EP 032: 6 Easy Home Updates you Can Do Today
March 24, 2021 | By Ashley Brown
Creating a home that feels elegant, beautiful and has presence can be as simple as adding a few "essential" updates. These 6 updates can truly elevate the overall look and feel of your space. And my favorite part is that these updates are easy to tackle and can be done quickly.
There's no demo day involved. No home projects that'll consume your entire weekend and you don't even need to invest in new furniture.
These 6 easy home updates can be done today and make a big impact when it comes to creating a beautiful home you'll never want to leave.
IN THIS EPISODE ASHLEY DISCUSSES:
How updating your space can make a big impact.
6 easy home updates
How to update your home
LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Black Pottery Barn Vase - Small
Ashley’s Facebook group
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I get it some days it feels as if you're riding the "hot mess" express and there's no end in sight. Hello, I'm Ashley Brown, mom of three little kids who used to let life's chaos get the best of me. Then I discovered that you can elevate your life, raise kids and make what matters happen all while adding a little more elegance into your everyday lifestyle.
I'm on a mission to help busy women overcome the hot mess and create an elegant life they love by starting with the essentials. Everyday life doesn't have to be so chaotic. Join me in discussions about ways to help you embrace simplicity with practical solutions and easy to implement ideas. So you can design a home and life you love. This is a source of encouragement. This is the change you've been looking for. This is the always elegant living podcast.
Hello and welcome to the Always Elegant Living podcast. I am your host, Ashley Brown, and I'm so excited that you have chosen to join me today. I am really excited to share this episode with you. This episode is all about six easy home updates you can do today to really make your home feel more beautiful, elegant and pulled together. And the best part is they're easy. Oh my goodness, I am so excited to share these with you. These are my best design tips and tricks and different ways to really add impact to your home in a way that's easy but still elegant.
When it comes to creating a home that feels elegant, beautiful, and has presence, there are six things that you can do that can truly elevate the overall look and feel of your space. And my favorite part about these six home essentials, if you will, is that they add so much impact and they are things that you can change today. So there's no demo day involved. There's no home projects that are going to consume your entire weekend. And you don't even need to invest in new furniture or big-ticket items. These six easy home updates can be done now and make a big impact when it comes to creating a beautiful home you'll never want to leave. So let's get into that.
The first thing is window treatments and coverings. So often, window treatments and window coverings are overlooked. It feels like a place that you don't really want to spend money on or time or energy figuring out, but really when we update our window treatments it is one of the only things that you can do to a space that actually makes it feel bigger and fuller. It also creates more impact and drama in the space. By adding window treatments that are hung correctly it'll dramatically enhance the room that you're working on, allowing you to easily transform your space from basic to beautiful.
Number two is adding a rug. Once again, this kind of feels like one of those areas where you may not want to spend money, but by adding a rug to a space you are defining the space. You are setting the tone for the area. You are adding so much style without adding clutter and furniture and big pieces all by laying a rug down on a floor. If that doesn't create impact, I don't know what does. So add a rug.
The third thing I always recommend as an easy update that you can do any time is add lamps. More often than not, you can walk into a room and not see any lamps. Lamps add so much more than just light. They add style and mass and texture, and they serve a function. So adding lamps is one of the easiest ways you can update your home. If you don't believe me, try it. Shop for a lamp. Make sure you're taking into mind the mass of the lamp, the shape of the lamp, the style, and the texture of it because that all plays a very important role in how you're designing the space. But just by adding a lamp or two or three, and I always try to recommend three, if you can, depending on the space, adding a lamp or a few lamps will instantly update the space that you are working on.
Number four of my six easy home updates you can do today is add some coziness to your space. If you are working on the living room or a bedroom, add some throw pillows, add a throw blanket, make it cozy, make sure that those blankets and pillows have a texture and that the color goes with what you're working with. I always like to try to keep my pillows in the neutral palette, but that's because my home is very neutral and I add color in other places. But when you're adding texture to the space or you're creating that coziness factor, you are making a room feel so homey. You are making it feel like you can't wait to sit down and snuggle and live life well there. You're making it feel cozy and inviting to those who live there. And that's what we want out of our homes. We want homes that make us feel welcomed and loved and relaxed and recharged. By adding coziness to a space, you can accomplish all of that, and it's super easy to do.
