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Room Ideas: 15 Unique Ways to Spruce Up Your Home

Room Ideas: 15 Unique Ways to Spruce Up Your Home

Ah, room ideas. While the topic seems boring, it’s actually really hard to determine the inspiration for your new room’s décor.

That’s where we come in. Read on to see unique room ideas for all types of homes.

Looking for Unique Room Ideas?

If you are less than impressed with your home’s interior design, we’ve rounded up some of the best (and most popular) ways to spruce up the old homestead.

From small to large home projects, we’ve rounded up 15 room ideas that will get your creative juices flowing.

15 Rooms Ideas to Spruce Up Your Home

These room ideas are not all specific to a certain room of the house. Most of them can be implemented in every room, although there are a few exceptions.

We’ve considered budget, size, and living spaces in compiling this list, and anyone can do it.

Second-hand shops, garage sales, and antique stores are great places to find unique décor and furniture, and they are also within almost everyone’s budget.

1. Plants

Image for a piece on room ideas featuring ample plants scattered about in a living room with wooden weaved furniture

Followtheflow/Shutterstock

Plants are one of the easiest changes you can make to your home. They add pops of green color and interesting textures.

They’re also your own personal purifier, cleaning and purifying the air by removing common toxins (and a whole lot less expensive than the alternatives).

They also act as a sort of humidifier by releasing water vapor into the air. Other ways plants make a great addition to your living space include:

  • They reduce stress.
  • They’re not just ornamental; you can grow herbs and edibles as well as healing plants like aloe vera and lavender.
  • They have a fun hobby that’s decidedly less stressful than a puppy or a child.

2. Dark Walls

Room idea with black walls and dark charcoal and grey bedding with a wooden table lamp next to the bed below a hanging black lamp

Alena Ozerova/Shutterstock

Forget the white! Dark walls are in. Consider painting your walls dark shades of blue, green or even black, but consider your space in order to maximize the effect.

If you have a small space, you’ll need to follow certain design rules so that the space doesn’t look smaller.

In fact, you can actually make it look larger if you’re clever. Some rules to consider when painting your walls a dark color are:

  • Don’t paint every surface. Use the color strategically. For example, paint the longest walls a dark color but keep the ends of the room light so that the room looks longer.
  • Use a matte finish.
  • Maximize the amount of light in the room by placing mirrors opposite the windows.

3. Bright Colors

For a style roundup titled Room Ideas, a living room with cream walls holds a grey couch with yellow and red accent pillows

Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

Pops of bright colors work in any space, but it’s best not to overwhelm the eye with color.

This works especially well in neutral-colored spaces where your colors won’t clash with paint, and you can change them up whenever you’re in the mood. Ways to bring in color:

  • Your favorite artwork
  • Plants
  • Pillows and cozy blankets
  • Colorful furniture
  • Colorful décor
  • Rugs

4. Natural Materials

Natural materials scattered about in a room with white walls and wooden shiplap and wooden accents for a piece on room ideas

New Africa/Shutterstock

Natural materials also look great in the home. Take it from Hygge design enthusiasts (who also have the cozy look nailed down).

The Danes believe that bringing in natural materials to their space makes it more “hygge.”

This translates to “the feeling you get cozying up to a fire on a cold day with a book and a glass of mulled wine or hot cocoa.” Types of natural materials to decorate your space with:

  • Pretty rocks like rose quartz, agate or geodes
  • Wood for a wood-burning fireplace or stove
  • Natural materials like wool or cotton blankets
  • Lots of wood, like raw pine or rustic decorative pieces
  • Beeswax candles

5. Unique Furniture

Image of a room idea featuring a papasan chair with metal frames and tan cushions with wooden accents and a black window frame

New Africa/Shutterstock

Get creative with your furniture. For children, there are even swings you can buy that can be installed indoors if you have the room.

But lucky for us, they also make them for adults who never grew up. Unique furniture ideas:

6. Gallery Walls

As a room idea, an art gallery-style room with framed prints on white walls with brown wooden blinds

Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

Nothing makes a home homier than a gallery wall. Whether it’s pictures of your great-grandmother and grandpa when they were young and wild or pictures of your own wild kids, a wall studded with picture frames is one of my favorite things in a space.

