Sssshhhh! How to have a more quiet home

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It's time to lower our voices, kick off our noisy shoes and embrace a little bit of quiet calm in our homes, if everyone that lives in them with us will let that happen!

Any house, regardless of age, will have developed little personality quirks and noisy nuances that have you rolling your eyes when you are trying to be quiet, so if you are keen to inject a little more calm and a lot less volume into your property, take a look at our tricks for creating a more quiet home. Just don't go shouting about how great they are; tell your friends in a hushed tone!

1. Add some soft textiles

If you're keen to create a luxurious and super quiet home, give some thought to including a host of beautiful soft furnishings and textiles, such as cushions, rugs and curtains.

Lovely fluffy rugs not only look amazing in any room, they can also neatly dampen the sound of heavy stompers, while curtains are an elegant way to keep wind noise outside the windows and the thicker the fabric, the more soundproofing they will offer, as well as glamour! Cushions and throws are lovely extra touches too and though they might not have the same sound-deadening qualities as rugs and curtains, they have a gentle impact on the ambient noise none the less and contribute to the creation of a quiet home.

2. Fix floor squeaks

You must know by now just how much we love a natural wood floor. It's one of our favourite ways to inject beautiful and timeless elegance into your home, but when one floorboard starts to squeak, it always seems as though the others are keen to join in!

As soon as you identify a squeaky floorboard, take the time to secure it and put a stop to the annoying noise, or before you know it, you won't be able to walk from one side of the room to the other without almost playing a tune with your feet! That's not what a quiet home needs!

3. Check your appliances

You may not notice the dull hum of a fridge freezer that is on it's last legs, or the loud gurgling of a dishwasher that has seen better days, but now we've pointed them out, we bet you can hear them and are annoyed at the impact they are having on your quiet home.

Modern appliances have been created with quiet operation and energy efficiency in mind, so if you can hear any noises coming from yours, it might be time to either call out a professional or consider replacing them. You could think about hiding them in kitchen cabinets, as seen here by Fisher & Paykel, but that will be no guarantee of a quiet life!

4. Oil door hinges

How retro does this tip sound? We know you probably give absolutely no thought to maintaining your door hinges, but now we have pointed it out, you should hop to it! 

Wooden doors, in particular, are prone to swelling and contracting, depending on heat and this will have an impact on the hinges, making them flex and move and eventually need repair or oiling, but before the oiling comes the creaking! Long, ugly creaking that wouldn't be out of place in a horror film. Don't let it get to that point by regularly maintaining all your hardware, so that you can enjoy a quiet home.

5. Fix water pipes

This can be a tricky one, as water pipes often make noise, but by making sure that your heating and plumbing system are running at their most efficient, you can make sure they are pleasantly quiet.

For older properties, it might be easier to insulate and hide pipes away, especially in social areas such as the living room, otherwise the clattering and banging that naturally occurs when the pipes accept hot water through them could disrupt a lovely evening. A quiet home is such a blessing that you don't want to let something as provincial as plumbing get in the way of your peaceful relaxation, do you?

6. Install triple glazing

If you have been considering replacing your glazing or are in the process of a totally new build, we cannot stress just how important triple glazing is, not only for insulating your home, but also for making it as quiet as possible.

If a quiet home is high up on your list of priorities, triple glazing is a great choice as it effectively prevents external noise from passing into your property, creating almost a vacuum of blissful quiet. The only thing you will have to worry about is making sure everyone who lives with you knows to 'keep it down'!

7. Install soundproofing in loud rooms

If you're fortunate enough to have a home cinema room, or maybe a music or games space, you would do well to install some sound proofing, just so that the rest of the house and your neighbours don't have to hear what you are getting up to in there! We know you might like loud music, but not everyone does, so feel free to keep it to yourself! A quiet home is not only low in volume, after all, it is also built on courtesy.

For more relaxation inspiration, take a look at this Ideabook: Treat Yourself This Weekend.

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