One of the next big joys of homeownership is your ability to truly make your home yours, and customizing and personalizing it to suit your tastes, your family, and your lifestyle.
Below are four smart strategies for customizing your new home (even if new just means new to you!):
1.Throw some color around to create the feel you want, inside and out!
Painting your home with the colors and aesthetic of your choice is one of the most cost-effective ways to create a completely personalized living space. Studies show that color choices, in particular, have a massive impact on your mood, as well as the happiness of a home’s occupants.
There are several ways – across a wide spectrum of cost and time required – you can use paint to personalize your Dream Home.
Exterior: The single fastest way to change your home’s look to match your personal preferences is to paint the exterior. Since your new home with Lennar has a fresh paint job, from a color package you adore, consider painting the front door to inject some more personal color to your home. Aquas and greens, rusty or brick reds, and even chic greys and blacks make for a polished entrance – and the addition of a kick plate, or engraved knocker, can create a 100% personalized look!
Interior: The individual occupants of different rooms can pick their colors and custom effects, like chevron stripes or fun personalized murals for kid’s rooms. Aim to match colors to a room’s purpose, so that bedrooms have a sense of restful sanctuary, bathroom walls read “clean” and common living areas are warm or energizing, as you wish!
If you have a limited timeframe or budget, or you’re afraid you’ll regret bold color choices, try accent walls – a single wall of color in every otherwise neutral room can go a long way toward customizing your home. If you’re looking for an even less long-term commitment, spread some color around with pretty pillows with varying patterns, textures, and hues.
2. Seek the unique and become a mix-master
Rather than settling for generic décor and purchasing a plain table or chair, consider something with a little personality. A hand-carved bench from a thrift store does the same job as a mass-produced one, with a little bit more character. Like-wise great-grandma’s hand-me-downs warm up a room with a few family memories you just can’t buy. By displaying multiple “collections” of items together, you create a sense of contrast and uniqueness. Mixing it up works! Set yourself apart by creating small surprises around your home. See what kind of scene you can create with items from all stages of your life.
3. Build organization in.
Built-in’s make a world of difference, and we aren’t just talking about the ones you find in old fixer-upper homes. It’s relatively low-cost and low-effort to build-in items like:
a. Closet organizers
b. Window seats
c. Desktops and bookshelves
d. Pantry-optimizing shelves, spinners and drawers
e. Medicine and linen cabinets
Having the right sort of storage, especially in the right places, is key: get that right, and daily life suddenly because so much easier! Take the time to plan out where you need shelving or cabinetry, and outfit your closets with storage systems to make the most of your space.
4. Hang personal photos
Getting a few of your favorite photos up on the wall is one of the quickest and easiest ways to make a new home feel perfect. If you’re concerned about putting holes in the walls before you are sure where everything will go, pick some removable picture-hanging strips to use instead of nails.
5. Change the light fixtures
If a light fixture in your home just doesn’t feel right for the new aesthetic you’re bringing in, consider swapping it out for a sleek new one, or an extravagant bold one! This simple change can make a huge impact on how your overall design feels. Just be sure to coordinate your light fixtures with existing décor, so everything blends together easily.
6. Match your furniture to your space, your activities, and your stuff.
Remember the space issues you couldn’t stand in your last place? Anticipate them, and as you plan to buy your new furniture to populate your new home, look for things that offer extra organizational or storage features. Putting a cubby in the entryway, and a specific place in each bedroom to store shoes quickly gets rid of the problem of shoes being all over your home!
If you end up with a lot of stuff with no place to go, make an effort to purchase armoires, storage closets, and sheds. Give your new dream home a polished look that reflects your (perhaps newly!) organized personal style.
7. Wallpaper can be your friend!
Up for a bigger project? A fun statement wallpaper can really put a stamp on a room. A less-used space, like a powder room, is a great place to experiment with bold patterns and color before moving on to bigger spaces, like the owner’s suite, or your dining room.
8. Hang a large-scale piece of art
One great piece of artwork can create a focal point and liven up an entire room. It doesn’t need to be a priceless item, as long as it speaks to you. Seek out galleries in your new neighborhood that feature up-and-coming artists, or attend student shows at local art schools in your district, and support smaller artists for reasonably priced works.
9. Tuck plans into unexpected spaces
Plants add personality and color, freshen the air – and they look great in any room. Large houseplants and potted trees are wonderful, but also try placing little pots of cacti, succulents, or ferns, among the bottles on a bar cart, on the bathroom sink or an open shelving space in the kitchen.
10. Offer cozy comforts
Even if you generally prefer bare floors, having at least one space with a sink-your-toes-in squishy fluffy rug makes a home feel ultra-comfortable. If you’re concerned about keeping a shag or deep-pile rug clean, put it in a room away from entrances, kids, and heavy foot traffic. A throw to snuggle under, a tea tray ready for last-minute guests, candles, fresh flowers, and plenty of lamps are all little things that are often what make a home feel comfortable and welcoming.
Which of these strategies will you be implementing in your new Lennar home to personalize it to your liking?
