How To Renovate

EP47 What To Do If You're Bored With Your Home

• Tash South • Season 1 • Episode 47

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Ever catch yourself staring at your walls, feeling a bit… meh? Like your home has lost its spark, but you’re not quite sure why?

That creeping sense of boredom doesn’t mean you need to start knocking down walls or scrolling Rightmove.
Sometimes, all it takes is a few small shifts to completely change how your home feels.

In this episode, I’m sharing six simple but impactful ways to fall back in love with your space.
We’ll talk about the magic of shopping your own home (yes, rearranging your stuff can work wonders), the subtle power of swapping out things like cabinet handles and light fittings, and why a fresh furniture layout can make a room feel brand new. I’ll also dive into the importance of weaving in pieces that mean something—travel mementos, artwork, textiles—those little touches that bring warmth and personality back into your space.

Inspired by Nigel Slater’s insights on how fragrance shapes memory and emotion, I also chat about how the small things, like filling your home with scent, can make a big difference.

This episode is about rediscovering the joy in your home, with a few small shifts. 
What’s one easy change you could make today to fall back in love with your space?

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Hi I'm your host, Tash South I'm an Interior Designer and Renovation Consultant.
Each episode of How To Renovate is short, but brimming with practical advice to help you manage your renovation project with confidence and success.

Grab some more renovation advice & free resources and become part of the South Place Studio Renovation Community at
https://www.southplacestudio.com/freebies

Everything I teach about renovation falls within my Five Pillar Process for A Successful Renovation, to learn more about the process, head to
https://www.southplacestudio.com/pillars


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Speaker 1:

Hello everybody, hi there, tash here and welcome back to the how to Renovate podcast. Now, today, I thought we'd do something a little different. We are going to be talking about what to do when you're bored with your house. Now, I'm sure we've all been there. You just kind of look around and you're just like, oh, this is not feeling inspiring anymore. Perhaps it's a bit messy, looking a bit tired and nothing's just kind of feeling really joyful or fresh anymore. Um, but before you start thinking about moving house or renovating again, um, I thought I'd do a little podcast so you can get some ideas of what to do when you're feeling a bit bored of your home and you're feeling like you're needing a little refresh. And I find, even now, even though our home is quite new, it wasn't built that long ago. It was built in 2018, so we're now in 2025. I'm feeling like it's really lasted a good time. I haven't really got bored of anything in particular yet, but I am starting to feel like, oh, maybe I need a few little changes. Perhaps change some color on the walls, maybe move a few things around, and so I think this episode was really just inspired by me feeling a little bit bored with my own house and I don't think that's because it's not working or anything, but it's just. I think I need a bit of a change and a refresh, because it's been quite a few years and I just want to feel kind of a little bit more inspired again at home, and I just really enjoy making things look a little nicer, look a little bit different. Your home should make you feel inspired and comfortable and it should work with you, it should work for you, it should make your life easier and it should make you feel happy and make your family feel happy. So you know, when it's just not feeling like it's doing that anymore, maybe it's time for a few little changes. So let's get into the episode.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so the first thing I do if I'm feeling a bit bored of home, what I do is change the layout. So this just means change the furniture around a little bit. Perhaps you know your living room could do with the sofa being in a different place for a little while. Perhaps you can bring in a new chair or move your bedroom around a bit, put the bed in a different place where perhaps it gets more light or it feels more spacious. So it's really great to kind of move the larger pieces of furniture around, if you have the opportunity to do that. I realise some homes are quite small and there's definitely a place that definitely works for the sofa or the bed, those large pieces of furniture, but you can always do it with smaller pieces as well.

Speaker 1:

You could move things from different rooms. So you could move something, perhaps a side table or something that's been in the bedroom into the living room, so just to give it a little bit of more interest, a bit of a refresh, and you'll be surprised how just moving one or two things into different rooms, into different positions, can really just make the space feel quite a lot different and a little bit newer. Another thing I love doing is applying this to those smaller things in the home, so like your accessories and any smaller pieces of furniture. So I don't know if you've heard of shop the home or shop your home. So this is where you just every now and then, just take different decorative objects and move them from where they may have been sitting for years. Just move them to a different place, a different room, a different shelf, and maybe you can curate a few things together. I love styling three pieces together, or three objects or five objects, are really good on the eye, visually different. Different heights also really work. Even if you have objects in the same colour but different materials in groups of three or five, that works really well. Stacks of books work really well. So just kind of having a bit of a rearrange and a play around with the styling can really help your home feel a little bit more fresh and a little bit more different as well.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and then next up, number number two is upgrade those everyday details. So if your home is feeling a bit tired, maybe it's time for a little bit more of an upgrade. So you know, there's little details that you might be tired of, like your kitchen door handles or your cabinet pulls or maybe your taps. Those things are not that hard to change and I think they make a huge difference if you're feeling like you need a slightly bigger change than just moving the furniture around. So if you're feeling like a little bit of a refresh, perhaps be it's been, you know, five, ten years since your last renovation, styles have changed. Perhaps you have seen something else that you might like more. So these are kind of small things you can upgrade or update at not too much cost that will make a big difference to how your home feels. So you can also do this with the lighting. So if you have easy fit pendants or shades, those can be easily swapped out for something a bit newer, a bit fresher, something different. Some small changes in the lighting will make a big difference, especially if you're updating a pendant to something a bit more dramatic. That really will change how your room feels and perhaps give you that much needed feeling of it just being a little bit more different, a little bit newer and a little bit fresher.