But it doesn’t have to be family pictures only. If you can frame it, you can hang it. Gallery wall ideas:

  • Artwork of any kind (including your preschooler’s macaroni art).
  • Vintage vinyl records
  • Newspaper clippings 
  • Posters 
  • Textiles with cool design and texture (and probably story)

7. The Entryway

Example of room ideas featuring a green-gray wall with wooden cubbies and a metal coat rack next to the front door

New Africa/Shutterstock

A well-designed entryway is one of the most important elements in a home. When you first walk in the door, you need an organized place for shoes, coats, keys, mail, purses, etc.

It should be designed with your specific family in mind. Entryway ideas:

  • A bench for putting on shoes
  • Baskets for shoes, or a shoe rack or bin of some kind
  • Hooks for bags, scarves, and coats
  • A small basket for winter gear: hats and gloves
  • A mirror for checking your appearance one last time
  • Hooks or a small dish for keys
  • A shelf or small mail slot for incoming paper
  • Umbrella stand

8. Colorful Sofas

Example of one of our favorite room ideas using a pop of color in a midcentury-retro living room with a brown suede couch and gold accents

Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

Another way to add a pop of color to your home is by making the sofa the focal point. Colorful sofas have been trending for some time and come in a rainbow of colors.

Because it’s more difficult to switch out a sofa if colors clash, design your living room colors around the sofa of your choice. Color considerations:

  • Go with colors you know you’ll love long-term and which go with the items you already have or can’t do without
  • Buy a color that also makes sense for your lifestyle. If you have dogs and kids, choose darker colors like blues or greens that won’t show stains as easily.
  • Don’t buy a colorful sofa just for looks. Make sure it’s also comfortable!

9. Texture

Cooking themed room idea featuring blue pants and stone textured walls behind the butcher block counters

United Photo Studio/Shutterstock

The same as with food, texture in a home adds something unique and interesting to the style.

From brick or rocked walls to textiles and smooth, rounded designs, a mixture of different textures in a home is pleasing to the eye.

Ideas for adding texture to the home:

  • Popcorn ceilings are out, but textured walls like painted brick or stone add a ton of interesting texture to the home.
  • Add different materials to your décor: leather, wood, green plants, woolen rugs, and smooth ceramics.

10. Statement Headboard

Room idea featuring a statement patterned headboard as the statement piece in the room with wooden accents to match

Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

A statement headboard piece is a work of art all on its own. It can change the layout and look of your bedroom and add an element of cozy comfort.

You can DIY your headboard, but there are lots of options available for purchase. Statement headboard ideas:

  • Make a faux headboard by painting the wall behind your bed
  • A cushioned headboard adds comfort for reading or eating your breakfast in bed
  • This deco-sun headboard is gorgeous

11. Tile

Example of one of our favorite room ideas featuring blue glass subway tile behind a faucet

David Papazian/Shutterstock

Tile can be the statement piece your kitchen (or bathroom) needs, and there are so many options to choose from these days.

Subway tile is a downright classic and one that homeowners still love, but getting out of your comfort zone might be the refresh your space needs to look its best. Tile ideas:

  • Colored subway tile: try pink or sage green
  • Metal Tile Backsplashes: Copper or aluminum can do wonders for design aesthetics
  • Black Tile is a game-changer.
  • Tile your floors to complement the walls.

12. Dark Cabinets

Dark hunter green kitchen cabinets with white and black zebra marble floor for a piece on room ideas

Ume Illustration/Shutterstock

Along with dark walls, dark cabinets are also in, especially dark blues and greens for the kitchen, but also rusty oranges and dark muted pinks. 

Dark cabinet ideas:

  • Blues and greens are in, but you can also mix and match your favorite color palette—dark cabinets up top, lighter-colored cabinets below. Or vice versa.
  • Paint your cabinets black (all of them). Accent with bright white walls and shiny copper fixtures.
  • Put mossy green cabinets in a modern kitchen. Go ahead and paint the walls the same color.
  • Play around with color, and ultimately paint them the color that makes you the happiest. Push the boundaries if need be.

