We like to perceive our home as a safe haven, but is it really so? Simply owning a home is not enough; you need to stress its functionality, comfort, and versatility. The last trait of a home is perhaps the hardest to attain because dullness and uniformity in interior design should be avoided at all costs.
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Here are the top 7 ways to add versatility to your space, making it more comfortable and functional.
Cleanliness is half health.
Spatial versatility doesn’t necessarily include tearing down a wall, as a cleaning spree is more than enough to get you started. Namely, set a date when you clean the entire home, from dusting to getting rid of excess stuff like old newspapers. You must clean your home regularly because you can never achieve functionality in a house or a dirty apartment.
Extra storage for Home
Adding versatility to your home will most likely increase the market value of the real estate. Prospective homeowners look for storage space that they can never have enough of. Investing in storage space is a great way to increase spatial functionality without jeopardizing comfort.
Start by extending your bookcases to the ceiling. There are always books and folders you seldom open so they can be stored on top shelves. You can do the same with kitchen cabinets that can also be extended to the ceiling or another row could be added.
Finally, think of all the functional “dead spots” that can be better utilized. For instance, the backside of the front door should feature a coat hanger or the furniture can be multipurpose. A great example of the latter solution is a living room coffee table that has compartments and shelves inside.
Create traffic corridors
A highway allows cars to travel fast through the country or a city but the concept is not limited to motorized transport only. You should establish similar pedestrian corridors that would span every room and the house in general.
These traffic corridors are created by repositioning the furniture so people living inside and guests can traverse the home without running into obstacles. This increases not only functionality but safety as well because children won’t risk running into sharp edges.
Redoing outdoor space
One of the best moves you can make in terms of increasing the versatility of your home is to blend indoor with outdoor space. One way to achieve this without resorting to an expensive house extension is to upgrade the patio. Add garden furniture set, an outdoor kitchen or a pergola roof. The latter is perhaps the best solution because a retractable pergola roof is useful in the sense that it enables you to spend time outside even when the weather is not ideal.
Decluttering the home
Intrinsically tied to the aforementioned regular cleaning of the home is decluttering it. What you need to be aware of is the fact that clutter is recursive so there is by no means easy to get rid of it fast. A strategy you can adopt to increase comfort and functionality by decluttering is to create a place for the smallest of items. The newspaper should have a rack of its own, the key can hang from a hallway peg, and pens can have a pot on the work desk.
Accentuate the purpose of each room.
Our ancestors had a single room, i.e. a den, to live in but we have several rooms in our home for a good reason. To accentuate versatility and improve the comfort and functionality of each room, you shouldn’t mix up the purposes of individual rooms. In practice, this means that it’s not OK to eat on the living room sofa nor should you stay up late in bed working on your laptop. You stand to gain a lot if you draw a clear line of what each room is designated for.
Don’t downplay the power of a simple rug.
Whether you have tiles, vinyl or wooden floors, this surface will benefit from placing a rug over it. Although rugs and large carpets might seem outdated, they are comfortable to walk on barefoot, as well as act as insulators during cold spells. Furthermore, adding an anti-slip mat in the bathroom and the kitchen where the floors are covered with tiles will help prevent slipping and possible serious injury.
Aiming for versatility, comfort, and functionality inside your home is not easy if you’re aiming for all three at once. However, there are at least 7 ways in which you can make the house or apartment feel more homely and add value to it.