Our home should be our happy place to recharge, relax and reflect after a hard week of working and/or parenting.

Although this may be tarnished if your surroundings don’t quite exhibit the look and feel that replicates your tastes to date, which isn’t unheard of, as with most things in life, our taste for interior moves on, and what you once thought was a fantastic choice of sofa, is probably now the bane of your living room life.

If this is the case for you, you might need to modernise your outdated decor to freshen up and revive your home, here are some ways you can do just that.

Flooring

Whether your floor is worn from the constant trudging to and from each room, has faded or lacks the lustre it once did, changing the carpet in your home, or a select few places can give your house the revival it needs. To exhibit a modern feel consider the following options for new flooring: a new carpet, vinyl flooring or carrcrete flooring. Opt to choose modern contemporary hues such as light greys and smoky grey colours to freshen up your home instantly. Concrete flooring, in particular, brings a modern touch and a durable floor to suit areas with heavy foot traffic. As an increasingly popular flooring choice, you can soften the look of concrete by teaming it with a soft fluffy, shaggy rug.



Lighting

Lighting can change the ambience of a room drastically from work mode to a dinner party to a romantic mood for you and your partner. If the light in your home is outdated, why not invest in some new lighting to update the look at feel of your rooms, particularly at night time. From copper pendant lights for above the dining table to a statement semi flush chrome ceiling light for the living room, investing in new lights will help to vamp up the look of your home providing it with a new lease of life.

Mirrors

This vital accessory can cover a multitude of wall sins and present a room to be much more spacious than it appears alongside giving your decor a much-needed push to emulate a modern feel. For a modern appeal, you could choose a round mirror with a chunky white frame, A bevelled framed mirrors for a touch of glamour, or a mirror with a background light effect for the bathroom wall. Experiment with different mirrors in different areas of your home to see where they best reflect the most light and create the most visual appeal.

Wall Coverings

A cost-effective option for modernising an old residence is to overhaul the walls with a selection of modern, fresh hues. The most popular neutral currently being grey, however, a bold midnight blue feature wall in the lounge will pack a punch of colour and update the tired decor. Equally slate tiles create a simple yet effective feature wall in rooms such as the lounge (usually where the TV /fireplace) is based or the wall closest to your dining nook.

Furniture

If you have the money to purchase new furniture to get rid of the outdated pieces, attempt to buy furniture that replicates a clean cut Scandinavian look, the kind of interior you expect to find mostly in stores such as Ikea. Keep the colours simple in either black, white or glass, or smoked glass for a touch of luxury. SHould replacing your furniture be too expensive you could always upcycle the pieces you already have to cover old interior such as pine wood coated in an orange-tinted varnish. With a whole platform of how to videos on Youtube explaining the step by step processes to freshen up your furniture.

Accessories

Be selective in choosing just a few accessories to complete the look of modernising your home. These could vary from a few large pieces of abstract art in the living room to a mercury glass effect vases, fresh faux greenery to break up each room such as a bonsai tree, topiary balls and lucky bamboo.



Following the points above to either update the colour scheme, change the flooring, replace the furniture, pick new light fittings, select accessories and pick new mirrors you will gradually begin to piece together a home with an updated modernised look.

Above all, it’s important not to rush this process and take your time choosing and testing colour schemes to see if they work with the natural light in your home. Also to request samples of materials and colours for new flooring and furniture, and if you have the opportunity to see light fittings in particular in person do so, as sometimes the pictures on the internet can be deceiving.