Go start appreciating art. I don’t mean pay thousands for paintings. I mean go to poster shops, art galleries, craft fairs, etc. if you find something that you really like, you can probably find a print that is a decent price.

Or just start looking for pictures online of places you went to vacation. Flickr was good for this, if that’s still a thing. Yes, you could print big versions of your own photos - but why when there’s someone out there that probably took a better picture with a much nicer camera. Just get that photo printed on a metal frame or canvas sheet and hang it on the wall.

throw blankets! a basket of blankets or a couple nice ones draped over the back of your couch can look nice or great for just whenever you need a blanket.

Really surprised nobody mentioned plants

Try not to be afraid of “messing things up”. Fixing small holes is a great thing to learn if you own a home. A little bit of mud, sand, and paint for a nail hole really doesn’t take very long and can be learned very easily through youtube videos. And if you still dont want to deal with that, you can get some command strips which are easily removable.

Hang up artwork that represents things you care about - family, travel, movies, nature. Basically, anything you look at that will make you smile when you walk in the room. Put a few indoor plants around, have coffee table books or figurines. Definitely put curtains, and have a rug is nice if you have hardwood. Anything you put up can always be removed if you decide you don’t like it!

I usually leave dirty socks, t-shirts and briefings on the floor. This along with a well-placed bowl of soggy cereals, one or two almost empty wine glasses and the usual opened envelopes make it a very homely place for me and random people who visit from time to time

I make a place look lived in by living in it. I might leave some small stuff lying around until I get to it. No biggie. Or I get tired of it where it is. Not tidying a whole lot … just enough to be orderly. A magazine or two here or there, half read, waiting. Coordinated furniture? RU kidding? A pet plant (named) that needs water. Some of souvenirs here and there. Pix on the fridge.

Curtains. Even if you have blinds, curtains really helps dress up the place. They don’t have to be super expensive. Just something that looks nice from your local home goods store.

Hanging pictures is super easy. As long as they’re not huge, you can nail the picture hangers right into the drywall/plaster and it will hold up just fine.

If you want to spend a little more money, you can have large prints made of pictures and have them framed. The framing is the expensive part. I have a handful of pictures I’ve taken over the years, mostly of nature, that turned out really, really good. I had some of them framed and they are hanging throughout our house. I like them because I feel like it adds a personal touch.

Plants. I have one pothos plant that I manage to keep alive and I’m amazed how this one plant warms up the living room.

Lighting. You want your overhead or main lights to be bright enough to see clearly, but low enough so as to not be overpowering.

Also, discreet points of light distributed around REALLY amps things up. Use some gentle light to highlight a photo or painting, put a lamp on a table, a tchotchke on a shelf that is lighted or hides a small light to add a soft glow to the shelf it’s on… these kinds of light add warmth and character to a space easily and cheaply, and if you can manage to have them all accessible via your favorite digital assistant, power and dimming can be convenient as well.

If you want to add personality then start buying stuff or collecting things from where you enjoy going.

Upstairs One wall is dedicated to pictures of family. Son’s bedroom is tractor themed and has one wall in John Deere green, another wall has a large laser cut tractor cling on it. Daughter’s bedroom is horse themed with a mural that a friend’s daughter painted, opposite wall is purple. Laundry room is clothing themed, kidding ;). Master bedroom and bath is beach themed with pictures from Hawaii and our favorite OBX beach and bed wall is teal. Loft is music themed with a piano and flute + things.

Main Floor Other walls in the house have bamboo cutting boards of the states we have family in, our state flag on wood, a large picture of our a bunch of doors in our hometown that our friend took and we framed, flags hanging vertically in my office (it has high ceilings), a wood laser cutting of my wife’s profession, a painting my father made in our dining room. Opposite wall has a massive picture of one of our favorite places . Entryway has a 4 shelf unit that has beer steins, Lladro sculptures, a piece of wood from the log home my father in law built (and we helped with), a large heart shaped price of granite rock from a friend’s property in the Rockies, lots of Tinkerbell stuff (wife’s mother loved her), lots of Hawaiian themed things (we love Kauai).

Basement Movie themed. Wife’s craft room is Harry Potter themed. Theater has movie posters and a large Disney castle picture over the couch. We also have a movie popcorn maker on an electric fireplace which is a lot of fun. Son’s bedroom is space themed since he loves that.

All of that took us ~20 years to collect. My wife looks at Pinterest and other places for ideas others have done and then incorporates what we like. Don’t worry about what other people will think of what you do. They want to see your personality, that’s the fun part!

I have a cabinet with some sentimental items. My first knife (knives are my hobby), a candle from my sister’s and I birthday, and ESPECIALLY gifts from others, despite how insignificant it might seem. Birthday cards, handmade flowers, a tiny origami crane and other handmade trinkets. All really miniscule items but they all make me happy. I also have a tiny swedish flag from ikea. Oh and some cat chopstick holders I have on my shelf.

A stupid little quote that’s proven itself true time and time again is “small joy and big joy, all the same”. Because all these little, seemingly insignificant, items on display have often made me happier more often than other “more significant stuff”. Stuff like a new fancy office chair, expensive gaming PC and gaming set up, nice coffee maker, expensive speakers and other luxury items. It really is the simple things.

I feel hanging shelves and putting tchotchkes on em really add a lot of personal touches. I went with some geometric shaped shelves that I placed in a pattern on the wall and put some object de arte on em and that did a lot of good for making it feel more homey. I’m embellishing a bit on “object de arte”, I got a go set, a red wax elephant, a Star Trek ship and a small plant on there, just some stuff that relates to my interests and a few splashes of color.

If you’re nervous about putting holes in the wall, some wire frame shelving units can work, too, and you can get them in all sorts of shapes and sizes these days. If you search using the keywords “geometric” or “asymmetrical”, you can easily find some designs that help break up the flat lines of a book case style shelf that I feel adds a dynamic feel to the decoration.

Lastly, if you can splurge for it, there’s always the classic paintings. Find an artist you like and go for a print or two. I went with stuff by Kandinsky, but I really like that sort of abstract, dynamic piece, to my boyfriend’s chagrin, so maybe talk about it with the people you live with first more than I did (he’s come to tolerate it plenty fine though and we get compliments all the time so haha I win).