Speaker 1:

And then, moving on to number three, is to bring in your personality. Now, I do know that sometimes when people renovate, they're so glad to get to the end of the renovation and to be actually in that the part of making it more personal and adding those more personal things into the home kind of takes a back seat, gets put on the back burner, because they're just so exhausted from making all the decisions, completing the renovation and just are really happy to sign off that chapter and enjoy the new home. And then they don't get to the styling and bringing in the personality for a while. So perhaps that's you, perhaps you've renovated a couple of years ago, but you still haven't kind of got to the point of bringing in your personalities into the home. So I think this really will make a difference in making you feel a bit more in love with your home again when you are starting to get bored. So perhaps it's time to bring in some personal touches, some items from your travels, or perhaps time to pick up some new little objects and little things from your travels that you love. I find those really add personality to the home. They could be little souvenirs, they could be artwork, they could be ceramics pieces by local artists. So those are really great ways to bring some personality in and they also have that sentimental value where when you look at it, you remember that holiday and it brings those memories back again.

Speaker 1:

Also, by doing this and by adding some other textures, it just adds that layering effect into your home, which I absolutely love. I always find that adding texture and layering in a home there's nothing like it for making it feel warmer, more personal and just like it has some character and some personality and a really homely feeling. So I really would recommend adding some texture. That could be in the form of perhaps some new cushion covers, a couple of throws, perhaps some artwork on the walls that's not just a photograph or a poster, perhaps that's something like a ceramic piece or a material, a fabric piece. So adding those textures and layers really add character and personality to your home as well. And then, speaking about art, that's another way. Perhaps you can find a new piece that you absolutely love, you know, a piece that actually excites you, that you've that speaks to you, rather than just perhaps, some posters or photographs you may have had up for years. I think just adding something new like that into a room, it can really make it feel a lot more homely. It can perhaps, maybe just kind of get rid of that boredom, but also it might inspire you to kind of move other things into the room as well. That work with that new art piece and then that in itself will give the whole room a new refresh.

Speaker 1:

Another thing you can do to add in your personality is to think about what you love to do. Do you have a hobby that you want to get back into? So perhaps in your home just make a dedicated space for that hobby, whether it's painting, whether it's music. It could be something as simple as just make a dedicated space for that hobby, whether it's painting, whether it's music. It could be something as simple as just creating a little reading corner. I love doing this in the home. It really doesn't take much a comfy chair and a place to put some books, perhaps some built-in shelves or just a freestanding bookshelf. And then also another great way is to add some vintage pieces, perhaps sort of vintage bookshelshelf. So you're mixing the old and the new, bringing in the texture, bringing in something new into the home that might inspire some other pieces to work with it. Well, so just creating a little corner where you actually sit and enjoy doing something to make you fall back in love with your home again.

Speaker 1:

And then moving on to number four bit of a boring one, but, decl. If you've been listening for a while, you probably have heard me talk about decluttering quite a lot. But I just find that sometimes, you know, we just get so used to living in our homes we don't always have the time to dedicate to keeping everything perfect. That's not what a home is for. We are constantly busy rushing. If you have a family, if you have children, it can. Days can be chaotic.

Speaker 1:

So you know, it's easy for clutter to build up, and I think sometimes it's nice to just kind of pause for a second, take a look around, if there's a load of stuff on all the surfaces or perhaps some kind of um decor or objects on the shelves that have been there for years, or something that doesn't belong there. Sometimes it's nice to just start afresh, take everything down and start again and maybe donate a few things to charity that you don't love anymore and just kind of um, just kind of minimise what you have and only display the things that you love. I just think that sometimes just doing this makes everything feel a lot cleaner, a lot fresher, and then also gives you that mental clarity Well, I know it gives me that mental clarity anyways of not having too much clutter around. I know a lot of people are a lot better at dealing with clutter than I am. Well, I'm not very good at dealing with clutter.

