Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and you’re probably frantically searching for the perfect gift, whether it be decadent chocolates, a sparkly bauble or tickets to an away-from-the-children, all-adult event. This year, remember that your New Jersey or New York home needs extra TLC once in a while too. After all, your home works day and night, keeping your family comfy, safe and healthy. It’ll make you feel better too, as the colder weather and shorter days tend to keep up cooped up all winter, and you’re probably feeling a little cabin fever this time of year.
Here are four “gift” ideas that will show your home the love hasn’t gone out of your relationship.
Real love means pampering. Everyone knows how good it feels to be treated like you’re someone special. Fix that sticking patio door. Patch the drywall dings around your home. Make your windows sparkle. Consider the effect a mini version of the semi-annual top to bottom cleaning can have. Your home will feel the love from floor to ceiling.
You don’t have to paint every room with the newest trending colors – although you can if you want to. Update decorative pillows in the den. Give your front door a new look by filling an over-size urn with cool-weather plants or an evergreen. Look around your home for drab areas; then bring them back to life with a few eye-catching accents. You don’t have to spend a fortune. Think about switching matching picture frames for a collection that uses different construction materials and colors, or replacing an aging cloth rug with a hand-dyed natural fiber floor throw.
Lighting is very important because it changes the way the colors look, sets the overall tone/mood in your home, and impacts functionality. It’s perfectly OK to choose non-traditional light fixtures for a modern home, or vice versa. The trick is maintaining consistency between indoor and outdoor light styles.
If you want to show your home some love with a few modern fixtures in an otherwise traditional home, make sure to scatter a few “pops” throughout your home, so it doesn’t look like you picked up a random element at a clearance sale without giving it any thought.
Walk through your home to make sure lighting complements daily activities, this is the functional part. The lamp beside your favorite reading chair should be low enough to illuminate the page, high enough not to interfere with positioning or turning pages. Overhead light must provide adequate coverage to move about safely. Accent lighting is used to showcase artwork or special furnishings, and set the mood and tone.
Balancing natural light – that’s the kind that flows through home windows – and artificial light – that provided by bulbs – is critical for enhancing beauty and functionality.
Now that you’ve addressed some of the things that may have been bothering you about your home, what better way to show your home some love than to show it off. Send an invite to friends and family you haven’t seen since the holidays. Dress your home for the occasion. Bring out your best table toppers and dinnerware, pick up several fresh flower bouquets – red carnations might be nice – and, scatter a few hearts around to tie it all together.
These tips will show your home a little love this Valentine’s Day.
If you find that updating artificial light isn’t enough to truly make your home beautiful and functional, Renewal by Andersen of New Jersey and New York Metro has a full line of replacement window styles designed to bring in the perfect amount of natural light for every setting. Learn more by filling in the short form on this page or calling (866) 609-5033.
