Home is where the heart is as they say. Your home may be a cottage, an apartment, a mobile home or anything in between. It doesn’t matter where you live, as much as what goes inside. The people and things inside the house are what makes it a home.

It can become easy to forget what’s important when decorating your home. The internet is filled with interior design blogs about how your home should look. It’s not expensive furniture that makes a house a home, it’s personality. People are decorating their homes differently, all around the world. Some enjoy a lot of items in their home to make it cosy, other’s enjoy modern furniture accompanied by their modern artwork.

While some take a more simple approach so they can grow their home along with their families. Everyone’s home is vastly different but ultimately has the same goal; to create a welcoming home.

It’s important to have space for your family to grow. While each home is different there are a few common elements that seem to pop up in homes time and time again. Follow these tips to optimise your house and create a home.

Floor

Start at the bottom and work your way up. Creating an area in each room that is both practical and welcoming is key. Rugs, carpets and floorboards can often determine how you feel in a room. Having a knitted carpet with a fluffy rug in your lounge projects a cosy aura.

Having different patterns and textures on the floor is what makes a room feel lived in. What floor you choose certainly determines the personality of a room.

Storage

One of the best things about any home is its functionality. Your design decisions should always optimise on functionality. Being able to hide things away in a cupboard, draws and baskets are efficient ways to tidy your home. Storage shelves are also a great way to display what you’re using in a unique and stylish fashion.

Food storage is always a tricky one, especially if you don’t have a large storage space. There are some great alternatives to typical food storage. Spice racks and bar fridges, for example, provide more storage space.

Having a spice rack sitting on your bench gives you more room in your cupboards. While a bar fridge is a great way to store, soft drink, alcohol and other items that aren’t squeezing into the fridge.

Artwork

While artwork can be expensive, there are other alternatives to purchasing pricey pieces of artwork. You can decorate your home with personalised pieces that mean something to you. Bring life to your home with original artwork. From weavings to photographs of the family.

Remember you’re the one living in your home. Make it unique to your personality and the things you will enjoy looking at. Decorate your home with things you love and you’ll love being there!

Lighting

It can be expensive and sometimes over the top, to get a professional electrician in to change the lighting in your home. It’s often not necessary, existing lighting complimented by your favourite light pieces is enough. Large display lamps work well in the corner of the room. While your grandma’s old lamp can be a unique way to bring light to those darker areas.