Home Improvements

As many of us are gearing up for a new season, we begin transitioning our homes with autumnal touches and spirited decor. Before embracing the full seasonal affair, I’d first like to focus on making a few simple home improvements that I can enjoy year round.

If you didn’t already know, I have been living in my apartment for a year and a half. When we initially moved in, James and I fortunately had the opportunity to take furniture from each of our previous homes which allowed us to focus on buying other home necessities. Think glassware, cleaning supplies, appliances, and all the other home accessories. As the year progressed, we would buy things in phases from most to least important. Now as we enter our second year, we decided it’s now time to focus on home improvement and decor.

Before going all out and buying bigger pieces for our home, we thought it would be more beneficial to focus on the smaller home improvement items. These things aren’t as necessary, but will enhance what we already have in our home right now.

I believe a home is built over time. It’s important to give yourself time to carefully select pieces that are pertinent to your lifestyle. With time, you can learn more about yourself and your interior design style which ultimately leads to a more unique and creatively styled home.

Now as for our home improvement project, these are the changes we have made to take our home to the next level!

Bathroom

The first order of business was to get rid of our shower curtain liner. It was absolutely time to replace our shower curtain liner when it started to collect mold. Luckily, I replaced it with this one.

The other bathroom improvement I made was investing in a better shower head filter. I used to use a cheaper one from Amazon, but I found it didn’t really work that well. I could still feel the water take a toll on my hair and skin and thought it was time to invest in a better shower head filter that actually worked and lasted long-term. I decided to go with this one from Cymbiotika and I couldn’t be happier with the results!

Kitchen

For our kitchen, our trash system wasn’t cutting it. We had this one trash can that we used simply for trash and we only had a small trash bin under our sink for recycling. The problem was that we have way too many recyclables and it would build up next to our regular trash can when our recycling bin was full. To combat this problem, we bought a trash can with dual bins. I am so happy with our new trash can, not only because of it’s functionality, but also because it looks sleek and levels up our kitchen in my opinion.

The other improvement we made was to get rid of our dish rack. Although not the most functional choice, the dish rack started to rust (I guess it wasn’t stainless steel after all) and it was time to throw it out. Instead of replacing it, I decided to dry my dishes right after washing instead of having them sit out on the counter to dry. Since we have a small kitchen, I like having our counter space free as much as possible. Not having a dish rack makes the kitchen look more clean and upscale.

Living Room

This is a little embarrassing, but I’ve had two big paintings since moving in that I have yet to hang up in my living room. It’s sad to say that my beautiful paintings have been sitting on the floor for a year and half, but don’t worry, it’s time to change that! In order to hang up my paintings, I purchased these heavy duty command strips. If this wasn’t a rental, I would simply use actual nails, however, since I don’t want to cause any damage to the walls I found that these command strips do just the trick!

Bedroom

To me, the bedroom is my sanctuary. I like to create the most peaceful environment in my bedroom and have it be a place for sleep and relaxation. Something I haven’t been paying attention to is our bedding. There are a few improvements to be made to the look and feel of our bedding and it is finally time to give it some much needed TLC.

The first thing that I did was purchase a box spring cover. Currently, our box spring is visible and to me that doesn’t signal an elevated bedroom. To make our bed look more chic and seamless, I purchased a box spring cover sheet that matches our current sheet set. This is an easy fix if your box spring is visible and you aren’t looking to purchase a new bed at the moment. In the future, we will be getting a new bed. However for now, this is a great alternative until then!

For bedding, I decided it was time to replace two older pillows with new down-alternative pillows and I also purchased a new duvet and sham cover set. It was time for a bedding refresh and I’m so excited to start the new season off with new and improved bedding!

In the future, I’d love to purchase an essential oil diffuser to help create a more peaceful environment. I’d love to have lavender essential oils fill the room while winding down at night or a nice citrus oil for the morning. It’s all about creating the experience you desire and sometimes a simple addition like an oil diffuser can do just that!

Closet

The last thing that I purchased for my home is a new hamper for my closet. It was time for an upgrade to my hamper and this time around I wanted something that was elegant and had two sections to divide my laundry. I came across the Marie Kondo hamper basket and I am in love with how beautiful and functional it is. It really enhances my closet and makes doing laundry that much easier!

I hope you enjoyed this post and are thinking of ways you can improve your home as well! Please let me know what items you are adding to further improve your home over on Instagram!