How to Stop Your House From Feeling Like a Hotel
You can look at all the magazines, follow all the blogs and create the utmost picture-perfect house, each tiny detail just like a hotel. But, unfortunately, just like a hotel, the end result is most likely to feel ‘off’ and unhomely – a place that feels staged and not somewhere you can kick your shoes off at the end of a long day and relax. However, there are a few things that you can keep in mind to eliminate the staged feeling of your home and really get a place that has the wow factor, as well as being somewhere to live.
Remember wood
Sometimes a home can look too staged because all the materials are the same. All the furniture is plastic, chrome, or brass – perhaps with bits of glass mixed in. Look at incorporating wooden elements into your home alongside metal and manufactured materials. Doing this might be through some shelves, the doors, the floor, or some contemporary home furniture. Wood is naturally varied in tone and pattern, so it can reduce the rigidity that metals and plastic bring to a home.
Patterns and Textures
You don’t have to inject personality and homeliness with color – you can have a wonderful place to live if you only want pale or very few colors. The trick to making any home feel welcoming is to remember to include patterns and textures in each room. This is easily done with soft furnishings around the house – curtains, cushions, and bedding. So, if you like a soft luxurious deep-pile carpet, make sure the fabric of your sofa has a tight weave. Your curtains and bedding could be the same color, but the bedspread has a floral or geometric pattern.
Heights
Many people don’t consider the height of their objects when planning out their rooms and furniture. If you look around your room and everything falls at the same height, this can create a feeling of staging. You could try switching furniture around to highlight any differences in heights. For instance, an armchair against a wall might be taller than a sofa, so just bring that more into the eye line of the room. An easy way to break up heights is to use lamps, both floor and table. If you want a feeling of symmetry, you could use table lamps on either side of a sofa – just make sure they are a different height from the furniture, even if they are the same height as each other.
Greenery
Consider the plants that you have in your home. Having a few around, not even necessarily one in every room, can really increase the homeliness of a place. There are so many different types that you should be able to find one that is the right size, shape, and hardiness for the place you want it. Try a tall Ficus for an otherwise empty corner or perhaps a trailing Burro’s tail to soften an angular shelf display. Using artificial plants can get you the same effect if you’re nervous about the real thing. The nice thing about plants is that they’re a quick and easy way to bring in all the elements that have been mentioned above in one go.
