9 Surprising Things You Can Use as Decorations at Home
The secret to designing a beautifully decorated home does not require a hefty budget or a trip to every boutique in town. Indeed, the key to transforming your living environment is your own creativity and in the very items you already possess.
There are no rules when it comes to designing one’s home, after all, so don’t limit yourself to store-bought artefacts or curated pieces by renowned interior designers. Your home design should ultimately be a reflection of your personality and stories.
If you’re looking to update your home’s aesthetics, consider these knickknacks and other things you might have at home:
Books
If you have old books lying around and collecting dust on the shelves, consider making them the centrepiece of your home design.
Books are versatile decorative objects you can place in the living room coffee table for an added touch of intellectual sophistication or stack vertically on a floating shelf in the guest bedroom for a lived-in ambience. Indeed, decorating your home with books can make it seem more comfortable and inviting to other people.
Sports Equipment
Perhaps you or someone in your family used to play sports or are huge fans of a particular sport and have collected sports equipment as memorabilia. If so, consider displaying these items as decorations around your house.
You can mount surfboards on the wall or create your own colourful skateboard wall art. You can also place sports trophies or medals in cabinets or shelves to showcase your family’s sports achievements and athleticism. These can also be great conversation starters for visiting guests.
Record Covers
For the musically inclined, the art on vinyl record covers can be repurposed as vibrant, dynamic wall art in your home.
If you want that pop of colour or if you’re going for a nostalgic theme, old school vinyl records are just the thing. Their covers can create a gallery wall that reflects your musical tastes and artistic influences. You can also add an illustration art poster or two alongside these record covers to make your wall art stand out.
Musical Instruments
Aside from record covers, you can also use musical instruments as home decor. The aesthetic appeal and charm of many instruments, from guitars to violins to piano parts, can dramatically impact your home’s design by infusing it with a personal touch and a sense of creativity.
If you or someone in your family is a musician, adding instruments as decoration showcases your passion for music or support for your loved one’s interests.
Vintage Ladders
Do you have an old, rickety ladder that’s sitting in the back of your shed and you don’t know what to do with it? One way to give it new life is to paint or decorate it with a colour that complements your home interior, so you can use it as a striking decorative element within your home.
You can lean it against a wall or suspend it from the ceiling, then put other decorations on it. For instance, a ladder can serve as a rustic shelf for books, a unique display for hanging plants, or an inventive rack for blankets and quilts. It can also effortlessly blend with both modern and traditional decor, so you won’t have a hard time trying to fit it in your home’s design.
Maps and Globes
For those whose interests lie in travel and adventure, you can make your passion evident in your living space by pinning maps on the wall or placing an old globe in the living room.
You can turn your map into a centrepiece in your living room or bedroom and place colourful pins on locations where you’ve visited to add more depth and texture to the decoration. This homage to your wanderlust can also be a reminder of the places you’ve been and want to travel to in the future
Wine Bottles and Corks
Sommeliers, wine connoisseurs, and collectors can creatively repurpose their wine bottles into different decorative items such as elegant candle holders or unique vases.
A quick DIY on a wine bottle will only take you a few minutes and it’s much cheaper than buying a whole new decoration altogether. Plus, it can be fun to transform and recycle these bottles. For bottle corks, one idea is to collect and assemble them into bulletin boards or coasters.
Typewriters and Cameras
Vintage typewriters and cameras can add a unique charm to your home decor and can become eye-catching pieces that bring a sense of nostalgia or spark curiosity among your guests.
You can place these items on shelves or desks around the house and pair them with other vintage items you may have, like photographs or books. If you want to highlight their designs, try adding accent lighting to achieve a cohesive warm, vintage home decor theme.
Sea Shells
If you live in a town near a beach or are fond of collecting sea shells and other items that wash up on the shore, you can incorporate these into your home decorations. For example, you can hot glue seashells on a candle holder to bedazzle it or string them up beside wind chimes.
The versatile shapes, textures, and colours of the seashells can complement any decor and add an earthly feel to your home.
Utilising Everyday Objects as Unique Home Decor
You don’t need to spend on new home decor to beautify your living space. With just a bit of creative thinking, you can grab a few items in your house and turn them into a one-of-a-kind home decoration that no money can buy. You can also breathe new life into everyday objects in your house that you would have discarded without a second thought.
Embracing these unconventional decorating ideas encourages you to look beyond conventional aesthetics and see the beauty and potential in the mundane. It’s an invitation to experiment, mix the old with the new, and infuse your space with stories and items that resonate with your personal interests and aspirations.
