Have you branded your home?  If not, maybe you should!

Branding your home means making it yours to the uttermost.  Family and friends should be able to tell it’s yours right when they walk in.

Your home is not just a place where you live.
It is an extension –an expression– of you.

How To Brand Your Home

One corner provides a relaxing place.

First, replace neutral decor with things that reflect your style.  The pictures on your walls are an easy place to start:  if they neither inspire nor assist you, they have no place in your home.  Take down pictures that aren’t meaningful to you and hang images of things you love like favorite hobbies, close family and friends, or treasured memories.

If you’re feeling creative, make your own picture!  Even found items such as pressed leaves and feathers, when adhered to a backing board, make pleasing pictures.

Inspire yourself by putting images on your walls that depict
where you’d like to be, or who you want to be.

  Choose images that have personal relevance.

You can use frames you already own.  Use a box knife to cut away the backing paper, and a flat screwdriver to lift the tabs or staples holding the picture beneath.  If the job looks daunting, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, or your local frame shop can put it together for you, complete with new backing and picture hanging wire for under $10.

Second, creatively display things you regularly use, such as a camera or musical instrument.  Are you are an architect?  Put your drafting table in a prominent place by the window with good lighting instead of hiding it away in a back room.  Do you love plants?  Display them everywhere they will grow.  Your home should be a tool for your activities and interests.

(left) A ladder implies action in an area of plants. It looks pleasing, style-wise, and says “I’m here because I am used for indoor gardening.” (right) Placing a couch in front of the fireplace makes the space cozier for reading and ambiance because it is different from traditional placement. It looks functional and inviting.

Third, create atmosphere.  What is your tone?  Is it funky?  Eclectic? Scholarly?  Minimalist?  Do you gravitate to small cozy spaces or larger airy ones?  Own every inch to the smallest corner.  Unowned spaces are wasted.  Even adding one small shelf with books next to a chair makes a huge difference.

Your design choices amplify your identity and enforce who you are.

This avid cyclist creatively added light to a dark storage space.

Last, be mindful of your need for order and ease of cleaning.  By bringing your things out of storage and into your immediate environment, your storage spaces should have more room.  Now is a good time to bring order back to your life.  At Susan’s Green Cleaning, we get calls every week from customers who are delighted with the extra time they have when we clean their homes.  Doing personal work on your end through sorting and branding will maximize this.