How to Add Character to Your Living Space Without Cluttering

If you’re going to feel truly at home in your living room, then you might consider adding a few choice decorations. These items can add character, and help the space to feel uniquely yours. This is particularly important in new build homes, which tend to come as ‘blank slates’, for the resident to customise according to their needs.

However, there’s a danger to be aware of, here: add too many small items, and you risk creating a sense of clutter that can ultimately make life at home more stressful than it needs to be.

The Power of Purposeful Pieces

Naturally, the easiest way to strike the right balance is to pick out the items that will really make a difference. Before adding a new piece of furniture, or decoration, ask yourself what contribution it makes to the overall functionality and aesthetic of the room. Pick quality items, and prioritise the ones that have a particular sentimental value for you.

Strategic Storage Solutions

Effectively dealing with clutter is often a matter of knowing where to keep things when you’re not using them. Space-efficient storage tends to be built into existing items of furniture, or made to fit into a given space. A bespoke wardrobe, for example, might make the best possible use of the recess between a chimney breast and the adjacent wall.

Creating Focal Points

In order to avoid a sense that the space is visually crowded and ‘noisy’, it’s important to develop a sense of visual hierarchy. In other words, think about having big, small, and medium-sized items, so that the eye will naturally be drawn from one place to another, with lower risk of it getting lost along the way. Your focal points don’t have to be large, necessarily. You can draw attention through the use of contrasting colours and shades. A feature wall, or a painting, can often do this effectively.

The Impact of Texture and Textiles

When all of the surfaces in a given space are smooth and sterile, it might be difficult to create the required sense of cosiness. This problem can be mitigated through the careful positioning of textured items like rugs, cushions, and throws. A few soft furnishings are all you need to feel at home!

Personal Touches and Meaningful Mementos

If you have personal photographs and other mementoes, it’s important to place these first. Get your favourite photos in a prominent position, and make sure that they’re framed appropriately. You’ll feel more at home in a given space if you have a constant visual reminder of the people and things that really matter to you.

Conclusion

You can give your home a unique character without burdening it with clutter. Go about your decorations in an ordered way, prioritising the things that have sentimental value, and arranging them with a clear sense of visual hierarchy.

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