Creating an indoor space you love - Harfi's top 6 home hacks

With all that extra time we are spending at home now is as good a time as any to get your house into order. The good news is that it doesn't need to take massive amounts of time or cash and can actually be fun! To help you, Harfi has created 6 home hacks that you can start implementing from today that will improve your life.

Bring the outside in – plants!

Plants are a simple yet striking way to add some great natural energy to your interiors. Furthermore, they have the added benefit of purifying the air around you by consuming an array of harmful toxins, pollutants and gasses. As well as being beneficial to the environment, research has shown that plants can help mitigate against stress, anxiety and depression. 

Upcycling

Another great (and cheap!) eco-friendly method to touch up your interiors is to repurpose old furniture that has perhaps seen better days. Calling upon a bit of imagination and creativity, this can be a really fun way to showcase your personality throughout your home. With a bit of sanding down and repainting (or even just changing the knobs), old drawers, dressers and cupboards can take on a totally new life! By adding different colours of paint to the undercoat you can create a vintage, distressed look. Curtains and sheets that you were considering throwing away could make great candidates for upcycled furniture seats. Glass jars can be reused to make a pretty candle or to store kitchen cupboard essentials. As you can see, the possibilities are endless!

Painting 

A fresh lick of paint can add a whole new lease of life to your interior! Applying different colours is much more than a visual experience and can completely change the mood of the room. White, for example, is a great way to make your room feel more spacious and clean. Alternatively, green is a great calming colour that reduces anxiety and creates an outdoorsy, natural feel. Moody paint colours, such as peacock blue and charcoal, which often get a bad rep, are really trending right now and conjure up a glamorous, dreamy and romantic vibe. You don’t need to be a pro to be able to do a good paint job and it is all about creating the space YOU want. Go on, embrace your dark side 😊

Go natural!

Using natural materials in your interior is another fantastic (and fun!) way to create a beautiful, unique space that is kind to the environment. Naturally made pieces tend to be far more durable than their synthetic counterparts. Wood, in particular, is an excellent material that can be used to make a DIY chopping board, bookends or a simple pallet shelf to name a few! Embracing artisanal textiles such as throws, rugs and baskets are another great way to add personality to your space and are also great conversation starters!

Home Exercise Space

Love the idea of exercising from home but put off by the amount of space it will take or the thought of buying expensive machinery? Well the good news is it doesn’t have to! Exercising at home doesn’t need to take a tonne of space or require complex equipment and only requires a few simple items. Whether it be in a make shift garage or a corner of your living room, a yoga mat, resistance bands, foam rollers and skipping ropes are all you need for a great at-home exercise regime. If you have a little more space you may want to consider adjustable dumbbells and medicine balls too. You can also get creative with the storage for these items by converting a bookcase or creating diy box shelves or pegboard walls.

Donate

A simple and free way to create a cleaner and more inviting space is to declutter! When it is time to say goodbye to some old household items instead of discarding them (meaning they most likely will end up in a dumpster or landfill) you can choose to donate them. You can then feel safe in the knowledge that someone else will be able to put them to good use and avoid unnecessary waste. On top of this, charities such as the BHF will be able to use the proceeds from your donations to fund life saving research. You can book a free furniture and electrical goods collection with BHF through this link

We would love to see any of these or other changes you are making to your home so we can all inspire each other to make the most out of this extra time at home. Please tag @harfionline in your photos for and we will share them for #homeisnpo