Speaker 1:

So for me, if I'm starting to feel a bit bored with the space, the first thing I actually do is to just go around, pick everything up that doesn't belong in that room, just take it back to where it belongs and then sometimes just move a few things around. Or another great thing is to actually store seasonal things. So I have certain things in the home not lots, and you know, don't go overboard but there's some objects I like to have out in the colder months, like in the autumn and the winter. Perhaps I would love to put some kind of autumnal colours. I've got some like kind of pampas grass and some kind of preserved wild flowers. I've got these autumnal colours so I'll bring those out in the colder months so just give it that cosy feel, along with the thicker throws and some different cushion covers, and then in the spring and the summer I'll store them away again and maybe just have everything a bit more fresh, clean, open, not so much on the surfaces, and that just feels kind of light and fresh and new for the warmer months. So it doesn't have to be kind of changing over all your accessories every season, but just little details so that not everything is out all the time. And then that also, when the seasons change, it's a really lovely thing to kind of ease into that season, whether it's warm or cold, to have a few things around you. That kind of makes you ease into the new season and it's just, I think, really lovely for everybody in the home to kind of have that feel that a new season is about to arrive, whether it's time to get cozy in the colder months or whether it's time to kind of throw open those doors and get out into the garden in the summer months.

Speaker 1:

Okay, moving on to number five, the the power of one. So this is a good one with if you're a bit overwhelmed. So let's say you're feeling a bit bored with your home and you don't know why you're just going to get a bit bored and frustrated with it. This is a great place to start. So focus on just one high impact change. Perhaps you need a new dining table or you need a new sofa, and so you just focus on that one thing to swap out, and that in itself will give the home or the room a nice fresh new feeling, and it doesn't have to be a new piece.

Speaker 1:

What I actually love to do is find vintage or antique pieces. There are a few antique stores around where I am. There's also lots of charity shops, um, where I live so there's always kind of little pieces here and there, a little side table. I found a vintage uh, cold chair in a charity shop, once for like 15 pounds, which now is one of my prized possessions in my home. So it's just finding and looking around. If you're a bit bored finding that one thing, it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. And also I find with antique pieces, especially if your home is more modern, like mine is it just adds that kind of juxtaposition. I love the blend of bringing some old into the new home. It definitely adds character.

Speaker 1:

So just think about something a little bit unusual that you can bring in, just one thing, and then you never know that one thing might just spark a few other changes, like we've been talking about. So you might wanna add some textures, you might wanna move a few other things around and then you know, just doing these things will instantly make you a little less bored with your home and it'll just be more visual interest and it will just feel nicer and a better place to be. And then finally, number six Now this is something I really love is the small things. Sometimes it just takes the littlest things to make you fall in love with your home again. Sometimes just a declutter, putting some music on, on getting a new scented candle, just those little things can make a difference. So don't forget about the small things.

Speaker 1:

So I listened to a podcast episode just last week and it was the modern house podcast called homing in, and Matt Gibbard was interviewing Nigel Slater in his home and Nigel Slater talks about food and everything else in this most wonderful way and he's talking about scenting the home and the actual smells of the house, of the building itself, and I was just so taken in by how he was speaking about it and actually how true it was, how our sense of smell is, this powerful, powerful sense that we don't really think about that much when it comes to our homes. So he was talking about how his home had this particular scent when he moved in and actually had developed this scented candle that smelt like his home, which I just found fascinating, and how he could talk so beautifully and intensely about the smells of a home. So don't neglect that Sometimes, just freshening things up and finding a way to bring in scents into your home is great. I love just using some essential oils. You don't have to get all the expensive scented candles, because obviously, if you're going to get a scented candle, you want to make sure that it's a good one and it's not giving off, you know, any kind of toxins and so on. So I find just sometimes using oils essential oils around the home really helps with that as well, and I particularly love the kind of bracing, refreshing scent of eucalyptus. So I use that in my home quite a lot.

Speaker 1:

But don't neglect the small things. They really can make a difference to how you feel in your home. So you don't have to gut renovate everybody to fall back in love with your home again. Sometimes it just takes one thing a fresh perspective, a bold swap or a little personality injection. So perhaps look around your space today, see if there's anything you want to change. Pick just one thing a new layout, a pop of colour somewhere, or even just a simple declutter and a lovely scented candle. One small change can really shift the mood of your whole home.

Speaker 1:

So I hope you found that episode useful. I hope you can go and change a couple of things at home If you're feeling a little bit bored with your house and you fancy a little change. Let me know how it goes. If you're enjoying the podcast, do drop us a little like or share it with a friend if you know that they're renovating or need a bit of help with their home. We really would appreciate it, and just clicking that subscribe button really helps others who might need the podcast to find us as well. Wishing you a you a really good week, everybody, and I'll see you in the next episode. Bye for now.

Speaker 1:

For more information on my five pillar process for successful renovation, you can go directly to SouthPlaceStudiocom forward slash pillars, where you'll find an introduction to the process which covers each of the pillars and what they cover. We also have a number of other free renovation resources. Go now to southplacestudiocom forward slash freebies. I have created some amazing freebies for you there. There is one on the process, like we just said. There is one on the process, like we just said. There is one on planning permission. There is one on kitchen design. There is another one on lighting planning. Go and check those out. There's so much free information there to help you with your renovation.