13. Boho

One of the best room ideas, a boho style bedroom with hanging tapestries and lots of weaved wooden furniture and planters

Prostock-Studio/Shutterstock

When I think of Boho, I imagine beaded entryways, lots of textiles, and warm, bright colors. Boho is that and so much more. The modern Boho-inspired room is updated and gorgeous with comfort and an eclectic sense of design in mind.

With Boho, you don’t care so much for the order, but only what you absolutely love, color theory be damned. Boho design characteristics:

  • Think Global Flea Market—it’s inspired by a range of different cultural design aesthetics 
  • Lots of different patterns layered together—Turkish rugs paired with native American-style blankets.
  • Casual and comfortable, with lots of soft elements like throw pillows, floor cushions, curtains and textile wall hangings.
  • Mix and match furniture.

14. Scandinavian

Scandinavian style room idea making good use of light flooring and bright white cabinets with dark lamps and accents

Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

So many people have fallen in love with Scandinavian design in the past decade, and with good reason. With the rise of IKEA in America and other furniture and home stores taking cues, Scandinavian design is everywhere.

But what is it exactly? What’s distinctive about Scandinavian design, and why do we care? Scandinavian design characteristics:

  • Natural materials: lots of wood in the design of the home, including décor
  • Minimalist 
  • Functional design and expert craftsmanship 
  • Neutral colors accented with dark greens, blues and browns
  • Natural textiles like fur and wool 
  • Lots of light

15. Lighting

Unique Scandinavian-style lamp in an elegant and minimalistic living room shown for a piece on room ideas

Antoha713/Shutterstock

A home has to have good lighting. If you don’t have access to natural light, lamps are your best friend.

But even with lots of windows, the key to making your space cozy at night is strategically placed pools of soft, warm light.

The way to achieve this is by having a variety of lighting features. Lighting ideas:

  • Candles offer a soft flicker of flame that’s soothing to the eye. Natural beeswax candles are the best for air quality.
  • Standing lamps placed behind chairs or beside couches will offer better light quality than overhead fluorescents any day of the week.
  • Table lamps or mounted lamps placed bedside are the perfect reading companions.
  • A fireplace has the same effect as a candle, only magnified. It is the ultimate design feature for a cozy winter home.
  • Salt lamps offer a warm glow.

16. Shelving

For a piece titled Room Ideas, a plant on a wooden table in the foreground of an image with shelves in natural wood on the wall in the back

Photographee.eu/Shutterstock

Strategic shelving is essential for spaces, especially small ones where you might need vertical storage. It also adds to a space’s aesthetic, making room on the wall for displaying decor, pictures, and plants.

There’s a vast range of shelving options to fit your needs and design, including wall-mounted options and shelving units. Shelving should add to the functionality of a room. Shelving ideas:

  • Add shelves up high along the ceiling to hang plants and display pretty books and decorations.
  • Consider a shelving unit as an open pantry. Organize spices, flours, and dry goods in glass jars with labels.
  • Floating shelves are great for small items.
  • High shelves also make a great place for getting basket storage off the floor.
  • Use a shelving unit as a room divider.

Making Your House a Home

Sometimes all you need is a plant here or there and a little paint to make your house feel like a home.

Throw up some pictures, buy a new throw blanket, and voila! It doesn’t have to be expensive or hard to make your home more aesthetically pleasing. 

But a home is also made to be lived in, and it shouldn’t look like a museum. It should fit your lifestyle, that of your family, and the company you keep. But there are ways to make that easier.

  • Marie Kondo, the whole of your home. This is a huge help to those who are drowning in clutter. We don’t need as much as we think.
  • Have a set cleaning schedule, but if all you’re doing is cleaning, there’s something wrong.
  • Make it a space designed for fun, friends, and family.

What’s Your Favorite Room Idea?

There are so many ways to refresh your living space. We think these room ideas are some of the best starting points.

Whatever your lifestyle or design aesthetic, you can tailor these room ideas just for your taste.