8 Ways To Make Your Home Feel More Cohesive On A Budget

When I was a teenager, I used to rearrange my room for fun. Granted, it was mostly to find the configuration that would make my room feel the most spacious, but I still consider that experience to fall under the category of interior design. Now that I’m an adult, I also care about what looks nice and what creates the ethos I want for my home. I’ve researched design styles and watched YouTube video after YouTube video about what to do and what not to do. There are the big, expensive avenues to revamping your home, like renovating your kitchen or replacing your flooring. Then there are the cheaper, easier, do-it-in-one-day options, like these eight ways to make your home feel more cohesive:

1. Reorganize Your Books

You know that annoyance you feel when one book in a series is taller than the rest? Well, you can make that visual annoyance go away when you reorganize your books by color. Arranging your books by color is less visually chaotic and feels more intentional, although it can make it more difficult to find a book, compared to arranging them topically. If you want a style that is even more neutral and less eye-catching, you can turn the spines of the books inward. But this approach is best for books you know you’re not likely to want to read in the near future. 

2. Coordinate Your Picture Frames

Family photos make a house feel like a home. And gallery walls are a common design choice to feature all of those photos, but they have to be done the right way to look good. Unless your design style leans boho or maximalist, you should put all your photos in the same color and style frame. Choose a frame color that coordinates with your room’s color palette. You can even go one step further and filter your photos to match too. 

Pro tip: The midpoint of your wall art or the center of your gallery wall should be 57-60 inches off the floor. It’s roughly at eye level and hits the midline of the wall, allowing you to see your space as a cohesive whole, including your art. It’s close enough to your furniture to feel connected without crowding it out.

3. Get Stylish with Your Storage

I have a weakness for baskets. I use them everywhere – in the pantry, in the living room, in the nursery. They’re warmer, more natural, and more stylish than plastic bins, which would be just as functional (and cheaper). If you have visible storage, choose something that also looks pretty, like woven baskets, wooden crates, or wire baskets, and use the same style item throughout your whole house. 

4. Stick to Your Design Style

This tip might take more time to execute, but one simple way to make your home feel cohesive is to apply the same design style throughout your whole house. Your design style is your guiding principle when it comes to colors, patterns, furniture, and styling. Do you keep or purge an item? Think about your design style. Do you buy that home decor item on deep discount at Hobby Lobby? Think about your design style. If you’re not familiar with the different design styles, see my explanation and visual guide of the 13 most popular styles here.

5. Be Intentional with Your Lighting

Have you ever thought about the color and temperature of your light bulbs? Yeah, most people haven’t! I sure as heck didn’t for most of my life. Then my husband discovered Edison lightbulbs, and I was illuminated on the different types of lighting (pun very much intended). Do you prefer cool lighting or warm lighting? Figure out what you like and what is the most flattering to the colors in your home, and use that throughout your house.

6. Don’t Mix Metals

Another small part of your home that can have a big impact is your hardware, things like door knobs, hinges, drawer pulls, faucets, light fixtures, curtain rods, towel hooks, etc. Using the same metal or finish hardware throughout a whole room or your whole house is another simple way to tie each space and each room together.

7. Be Repetitive

You have probably noticed by now that repetition plays a huge role in creating cohesiveness. We’re going to apply the principle of repetition to colors, textures, and patterns. 

Decide on your color palette to use throughout your house. Chances are you already gravitate toward certain colors, so pick three or four colors as your palette. You can use different shades and tones of those colors to add variety. Apply those colors to every room of the house through wall paint, upholstery, curtains, throw pillows, blankets, art, knick-knacks, books, and more.

Using this principle of repetition, you can apply the same textures, patterns, and shapes throughout your whole house. For example, you can use striped wallpaper in one room, striped curtains in another, and striped pillows somewhere else. Or if your home has arched doorways, you can add an arched mirror and arched bookcases to echo that shape in different rooms.

8. Be Smart About Matching Furniture Heights

Okay, this is the least budget-friendly tip on this list, so log it away for future purchases. 

Interior designers are pretty universally against buying matching furniture sets. But that then presents the challenge of finding various pieces of furniture that feel connected and cohesive. Buying pieces that are the appropriate size goes a long way toward creating that sense of belonging. So, the height of your coffee table should typically line up with the height of the seat cushion on your sofa. You also want the length of the coffee table to be three-fifths the length of your sofa. This coordination in size makes the two pieces look balanced and like they belong together. A simple fix for a too small coffee table is to double up and put two side by side. Or if you have a small round coffee table, you can add a taller round table and “nest” it to expand it. Side tables should be one to two inches lower than the armrest of the sofa.

Bedroom nightstands follow a similar rule: The top of the nightstand should be level with the top of your mattress. The width of the nightstand matters too – too narrow, and it will look puny compared to your bed. For a double bed, choose a nightstand that’s 17-20 inches wide; for a queen, go with 21-30 inches wide; for a king, go 31 inches and wider. The appropriate size nightstand will look balanced with the bed and ground the room. 

Closing Thoughts

Most interior designers preach a “collected home,” so don’t worry about giving your house a makeover all in one weekend (I mean, unless you really want to). Your home can grow and evolve as your tastes grow and evolve. Enjoy the process, and you’ll enjoy what your home becomes even more.

Support our cause and help women reclaim their femininity by subscribing today.