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Top 5 tips to improve your apartment

Updated: 2006-03-19 09:28

Have you put a lot of time and energy into making your apartment a haven from the craziness of the outside world? Have you done so only to realize your apartment isn't as comfortable as you'd hoped? Then check to make sure you've implemented the following tips.

1. Dont build a movie theater in your living room!
Don't have all your living room seating facing the television screen. If you do, everytime you sit down, you'll want to turn on the TV. Instead, try to position your furniture so you'll be facing other people-so you'll all be talking together instead of watching TV together. Ideally, you should have three seating options (such as a sofa, an armchair, and an ottoman) arranged around a coffee table. And the television would sit outside this circle.

2. Get off the wall!
Is all your furniture up against a wall? Does your living room look like the inside of a train car? If so, that's not good. When all your furniture is up against a wall, and the middle of the room is empty, there will be an energy imbalance. Energy flows quickly in the middle of the room, but stagnates along the walls. The thing to do is to get energy to flow all around your room at a steady pace. So get some furniture (like a coffee table or armchair) off the walls and make the energy have to navigate its way around.

        

3. Pay attention to lighting!
Try and have at least three light sources in every room. And try to use as many different kinds of light sources as you can-floorlamp, table lamp, uplight, etc.

And try not to use overhead lights. That means ceiling lights don't count as a light source. Also, always make sure you're using indirect lighting. You never want to see a light bulb.

4. More softness!
Our apartments are usually very hard... drywall at our hands and cement or hardwood floors under our feet. So try to balance out all the hardness with some softness. Rugs and curtains help complete any room.

5. Add color in dashes, like salt to a dish.
Some apartments are painted in a variety of colors and the overall effect is tacky. It's better to paint a room in a neutral color (such as off-whites, browns, and earth tones) and then put in splashes of color via furniture and/or a rug and cushions.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com