couch I have is the Ektorp from IKEA, and you can simply swap around it’s covers. Not only is this super handy if you’ve got pets or kids because you can wash them. But it also changes the whole vibe of the room, at least for me. My spring/summer cover is just a white cotton one, whereas the autumn/winter one is a sagey-green velvet one (which is SO cozy!). Some obviously goes for throw pillows etc. It’s little things, but it can make or break the entire room!

If you want to change around your rugs as well, Ruggable is a great website to have a look! Not only can you just change the top layer as your little heart desires, but they are also machine washable – again, so amazing when you’ve got pets/kids, or simply for any area that gets a lot of traffic.

Bonus: Where To Begin?

Styling up a home from scratch can be very overwhelming – at least that’s how I have found it to be. You look at so many inspiriting pictures online or in those interior books, and all of them look fantastic. But when it comes to applying it to your own space, things can get a little trickier. T

o avoid impulse purchasing items, only to then discover they don’t fit with the rest (been there, done that), I’d recommend you design a mood board. Or multiple, one for each room and then potential one that captures the vibe of home. Include as many details in them as possible; colors, fabrics, decor, furnishings, etc. And then, most importantly: be patient. Don’t settle for something you don’t love, just because you want to get a room finished. It’s taking me months to style our home, and it’s not nearly finished. It’s all about trusting the process I guess!