Qanvast Guide: How to Get Your Home Chinese New Year Ready!

Unlike past years, the Chinese New Year celebration this year will be shaping up quite differently with travel restrictions and social distancing in play. Although CNY may look different this year, we think that it’s more important than ever to spring clean home for the new year as it allows us to bring good luck to the house and family. Decorating your home with festive decorations can also offer temporary breath of fresh air to your living space and put you in a festive mood right away!

Here are a few things you should do to get your home ready before the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Spring clean your home

According to traditional beliefs, cleaning your home for Chinese New Year is like “sweeping away bad luck to bring in good fortune into your life”. The house cleaning ritual, known as da sao chu should be completed a day before the Chinese New Year (in 2021, that’s 12th February). Cleaning is not allowed on New Year’s Day, as this sweeps away good luck, so be sure to finish the cleaning the day before.

• Declutter your space

It’s almost impossible to have your home looking neat and tidy if it’s cluttered with unnecessary pieces so get rid of all the items that no longer serve a purpose. An easy and quick way to declutter? Apply Marie Kondo’s advice by getting rid of things that no longer “spark joy”. You can start from the bedroom and then move on to the living room, kitchen and bathroom. Don’t forget to run through your storerooms, pantry, shoe rack, and other areas in your home as well!

• Deep clean every room

Once you have decluttered your home, it’s time to get sweeping, scrubbing, mopping, and polishing! Everything has to be spotless so get the whole family involved because this process can be time-consuming and there’s going to be a lot of cleaning chores for you to tackle all by yourself.

Living room: Deep-clean the carpets or get them professionally cleaned if it is a large area rug. Wash all curtains, polish wood furniture and sofa (if it is made of leather or vinyl), and remember to clean dust and grime off fans and chandeliers.

The kitchen: Wipe down counters, polish cupboards and hardware, disinfect the refrigerator, scrub the stovetop and microwave.

The bedroom: Vacuum the floors and other areas that collect dust like curtains, the topside of clothing cupboards, as well as behind the bed, bedside tables, and other furniture. If you have carpeted floors, consider getting them professionally cleaned.

Don’t forget to change the bedsheets and hang pillows, mattresses out in the open sun for a minimum of four hours. This will not only kill dust mites but also naturally fluff up your pillows and bedclothes.

The bathroom: Although you probably wash and clean your bathroom every week or more; this time, be sure to scrub every nook and cranny, polish dull or cruddy tiles, and clear off cobwebs in upper walls or the ceiling (if any).

Explore: Make Cleaning Less of a Chore With These Easy Tricks

• Don’t forget about your outdoor space

Good luck won’t enter if the outside of your home is in disrepair so make sure that you keep your outdoor space eye-pleasing and welcoming.

House painting: Consider painting the exterior walls of your home, as it is the quickest way to spruce up and refresh the appearance of the home. White, cream, yellow or beige are warm and inviting colours suitable for the festive seasons and all year round.

Gardening: Upgrade the appearance of your home with landscaping and improving your garden area. Consider planting a mix of flowers and greens for a pop of colour. Money plants, Ixora, Bougainvillea, Hibiscus, Frangipani, and Jasmine are among the easiest plants to grow and maintain in our tropical climate.

Get decorating

After you have tackled cleaning and decluttering chores, you can now start decorating your home with festive decorations.

• Decorate your outdoor space with paper lanterns

The most prevalent decorations during Chinese New Year are red paper lanterns. Usually, small and medium lanterns are hung around the perimeter of the front lawn, while two large lanterns are hung right outside your front door. Chinese New Year lanterns are usually bright red in colour and they’re supposed to guide good luck into the home.

• Fill your home with fresh flowers

As the Chinese New Year coincides with the start of spring, it is common to see flowers abloom everywhere during this time of the year. Decorate your home with some fresh flowers to encourage sunny and positive vibes. Try to avoid white flowers as white is the colour of mourning.

Orchids, peonies, water lilies and peach blossoms are an example of popular flowers during this time of the year. Besides flowers, kumquat trees are also quite common as a home decoration and they’re usually placed near the entrance. Many people hang Ang Bao packets on these trees as an added piece of luck.

Explore: Green Is In: 5 Low-Maintenance Houseplants to Decorate With

• Display fruits

To welcome fortune to your home, decorate your dining table or kitchen island with a bowl of fresh fruits such as oranges, tangerines, pomelos and other citrus fruits. The first two fruits are specifically considered lucky during the Chinese New Year. Oranges symbolize good luck, while tangerines denote wealth.

• Paste paper cuttings

Another traditional Chinese New Year decoration is the paper cuttings as they are used to convey the wishes of luck and prosperity among family and friends.

Usually created from a piece of red paper, the designs of paper cuttings are mostly the zodiac image of the New Year and some lucky characters ‘Fu’, ‘Lu’, ‘Shou’ and ‘Xi’, which respectively mean luck, wealth, longevity and happiness. Paste these intricate paper cuttings on your windows, doors or walls. The 'Fu' characters, in particular, are pasted upside down on the door or window so that the luck will pour out and fill the home.

Looking for professional help to renovate your home?

Whatever your personality or style, the right interior designer can help to transform your bedroom into aesthetically pleasing and functional space. Just drop us a free quote request here and we’ll be happy to match you up with up to five interior designers close to your area, tailored to your budget and needs.

All recommendations made by Qanvast will be protected under the Qanvast Guarantee scheme that covers 50% of your contract value, up to RM50,000, in the case that the recommended Contracting Service Provider becomes insolvent. For more information, click here.

Meet interior designers. Get quotes. Based on your requirements, we will recommend you up to 5 firms with the Qanvast Guarantee. Get Free Quotes