Your home is an extension of well, you!
It’s your character. Your passions. Your interests. Your quirks. Your sense of humor and style. Your taste in music and movies and art.
It’s natural to want people to walk into your home and feel like they know you, like they’re perusing around in the contents of your heart and mind.
Sometimes you address this straight from the start in a new home. You walk into a blank slate, with its empty walls and rooms, and think, how can I make this place mine?
Or perhaps you’ve been in a house or apartment for a few years now, but everything has started to feel bland and distant. Maybe you never had the chance to give it the homie atmosphere you craved. Maybe a year and a half cooped up indoors in a pandemic made you stare at its contents and wonder what you can do to make them feel personal.
The question is this: What can you do to bring your home to life and make it your own?
We’ve got you covered.
Here are seven awesome ways that can easily add a unique character to your home.
1. Display your interests as decorations.
It may be games, artwork, books, movies, anything! You can use these interests to start adding decorations to your home very easily.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to make use of a bookshelf to display a whole collection of books or movies depending on what you’re interested in. If you have games, display the cases of games, or figurines you may have collected.
If you like movies, display the posters of your favorites. Or posters of quotes from your favorite books. Or records from your favorite bands or artists. Even prints from the travel locations or national parks you adore.
Any interest can be used to decorate and bring more uniqueness to your home because that home will be showing a piece of you.
2. Use your passions and goals in your home style.
Hobbies are another great way to decorate your home. If you’re a writer or artist you can display pieces of your work around the house in different forms. The same could go if you are a craftsman of any kind, be it metal, wood, or stone.
If you are a gamer, start using more of your games as a core element in describing your home. If you like to write, display more works of literature around the house. If you are a cook, try having a lot more inspirational pieces related to cooking and food.
If you’re a tech-nerd, bring that modernism and innovation into your home design.
If you are a PRO at work-from-home life, spruce up your office space to show off who you are. Let your passion, hard work and talent shine in your home.
3. Hang artwork from your favorite artists, especially local artists.
If you find art to be enticing, or you fancy yourself an artist, you should definitely hang artwork. The artwork can be homemade by yourself or friends as a fun trip or getaway idea, or they can be professionally made pieces from your favorite artist.
Prints of local places you love, prior homes, favorite parts of your city, vacation destinations and more can also be perfect art for your home.
The key here is to find the artwork that speaks the most to you, that you find the most interesting, and will set your home apart from others. Once you have found that, you can start to decorate your home with this art and theme, thus making your home more unique to you. Plus, if it’s your own art or art from friends, no one else will have it, bringing it even more character.
4. Add recycled items, antiques and reclaimed wood.
Finding recycled and vintage decor that speaks to who you are and what you love is another way to bring personality into your home. There’s a lot of character in older, unique pieces of furniture as well, that can make your home feel as special as you are.
The same goes for unique materials like reclaimed wood. It’s often made of strong, sturdy wood reclaimed from other pieces. It’s stable, won’t let you down and looks awesome as a shelving unit. Plus it’s a type of recycling– so bonus for the ecosystem.
5. Make use of planters and pots.
What better way to bring life into your home than with actual life?
Another great way to add some flair and color to your home is the use of planters and pots to display or grow plants. Some planters come in cute displays like boots, animals, and more.
You can try dozens of different plants until you find what feels the homiest and most personal.
6. Craft a corner bookshelf of your favorite reads.
Have you ever thought of using the corner of your room and building a corner shelf right there?
The corners of your home can lack attention. Turning your corner into a bookshelf gives it more depth, style, and versatility, plus you get a chance to display all of your favorite books.
7. Build out nooks for the things you love.
Counters and corners don’t have to be bare. Create little experiences that show off parts of who you are.d
Coffee lover? Set up a whole coffee stand location inside your kitchen, where you have a coffee pot, flavoring, coffee tools, cute coffee cups, and even small placards.
Music lover? Set up a corner with your instruments. Hang your guitars on the wall.
Artist? Display your easel, materials and work in a small studio corner.
Big cook? Get a stand for your cookbook. Display your favorite spices and oils.
Build little areas of your home that you can both enjoy and use to introduce your character into the space.
Everyone wants their home to feel homey, whether it’s a forever home or just for now.
These are just some ways you can showcase yourself in your style and decor, but what’s most important is that your home feels comfortable, familiar, and like you.
