2013 Home Decor: Spruce up that Front Door

While we often make many resolutions when the New Year comes around that we hope will positively affect our personal lives and relationships, we may not always think of home decor resolutions. At Bel Furniture, we're always coming up with new ways to make the spaces in our homes reflect our unique personalities, while fulfilling the practical needs of day-to-day living at the same time.

An often overlooked part of our homes is the front door. We're determined to give this space (including the entire porch if it applies to you) a face lift that will make knocking on the door or ringing the door bell an adventure for families, friends, and visitors, letting them know who you are and what you're about right away. Below, we've compiled a few do-it-yourself ideas that can be easily implemented. You can even involved the whole family!

1. Old School Chalk Board

Hang a mini chalk board from your front door and you may just come home to surprising messages left by friends and family. "Mom, we need more cookies!" Or, "Stopped by to drop off tomato seeds. Call me! - Anne." This can easily be made out of a small piece of slate, available at many home improvement stores like Lowes or Home Depot, a sturdy piece of twine, and chalk. To cut the hole in the piece of slate, you may need to bake a drill-owning friend some cookies.

2. Don't Eat our Front Porch Garden

Ideal for homes that get a lot of porch sunlight, this second DIY tip is green-friendly and totally edible. Customize your front porch for 2013 by planting herbs and other greens that you can literally transfer from porch to table. It's been proven that having plants around is calming! In case you forget which plant is which, you can easily make labels out of old wine corks. Shop for your front porch plants at local farmer's markets, home improvement stores, and local garden shops.

3. A Door Mat you can be Proud of

Adding a door mat to your porch or in front of your apartment door is an added touch that certainly won't go unnoticed by guests - especially when it rains. While it has been admittedly much dryer in Houston the past couple years, it does still rain. With that rain comes great cleaning responsibility and mud. Give your guests something fun to wipe their feet on by customizing a wooden door mat. The kids can definitely help with this project by giving each segment of the mat a paint job.

4. Wonderful Wreaths

At Bel Furniture, we love a huge welcome, and what better way to welcome your guests than a beautiful wreath hanging on your front door? The option we found above even includes the address number of the house, fresh flowers, and a decorative bow. To start off, we recommend buying a plain wreath made of sticks and then customizing it yourself. If you decide to go with the fresh flowers look, you'll have to be sure to replace them when they wilt. Fake flower arrangements, however, are a good option, too.

Check back here for more DIY tips for the home. We'd love for you to give us ideas for more 2013 home inspiration below or by commenting on our Facebook page.