When is a house not a house? When it’s a home. Your family home isn’t just the place where you eat, sleep, and rest your laurels, but a space that nurtures your children’s potential, comforts you when life gets tough and entertains you when you come in from the cold. Your home is where you can truly become yourselves in a safe haven from the outside world. If you want make the most of your family home, then it’s important to create a space that each member of the family can enjoy, using colours, shapes, textures and themes that allow children and adults alike to embrace their individuality. Your home’s interiors should mirror your personalities in a way that’s fun and fresh.
If you’re in the process of decorating or hope to create a fun family home, then here are just a handful of ideas to get you started. Remember that almost anything goes when it comes to turning your house into a proper home.
Experiment with Colour
Nothing says ‘fun’ quite like colour, and there are so many ways that you can introduce bright, bold, and interesting shades into your home. Take coloured walls, for example: redecorating your walls with a variety of hues is perhaps the simplest way to bring a little excitement to your living space. Colour can be used to inspire, evoke memories and demonstrate personalities as well as create certain moods. Of course, you don’t need to decorate entire walls in order to achieve a similar effect. Patterns, coloured accessories and feature walls can be used to make a statement too.
Play with Light
Light inspires us because it is filled with potential. It can transform a dark, empty room into one filled with love and happiness and emphasize the corners of your home that you love the most. While shopping for light fittings can be an incredibly fun experience, there’s an even easier way to play with light. Natural light is something that we all take for granted, and yet, it can do so much for our homes, such as create the illusion of space and warmth. Why not experiment with coloured window shutters to prove what a difference warm, watery sunlight can achieve on a spring morning? Window shutters allow you to control the flow of light into your home as well as alter the temperature. During hot days, your home is instantly cooled, while on the coldest evenings, these shutters provide a level of warmth and protection.
Make the Most of Texture
Colour may be fun, but a brave use of texture in the home can be truly exciting. After all, who wants to live in a world that’s flat, smooth and uninteresting? Texture can add depth, warmth and personality to family homes, creating spaces that you’ll want to spend time in. What’s more, a clever use of texture can aid your children’s development and inspire each of their senses in turn. Adding texture can be as simple as laying a rug on a hardwood or stone floor, exposing brickwork on a chimney breast or creating a feature fireplace out of bits of reclaimed wood. The world is filled with raw materials and opportunities to turn them into something incredible.
Bring the Outdoors In
What could be more fun than living in a tree house, surrounded by nature? Although it’s unlikely that you’re currently reading this while nestled in your own tree house, there are some brilliant ways to bring the outdoors in and create an interior inspired by your garden and beyond. Colour institute Pantone’s colour of the year is Greenery (above), a sharp shade of green that is likely to transport even the most ardent homebody outdoors. Other shades in this year’s top ten include Hazelnut, Pale Dogwood, Island Paradise and Primrose Yellow, an eclectic mix of colours inspired by the natural world. Alternatively, fill your home with live plants, photographs and prints that draw upon the great outdoors as an influence. You’ll be able to hear the birdsong no matter the time of day.
Don’t Forget Your Children’s Bedrooms
Your children’s bedrooms are perhaps the best rooms in your home for introducing fun; if you can’t use your imagination in your kids’ bedrooms, then where can you? While it may be tempting to go crazy with bright colours, a myriad of characters and textures aplenty, it’s important to remember that your little people won’t be little for long. The films, books and objects that your child adores now won’t always remain their favorites. Create a space that’s neutral in colour but fun in terms of its accessories. Decals, borders, toys, posters and fabric hangings can be used to create a bedroom that’s fit for a prince or princess but has the space to change and grow as your children’s interests take shape.
If you’re ever stuck for inspiration, then be sure to make the most of the family-friendly decorating resources available at your fingertips. From Pinterest mood boards and Instagram fan pages to websites dedicated to interior design, the virtual world is one occupied by colours, shapes, textures and more. You may soon discover that interior design becomes something of a new hobby as your family home finally starts to take shape!
If you’re in the process of decorating or hope to create a fun family home, then here are just a handful of ideas to get you started. Remember that almost anything goes when it comes to turning your house into a proper home.
Experiment with Colour
Nothing says ‘fun’ quite like colour, and there are so many ways that you can introduce bright, bold, and interesting shades into your home. Take coloured walls, for example: redecorating your walls with a variety of hues is perhaps the simplest way to bring a little excitement to your living space. Colour can be used to inspire, evoke memories and demonstrate personalities as well as create certain moods. Of course, you don’t need to decorate entire walls in order to achieve a similar effect. Patterns, coloured accessories and feature walls can be used to make a statement too.
Play with Light
Light inspires us because it is filled with potential. It can transform a dark, empty room into one filled with love and happiness and emphasize the corners of your home that you love the most. While shopping for light fittings can be an incredibly fun experience, there’s an even easier way to play with light. Natural light is something that we all take for granted, and yet, it can do so much for our homes, such as create the illusion of space and warmth. Why not experiment with coloured window shutters to prove what a difference warm, watery sunlight can achieve on a spring morning? Window shutters allow you to control the flow of light into your home as well as alter the temperature. During hot days, your home is instantly cooled, while on the coldest evenings, these shutters provide a level of warmth and protection.
Make the Most of Texture
Colour may be fun, but a brave use of texture in the home can be truly exciting. After all, who wants to live in a world that’s flat, smooth and uninteresting? Texture can add depth, warmth and personality to family homes, creating spaces that you’ll want to spend time in. What’s more, a clever use of texture can aid your children’s development and inspire each of their senses in turn. Adding texture can be as simple as laying a rug on a hardwood or stone floor, exposing brickwork on a chimney breast or creating a feature fireplace out of bits of reclaimed wood. The world is filled with raw materials and opportunities to turn them into something incredible.
Bring the Outdoors In
What could be more fun than living in a tree house, surrounded by nature? Although it’s unlikely that you’re currently reading this while nestled in your own tree house, there are some brilliant ways to bring the outdoors in and create an interior inspired by your garden and beyond. Colour institute Pantone’s colour of the year is Greenery (above), a sharp shade of green that is likely to transport even the most ardent homebody outdoors. Other shades in this year’s top ten include Hazelnut, Pale Dogwood, Island Paradise and Primrose Yellow, an eclectic mix of colours inspired by the natural world. Alternatively, fill your home with live plants, photographs and prints that draw upon the great outdoors as an influence. You’ll be able to hear the birdsong no matter the time of day.
Don’t Forget Your Children’s Bedrooms
Your children’s bedrooms are perhaps the best rooms in your home for introducing fun; if you can’t use your imagination in your kids’ bedrooms, then where can you? While it may be tempting to go crazy with bright colours, a myriad of characters and textures aplenty, it’s important to remember that your little people won’t be little for long. The films, books and objects that your child adores now won’t always remain their favorites. Create a space that’s neutral in colour but fun in terms of its accessories. Decals, borders, toys, posters and fabric hangings can be used to create a bedroom that’s fit for a prince or princess but has the space to change and grow as your children’s interests take shape.
If you’re ever stuck for inspiration, then be sure to make the most of the family-friendly decorating resources available at your fingertips. From Pinterest mood boards and Instagram fan pages to websites dedicated to interior design, the virtual world is one occupied by colours, shapes, textures and more. You may soon discover that interior design becomes something of a new hobby as your family home finally starts to take shape!