Photo: My Domaine

Upon initially moving into a home it tends to feel more spacious only because it is still mostly empty. Your furniture may not all be assembled and arranged yet, and your personal effects likely aren’t in place either. After a few months of making your new home feel comfy you might start to feel like you’re being boxed in. Getting rid of your things and downsizing is probably not the answer. Instead, you’ve got to look at the walls that make up your new home and figure out how to appropriately define the space you’re living in. Here is how you can use cleverly hung wall art, photos, and even a new coat of paint on the walls to make your home feel roomier.

Photo: The Glam Pad

Using Wall Art

If you go into your home and you can’t find a single piece of wall art hanging up you have a problem, but it can be easily fixed. Any art that you hang up in your home has to have a message so that it draws the eye and gives the illusion of space. Pieces that are taller can make the room feel like it has more height if you hang them in the best spots. Framed wall art works well when it contrasts against the color of the walls and helps to add more depth to a room. The wall art in your home can be made by hand, purchased at a flea market, or picked up at a professional art gallery.

Photo: Olivia Palmero

Coating the Walls in Color

Homes that are filled with stark white walls may feel big when they’re still empty but the moment that you set them up with furniture, it can feel like the walls start closing in on you. Consider using different colored wall paint to create moods, add warmth or coolness, and generally make each space feel unique. The walls in your home don’t have to be one solid color either. You can use a sponge to create patterns, or even utilize painter’s tape to create borders along the top and bottom of various rooms in your home. Even using paint to create a single accent wall in a room can instantly make it feel grand.

Photo: Apartment Therapy

Dividing Space Within Each Room

Art and color may also be useful when you’re attempting to partition off a room for different uses. For instance, if you have your office set up in the living room, you may want to use themed pieces of artwork to help separate the living area from your workstation. Even using wallpaper or 3-dimensional art can help with making a single room feel like there are several well-defined areas for living.

In the event that your home is beginning to feel a little cramped, you should look at the walls first and see what they have on them. Use everything from prints to framed paintings to make your home’s interior open up and become more balanced. As long as you put up your art so that it makes sense, you can never have enough art or color displayed in your home.

Dying Easter eggs using plant-based dyes is a tradition in Eastern Europe. It’s so easy to do, and everyone should give it a try at least once! To create these gorgeous eggs you need some herbs and colorful veggies. You can use spinach leaves, beets, red cabbage, or onion skins for the dyes. As for the designs, herb leaves work well, or you can go outside and look for interesting leaves and plants. What better way to welcome spring than with some natural Easter eggs decorated by Mother Nature herself? Let’s get started!

Supplies:

1) A dozen eggs

2) Vegetables, fruits, and spices (red cabbage, spinach, carrots, onion skins, blackberries, blueberries, paprika, and turmeric are dyes that work well)

3) About 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar

4) Salt

5) Leafy herbs or fresh leaves that you’ve found outside

6) Two pairs of sheer stockings, cut into tubes

7) Pots (each dye will need its own pot)

Step #1:

The first step is to make your dyes. To make a green dye, add about 5 cups of water to a pot with 1 pound of fresh spinach leaves. Add in a pinch of salt and bring it to a boil. After it starts boiling, turn down the temperature to a simmer. Allow the dye to simmer for 1 hour. If you would like an orange dye, add about 5 cups of water, 10 carrots, 5 tbsp of paprika, and a pinch of salt to a pot. As before, bring it to a boil and then turn down the temperature to a simmer for 1 hour. For a blue dye, do the same using 1 whole red cabbage. If you’d like a reddish-brown dye, use onion skins (you need about 5-6 onions worth of skins). For a pink dye, use beets (about 3 cups). If you want your dye to be yellow, use turmeric (2 tbsp). When your dyes are ready, strain the vegetables and fruits, leaving only the liquid. Pour your dyes into a measuring cup to see how much dye you have. For every cup of dye, you need 3 tbsp of white vinegar. When you’ve measured out the amounts of dye, pour the dyes back into their pots and add the required amount of vinegar.

Step #2:

Once you have made your dyes, it’s now time to decorate your eggs! Rub a paper towel soaked in vinegar over each of the eggs. Place an herb leaf on each egg and arrange it any way you want. Take a stocking tube and place the egg inside the tube. The stocking will hold the leaf in place. Tie the ends of the stocking and repeat this process with all your eggs.

Step #3:

Place your eggs in the dye pots and boil them for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes are up, take them off the heat and allow them to cool completely. Place them in the fridge overnight. If you’d like them to be a pale color instead of a vibrant color, keep the pots in the fridge for 1 hour.

Step #4:

When the eggs have reached the shade you like, you can take them out of the stockings and place them on a wire rack to dry. When the eggs have dried, you will notice that the colors may not seem so bright. To make them shiny, you can rub a tiny bit of oil over them to bring out the beautiful colors.

Photos: Adventures in Cooking, Craft Hubs, Indulgy.