A Four-Step Plan for a More Relaxed and Inviting Home
What do the movies Wizard of Oz, The Martian, and Finding Nemo all have in common? In all three of those movies, the main character just wants to get home.
Home is your own special piece of the world, a place where you can relax, be yourself, unwind, get creative or just feel safe. That is why you should design your home to be the place where all of that can happen. That is a lot to think about, however, with only a few easy steps, you can design a space that feels like no place else on earth. Read on for some ideas from LLIO.
Step One: Eliminate Stress
The first thing you should think about is how to make your home stress free. A few simple things can help you get there. Clutter is the main culprit in creating stress and a sense of chaos in a home. Remove the clutter and either toss it, donate it, or find a decorative way to store it.
Plants add a sense of calm and relaxation to your home. Studies show that they boost your mood, increase productivity, increase creativity, reduce stress, and help to eliminate pollutants in the air. Jar of Lemons recommends snake plants, rubber plants, spider plants, and five other varieties that are beautiful, low maintenance, and easy to keep alive.
Open the drapes. As Cantifix notes, exposure to natural light helps our bodies produce vitamin D, improves our circadian rhythms and sleep patterns, helps us to focus, enables productivity, and even makes us happier.
Step Two: Create Calm
There is real psychology to guide us in deciding what colours we choose for our homes. For instance, if you find being out in nature a calming experience, you might go with muted greens and browns. If fresh air gives you peace, then white can be a calming colour for you. And who isn’t calmed by a blue sky or blue water? If that is what de-stresses you, then there are ample shades of blue to choose from.
Your own at-home spa doesn’t have to be expensive, but it can be worth its weight in gold. A room where you can enjoy calming practices like yoga, tai chi, mindfulness, or meditation doesn’t even have to be that large. A small space where you can include natural light, aromatherapy, peaceful music, and even water therapy such as wall waterfalls or small fountains can be your own piece of heaven.
Step Three: Don’t Forget Your Outdoor Space
Creating a space outdoors for entertaining or just for you and your family is an excellent way to make your home cosy and relaxing.
Whether it is a gazebo or an awning extension from your home, you will need some kind of protection against those occasional pop-up showers. If you have an outdoor kitchen, invest in an outdoor range hood to capture and remove the cooking exhaust.
Fire pits will instantly draw people to them, it is ancient and instinctual. When people see them, they want to sit around them. They want to get the fire going and start to cook something. And of course, they want to kick back with their favourite drink and family and friends to relax.
Step Four: Improve Your Indoor Workspace
Just because it is a workspace, that doesn’t mean it can’t also be relaxing and less stress-inducing. Start by organising your paperwork. Digitise as much as you can to store in the cloud, and file the rest out of sight. File cabinets don’t have to look utilitarian either. There are several stylish cabinets to choose from or you can transform your old one to look chic too.
Invest in ergonomically designed furniture. The typical office chair and desk often are overlooked as causes of stress. The correct office chair should support your back while absorbing and distributing your weight. The chair should also have lumbar support to reduce lower back strain. Look for seat-and-back height adjustments, tilt mechanisms, and tilt locks to reduce leg muscle strain and fatigue.
Making your house, yard, and office calming, stress-free and enjoyable is worth the time and investment because it turns out Dorothy was right, there really is no place like home.