Home Improvement Ideas For 2016

Posted on the 20 January 2016 by Sparklesandstretchmarks @raine_fairy
January always feel like the ideal time to make things fresh, don't you think? Fresh new approaches to all aspects of life are firmly on everybody's mind - fresh new healthy eating plans, fresh new organisational ideas and fresh new looks! The January quest for freshness along with my own personal nesting instinct kicking in (only 5 weeks to go!) has left me with lots of niggling annoyances around the house when it comes to things like décor, storage solutions and general efficiency! There is so much of the house I want to make over, I really don't know quite where to start! Here are some of my ideas so far: New Colour Schemes I find myself getting very tired of color schemes in my home very quickly - I've mentioned before how much I regret our teal and cream corner sofa decision and I feel that it's time for a change! I want to introduce something totally neutral - perhaps a cream or gray sofa - so that in future changing the color scheme will be as simple as changing the cushions and curtains! We've already made the switch to crisp white curtains and white walls, but we're left with the grey-green carpet that was here when we moved in and that's pretty limiting when it comes to changing the overall look of the house - I'd love to invest in some Engineered oak flooring this year to give a lovely clean and neutral look to the living room. I'd really love to go with a duck egg blue and white theme, or perhaps a muted yellow and gray...here are some ideas for the overall look I'd like to achieve:



Increasing Storage Since Christmas I've really noticed how much we are already struggling for storage space with two children in the house, and with that soon to increase to 3 I can't see it getting any easier! It seems as though I'm stumbling over toys everywhere I look at the moment! I've invested in a large wicker storage basket for the living room but that's already overflowing with toys and there are still more piled up in the living room and playroom as well their bedrooms! This week I've invested in two more large storage baskets for the hallway, which should give me enough space to house all of the left over toys for now! As time goes on, I think installing some shelving will be a wise move as we need to start using the height of the rooms to full effect rather than always trying to store everything at ground level. Hallway Makeover


Our hallway is a pretty bland space at the moment, which I always think is a shame as it's the first thing anybody sees when they enter the home and so it kind of sets the tone for everything else.
We do have a family photo wall which I really love, but I'd like to add some more decorative touches over the coming months...here are some innovative hallway ideas I'm loving at the moment!
The Bedroom Swapover! And finally, the big changes this year will be to the sleeping arrangements as the arrival of the third baby means everybody will be shuffling bedrooms! For the time being, Baby will be in with us so we've set up his/her crib ready in our room and shuffled some things around to make some space - luckily it's quite a large bedroom so there's plenty of space, and we have two sleeping options set up in there for him/her - the co-sleeper and the large crib. Noah only stopped using the crib last week at 9 months old, so we know it will last a while as it's really massive - so the plan is for baby to move into Noah's current room once he or she is ready for a cot, and for Noah to then move into Tyne's room. The nursery is unisex so there's no need for any big changes to made there, but we will need to overhaul Tyne's bedroom quite a bit - I'm thinking of adding in solid wood flooring to make it more child friendly when it comes to spills and keeping it all clean and fresh, and changing the layout around.
Garden Plans For Summer


I've spoken before about my plans to make the most of our garden space for the coming summer, and I now have my sights firmly set on finding a nice little summer house small enough to fit in our tiny little garden space but large enough to give myself and Jon a nice shaded area to sit with the new baby while the children play on the long hot summer days that I'm praying for! I also really want to add lots of beautiful lighting to make the most of the garden of an evening too, as the sea view out there is so pretty and something we should definitely be making a lot more use of.
So that's how we'll be improving our home in 2016! What plans do you have for yours? As always, I'd love to hear from you! 
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