Five New Year’s Resolutions For Your Home

The new year usually brings resolutions: we intend to lose weight, drink less, exercise more, be patient or kind, or generally be better people.

What if you made some decisions for your home? Here are five ways to treat your home with greater respect and sensitivity. Homes, like people, can be abused, neglected, misunderstood and abused, and the ill effects, like people, will appear sooner or later. Here are some tips to avoid this.

Do not have anything in your house that is not beautiful or useful.

De-cluttering is common, but it’s still shown more frequently on TV than in our homes. Most of us have closets we don’t want to think about, closets crammed with mysterious things, furniture we don’t really like or use, and talents that collect dust but don’t.

It’s hard to make big changes, and huge industries have sprung up to help us do that. Marie Kondo says the thing has to be “exhilarating” if you want to keep it. Others embrace the idea that if you don’t use it in — three months, a year, a season — it should last.

But the simplest and most personal way to get a home furnished with things that work for you is to ask these two questions: Is it beneficial? Is it beautiful?

You will never throw away your favorite spoon because you reach for it whenever you cook. When the midday sun illuminates your tribal simplicity, the colors make you smile. You love putting flowers in your grandmother’s vase because they make the flowers look prettier and bring beautiful memories. These are the things we want to surround ourselves with: the things we use and the things we find beautiful. Everything else is a mess.

Before embarking on an expensive and devastating renovation, ask yourself some tough questions.

Start with: Do I want this or do I need it? How will the operation affect my family? our money? Is this really the best thing for our house? Is it influenced by peer pressure or overly enthusiastic home décor experts?

Renovation can, of course, solve problems and make your home business better for you. But, before you embark on a project that will definitely be more expensive, take longer and be more turbulent than expected, make sure you are doing the right thing for the right reasons.

Bring skeptical sensitivity to trends.

We love the trends. They mark the passage of time in a very specific way and express the zeitgeist at any given moment.

But keep in mind that the hotter the trend, the more it looks like it was coming when its moment has passed. Think of how avocado green and harvest gold hardware is the perfect representation of early 1950s interior design. Many homeowners now regret installing this modern bowl sink in their bathroom. Waterfall kitchen islands were very hot a few years ago and now look very old.

If there’s something trendy that suits the home and your style, and if you think you’ll still love it when the moment is up, go for it. Otherwise, think again.

Clean the gutters, paint the trim, remove dead trees, shovel snow, and prevent water from infiltrating.

In other words, do routine maintenance and treat your home with the respect it deserves. That’s literally where an ounce of precaution is worth an quintal of a treat.

Younger and first-time homeowners are often shocked by the amount of maintenance a home requires. But there is another way to find out about these household chores and it is the best way to get to know your home better, check its condition and give it regular care. You may find yourself enjoying some work.

Replacement of home items in kind.

If you live in a house that was built before 1970, be especially sensitive to its building materials, and if you are renovating or replacing, try to fit them as closely as possible. The 2×4 no longer measures two inches by four inches, but rather one and a half inches by three and a half inches. This can have a huge impact on smaller construction projects. If your windows are good, clean wood and glass, don’t replace them with vinyl windows; It will never fit them properly. If you have old shingles or shingles, do not coat them with aluminum or vinyl; That will promote mold and mildew. Replace them with real boards or planks.

Treat your home’s items with respect and your home will reward you with shelter for years to come.