Coziness comes in all shapes and forms. It comes in pillows and it comes in throw blankets. It also comes in our bedding textures. But really, when I think about coziness, I think about textiles. So definitely the pillow covers, the throw blankets, the bedding. But I also think about coziness in terms of ambiance. Candles and books and different things like that that can make us feel cozy in that space. It's not just about having cozy things on us, like the textures, but it's also having cozy things around us like books and candles and different things like that. So add coziness to your home. And it's an easy home update you can do today.
Number five is add anchor decor. I talk about anchor decor a lot. There is a huge difference between anchor decor and tchotchkes. Anchor decor are big pieces. They are items that give you more style with less stuff. Some of my favorite anchor decor pieces are vases because you can use a vase to put fresh flowers in, you can use it to add life to the room, or you can use it on its own. When you choose anchor decor pieces you're adding easy home updates that you can do anytime.
You can also change out anchor decor seasonally as well. Anchor decor pieces are typically a little bit more expensive than just tchotchkes and little things because they're bigger, but the best part about things that are bigger is that you need less of them.
One anchor decor piece, for example a Pottery Barn vase that I love and I can link to in the show notes, was $50. I could spend that same $50 and buy probably like 10 different little tchotchkes, but those 10 tchotchkes are not going to add the same impact as that one anchor decor piece or that Pottery Barn vase. I promise I've tried. It doesn't equate to the same, even though the money in the long run may be spent the same and you may feel like you're getting more bang for your buck with the 10 tchotchke pieces versus the one anchor decor piece. But it doesn't even out that way. Anchor decor always wins when it comes to more style with less stuff. When it comes to updating your home with ease, go for the anchor decor, switch out a vase, switch out another anchor decor piece, but focus on the anchor decor over the little things.
And number six when it comes to easy home updates you can do today is add life to your space. We forget to add plants and trees and flowers and organic pieces such as branches and pine cones and little wooden balls and acorns etc. Don't add them all because that'll be too much, but pick one, pick two, pick even three and add life to your space. When you add organic textures and elements and pull that into the room, it just livens it all up and it makes it feel like the space is instantly updated, and all you had to do was add a little bit of life, some greens or organic sticks.
Try these six easy home updates. They will make a huge change. And these are things that I talk all about in my new course Everyday Home Elegance. If these six tips have helped you and you want to learn more about how to elevate your home with ease and beauty, then check out the course. You can find out more information at alwayselegantliving.com.
In the course, I walk you through each of these steps and how to create an intentional, functional, and easy- to-manage home. So if these six tips really are helping you create that impact that you're going for, then make sure to check out the course cause I have so much more in there.
Also, if you want to learn more about how to choose the right rug size, how to hang your window treatments the correct way, how to choose from different styles of lamps and picking the right lamp for your space or even how to add coziness then the course is for you. If you want to dive into each of these topics and learn how to actually pick the pieces that are going to update your space and elevate your home, then the course is for you.
It's available now. I'm calling you in. If this is something you want to learn how to do, make sure to check out Everyday Home Elegance. It's all about this kind of stuff. And it really, really, really helps when you are looking to elevate your home, make an elegant impact and create a stylish home with less stuff.
I hope these six easy home updates encourage you to update your home this weekend or even today. And until next time, I'm always cheering for you.
The episode is over and now it's time for you to take action.
What can you do today that will help you create who you want to be? Little by little progress adds up and in turn makes a big impact.
If you'd like to continue the discussion head on over to facebook.com/groups/alwayselegantliving.
If you loved listening to this episode, as much as I love sharing it, then please leave a review on iTunes. And if you're ready to take action and dive deeper into the topics that I discussed on the podcast, visit the courses.
You have the power to create who you were made to be. You can move past the chaos and start living a life you love with ease. And remember, I'll be there cheering you on.
Until next time. I'm Ashley Brown.
