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Thirty days to a new home

It's always exciting to come home and find some new project that makes you fall in love with your home all over again. Neater than most divorces and packing and unpacking, a makeover — or a make-under — is easy and cost-effective.

There are many quick fixes that can be done that are the equivalent of a plastic surgery — just without the pain. In the end, these changes will make you appreciate and make you want to be in your home.

Finding areas where your home can be improved is generally easy. You live there and know where the shortcomings or flaws are. Realizing what they are is the first part of resolving the issues. Change is hard to accept for some, yet as you embark on some changes and start to see the benefits, you will ask yourself: Why didn't I do this sooner?

The best way to make these changes is to plan for them or at least make a list. There are some changes that will be easier and you can do yourself, and there will be others that will require help and need scheduling. I suggest taking a calendar and highlight one project each day for 30 days. In one month, your home will feel remarkably fresh.

Let me start you with some ideas, and of course, you can add your own:

• Decluttering does a lot for a room. It allows you to see through what you already own.

• Add some live plants and flowers. This will make the quality of your air better.

• Change your lamps. Buy new ones, or “borrow” them from another room.

• Play musical furniture and figure out a new layout that encourages conversation or reading.

• Add wallpaper to one feature wall, especially if you don't have a lot of art.

• Make a slipcover for that old couch from a brightly printed King-size sheet and some safety pins.

• Change out your decorative pillows. Ready-made pillows are very affordable.

• Map out a great art wall with painter's tape, then hang the art in a great pattern.

• Create a nice stack of books on a table, chair or even the floor. Books warm up a room.

• Change your dated light fixture for a beautiful ceiling fan.

• Bring in a new area rug with a bold graphic pattern. This will give the room a new vibe.

• Paint all the walls, one wall or no walls and paint the ceiling.

• Accessorize with fewer but larger items. I use the size of a football as a reference.

• Hang a mirror in the room. It will bounce light either from a window or lighting fixture, and give the room some sparkle.

• Install a new pair of side panels next to your windows. They will help frame the view.

There are no limits to change. Each home and room comes with its own set of concerns and problems. Don't get overwhelmed. Consider each idea on its own merit, as you tackle each issue leave yourself open to adjusting even those things you have already addressed. Homes are to be lived in, and as such they will invariably change, and that keeps it current.

• Joseph Pubillones is the owner of Joseph Pubillones Interiors, an award-winning interior design firm based in Palm Beach, Florida.

© 2016, Creators Syndicate

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