As summer draws to a close and many are back in school, the goal of cleaning and organizing sounds familiar – usually motivated by the desire for a more calm and serene feel to your space. While you can’t always control how different environments make you feel, you can control how your home environment affects you. It should feel good to you – whether that means feeling calmer, more relaxed and better able to rest or making you feel invigorated, lively and energized. Following are 13 ways you can start transforming your home into your own oasis – creating the kind of home you’re hoping for!
1. Clear the clutter
The quickest way to create a calmer home is by clearing out the clutter. Clutter immediately makes a space feel messier, more chaotic and stressful. It can feel like a giant list of chores you need to tackle every time you see it. It also leaves your eyes nowhere to rest without taking in all that stimulation. And when your mind and your eyes don’t have a chance to rest in a space, it’s hard to feel calm or restful in it. Start by getting rid of anything you don’t use, need or love. And consider every single item in the space, including furniture and decor.
2. Simplify
Another quick way to make your home feel calmer and more peaceful is by limiting what’s on flat surfaces in your home: countertops, tabletops, shelves, display cases, etc. Extend the idea of limiting surface clutter to the floor, too. Aiming to keep it as clutter-free as possible. Keeping surfaces clear, or mostly clear, instantly adds a feeling of openness and calm to the space.
Think about how you can simplify wall decor in your spaces as well. Reducing decor is an easy way to make a room feel more spacious and serene. You don’t have to have completely blank walls if you don’t want to. But limiting what hangs on your walls is a great way to make your home feel more open and calmer. Think about scale and color when it comes to wall decor, too. A grouping of several smaller pieces can feel busier than a single larger piece. Muted, neutral or toned-down colors can help create a calmer look as compared to more colorful decor.
3. Display what you love
Your home should be a reflection of you and your family. A reflection of your style, tastes, values, priorities and story. You have the ability to create a home you love.
If neutral, minimal wall decor, mostly clear surfaces and plenty of empty space feel good to you, experiment with that. If you prefer bold or colorful artwork, keeping important items on display and a little more stuff in your spaces overall, follow your tastes and preferences. There’s no right or wrong way to create a home you love – it should look, feel and function in a way you love. Just make sure your decor and everything in the room is truly something you use regularly or love. Regardless of what level of simplicity you prefer, remove clutter so you can see, use and appreciate what’s left.
4. Embrace white space
Realize that the blank space, known as white space, you’re creating is a good thing. If you’re used to seeing more “stuff” in your spaces, it can look strange to see the empty or emptier spaces after decluttering. But instead of rushing to fill it up again, give yourself some time to sit with the space empty. Allow your eyes and your mind to adjust to having less stuff for a while. Adding more white space and breathing room to your home is a great way to make it feel calmer and more peaceful. If and when you do add things back in, do it very intentionally.
5. Opt for closed storage
Having less that’s visible to the eye is an easy way to make a space feel calmer and more peaceful. Aim to use more closed or hidden storage instead of open. Try keeping plates, bowls and drinking glasses in a cupboard as opposed to open shelving. Or keeping jackets inside a closet instead of on wall hooks. Using closed or hidden storage whenever possible can make a space feel less busy and therefore calmer. Be sure that you’ve thoroughly decluttered first, before organizing items in hidden or closed storage. “Out of sight, out of mind” storage is just a place to hide and avoid clutter – always declutter first so you aren’t just organizing clutter!
6. Choose neutral colors
In general, soft, light, neutral and natural colors create calming, peaceful spaces. Think ivory, white, beige, greige, soft blue or green, natural wood tones, etc. The more consistent your color palette is throughout your house, the better your spaces flow together and the more calming your home will appear.
7. Let in the light
Allowing natural light to fill your home adds the feeling of openness, airiness and calm to your home. Sometimes this is as easy as opening the curtains or blinds! Also look at simplifying and streamlining your window coverings.
8. Layer your lighting
Lighting impacts the mood and feel of your home. Overhead lighting is great for certain situations, but at other times it can feel harsh or stark. Layer in different sources of light so you can create softer, warmer or cozier light when preferred — table lamps, for example, are often softer than overhead lighting. Add dimmer switches to your different light sources to help create softer light.
9. Go green
Plants help create a calm feeling. Nature and elements of nature inherently calm your senses. Research shows that both indoor and outdoor plants significantly improve your mental health. Plants also help clean and oxygenate the air!
10. Use your other senses
One of the most effortless, yet effective ways to reduce stress and increase calm is aromatherapy. Exposing your senses to strong smells such as essential oils can positively affect your hormone production, brain chemistry, and stress levels. It’s most effective when you include both your sense of touch and smell.
11. Let things flow
When arranging furniture, leave space to allow easy traffic flow throughout the room. Stand back and look at placement for not only traffic flow but also visual flow. If your eye can easily flow through, it feels more open, spacious and calming.
12. Clutter-free cozy
A calm home is a place you will love spending time in and feel comfortable and relaxed in. Don’t be afraid to add a few things to make spaces feel warm, cozy and inviting. Adding a cozy throw blanket and pillow to your couch can help create a warm, welcoming space that still feels calm and peaceful. The key is to be very selective when adding – and sticking to neutral colors helps. Try things with texture instead of a lot of color. Keep it simple to maintain the clutter-free, open and calming mood.
13. Reset regularly
A great way to maintain your calm, clutter-free home is to reset it regularly. It’s where you and your family live, not a showroom. So of course, it won’t stay perfectly tidy all the time. Instead of stressing about keeping it perfect, build in time to reset and clean it up. Resetting your home at least once a day makes it easier to keep it’s peaceful feel. A reset isn’t about deep cleaning – instead, take a few minutes to tidy, clean up any messes and put things back where they belong. The more consistent you are with this, the faster and easier it becomes.
Maintaining your mental and emotional health is critical not only for its own role but its importance in many other systems in your body. We have a new line of Love Home Creations scented candles and matching scrubs at Bliss on Broadway that are sure to boost the calm in your home. We offer a full range of soothing service treatments. Call us at 562-439-4333. http://www.blissonbroadway.com/