Your home is your haven, and how it’s furnished and decorated has an impact on how comfortable and satisfied you feel there. When you look around and only see drab colors, you won’t feel the same as when you’re surrounded by a harmonious color palette and attractive furniture and accessories. And it doesn’t need to cost a lot to have stylish interior decor.

Style Tips From the Pros

Don’t crowd too much furniture into your home, resist common themes and opt for individuality instead, advises Judith Taylor, a Toronto designer writing for Houzz. She also recommends adding layers of lighting, such as highlighting artwork, interior cabinet lighting and lighting backsplashes for dramatic results.

Design expert Martha Stewart says do-it-yourself home décor is the easiest way to improve your space. She suggests simple home improvement projects to brighten and refresh your home’s interior, especially cleaning out and organizing your space. She says to conquer clutter that makes your space look and feel smaller by adding storage with bins and shelves. You also should dedicate a space for your home office to remove clutter from your kitchen table and store home goods properly so they fit well in the space you have.

Easy Feng Shui

Feng shui, the art of arranging a space to enhance its flow of energy, can be used to improve your home’s appearance and utility. Feng shui concepts remove obstacles, position furniture, eliminate clutter and create good energy and feelings in the space. Start simply by examining your existing space for anything that is broken, soiled, cluttered or in the way. In some cases, it may be better to empty a room completely and bring the basic items back in one by one for optimal placement.

When arranging your furniture to follow the concepts of feng shui, put them in the empowered position so that you can see the entrance to the room, but are not directly aligned with the door. This enables you to always see what’s going on in the room.

Another important feng shui concept is a happy, welcoming entryway. Make sure it’s clean and well-lighted, and decorate with flowers or plants. Remove anything broken or dirty, and freshen the paint so it looks bright and warm when people enter.

Color and Light

An easy and quick way to improve your interior design is with color and light. Martha Stewart recommends picking a color you love and using it as an accent in a variety of tones so that it contrasts against your neutral colors. For example, use bold colors to add a pop of color to your furniture such as in throw pillows or blankets. Or, go for a brightly colored lamp or drapes that contrast with your wall and floor color.

Lighting is an easy way to add drama, make colors look brighter and accent a focal point or artwork in the room. Lighting is especially important at entryways and in areas that are away from windows, such as hallways and interior rooms. Consider adding skylights or light tubes to bring in natural light in these areas. Furthermore, layered lighting is important for its aesthetics and functionality. For example, a floor lamp by a comfortable chair helps increase the functionality of the room for reading, writing or entertaining guests.