"What Goes Where?" - How To Decorate Your Living Space

So, you’ve just purchased a lovely Devtraco Plus apartment and you can’t wait to settle into your new home! It’s an exciting time! But before you get too carried away, how is the interior of your new home going to look like? What goes where? You don’t need to be in a dilemma over décor and arrangement in your house… here are a few basic décor tips to help you make your home both functionally and aesthetically pleasing.

Living room

The living room is the first space you walk into as soon as you enter your house. It is the heart of the home, and you want to set the beat right from the get go. As the space where we receive guests, friends and relatives, what first impression do you want to make?

Firstly, keep all entry ways clear. Although the living room will contain your furniture, art pieces, entertainment sets, among many other things, you still want to promote good traffic flow and make it easy for you and your guests to maneuver the space. Avoid crowding entrances and exits with potted plants or pieces of furniture and try to keep all walking spaces about 3 feet wide.

You’re entertaining guests here so keep the place cozy but lively. Go for colors that calm the nerves and promote relaxation, but preserve an interesting and upbeat ambiance. Painting the living room in lavender, cream, light green and other non-shouting colors can help, and when you’re done, jazz it up with bright and exciting couches, throw pillows, rugs and art pieces! Or you can flip it the other way round and use bright colors for your walls, and calmer colors for furniture. Give your living room the classy but comfortable and welcoming look it deserves.

Dining Room

The dining room is the place where meals are shared with our friends and family. But beyond meals, we share conversation, catch up with each other and form connections. In as much as you’re trying to create a bonding atmosphere in this space, do not squash up your guests together. Each placement should have about 30 inches of dining space on the table; that gives enough elbow room without keeping everyone far apart.

Did you know that the color red encourages appetite? It seems like a bit of a daunting color for a dining room, but you don’t have to paint the entire room in that color. You can use the color red on an accent wall in the dining room, or choose selected pieces of dining furniture to be red.

Add more visual interest to the dining room by displaying some of your best china either as decorative wall pieces, or in see through cabinets or a plate rack. Have an eye-catching but not-too-bulky center piece on the table; preferably a vase with flowers, or a fruit bowl. Don’t forget to make sure that the lighting falls right onto the center of the dining table in order to cast an evenly spread glow around the dining room.

Kitchen

Thankfully, Devtraco Plus homes come with a lot of the kitchenware and appliances preinstalled, so there’s little for you to worry about in terms of arrangement and décor. However, when it comes to your remaining personalized items, remember that you don’t want the kitchen to be too crowded. You are going to be moving about a lot in there while you cook, and you need to make that easy for yourself.

Arrange all your items according to frequency of use. Place the items you reach for often on lower shelves and the items you use the least on higher shelves. You should also group similar items by purpose and assign them to specific cabinet spaces.

Remember to keep all flammable items at least 2 feet away from the stove. Hang your aprons, napkins and mittens on hooks that are installed far away from the fire. You can have a small, open shelf for your cook books around that area as well. There might be a lot of spillage happening in the kitchen so keep all sticky items on easy to clean surfaces.

In terms of décor, make your kitchen cheery: colors like yellow, pink, orange and other bright hues help increase your metabolism and give you energy so you can push through the cooking task till the end!

Bedroom

The bedroom is meant for sleeping, resting and general body recovery. In arranging and decorating the bedroom, make sure to only include furniture and items that are necessary to this purpose. Do not include a TV, computer or any distractive equipment, and make sure that all items that remind you of work and responsibilities are out of that space. The basic items for your bedroom should be a bed, bedside tables, a lamp or two, a dressing table, and a small chair.

When arranging the furniture in your bedroom, start with the placement of the bed before moving on to other supporting items. It is good to have open space all around the bed to give you a more free feeling. Keep the space simple and clutter free.

The color green promotes tranquility and health, according to color psychologists, and that is a great color to paint your bedroom in. But if green is not your color, no worries! There are many other alternatives that can put you in a relaxed and calming mood. Lighter pastel colors work very well for this.

Bathroom

You are probably in the bathroom for between 5 and 30 minutes at a time, but the fact that you do not spend too much time in the bathroom as compared to other spaces in the house, does not mean it shouldn’t be well arranged and decorated too.

Contrary to popular belief, throw rugs are not good for the bathroom. These loose fitted rugs are a major cause of tripping and falling in the bathroom. This is not to say that you do not need some protection against the bare wet tiles; what you need to do is secure floor rugs on the floor so they are barely movable. A DIY tip is to use double-faced tape, tacks or slip-resistant backings.

As the only place in the house you go to get clean, you should always keep it clean and tidy. Use lightly colored rugs, soap dishes, etc. to showcase a purer look. Get a hanging organizer for your soaps, scrubs and sponges to make keeping your items easier and look less cluttered.

When it comes to aesthetics, try and give your bathroom some character. What type of person are you? Let that reflect in your décor. You can theme it after anything you want, so long as it doesn’t inhibit its basic function.

These are just a few tips to set you on your way to having a happy and stress-free life in your Devtraco Plus home. Happy living!