The times people live in today are stressful and erratic, to say the least. It’s like once you walk out of your home, you’re greeted by stress left and right. There’s just so much to accomplish and in so little time. The demands of work and personal life pile up. The day ends and you feel like the stress doesn’t stop. Your home is less than welcoming—it’s cluttered and it doesn’t scream peace and relaxation. So, the same cycle of stress goes on the next day, and to the next, and you’re left feeling overwhelmed by all the tension you weren’t able to let go of.
This is where having a calm and peaceful environment at home comes into the picture. It’s up to you to create peace and comfort within your home. This is your safe haven, after all. Having a calm home is a combination of attitude and design elements in the household where negativity and rush aren’t fostered. For as long as you’re within your four walls, you’re guaranteed to have that Zen in your home.
Here’s how you can create a calming environment at home:
1. Place Bean Bags In Your Living Spaces
Bean bags aren’t just for fun! They’re perfect for lounging, too. If you’re off to a home goods shopping trip soon, you may want to purchase bean bags for the living spaces in your home. Don’t just have one—the more space you have, the more you can accommodate. Decorate with bean bags and have them on your outdoor deck or patio area for a relaxing afternoon by yourself, with your guests, and even if it’s just lounging with your family.
Bean bag is an example of ergonomic furniture that you can just sink into and relax. This helps create a calm and cozy feeling in your home. Also, bean bags have potential health benefits, so that should convince you even more to buy a few for your home.
Here are some of those health benefits:
- It’s therapeutic for back pain, especially when you’ve been sitting for extended hours in your office or you’ve been out doing heavy physical work;
- It may reduce tension headaches as sitting on a well-supported bean bag can give you good posture when in a resting position, which is also key to ease any tension headache;
- It may ease muscle and joint pain as bean bags have a strong potential of providing optimal support from head to toe.
2. Conquer The Clutter
A cluttered home is never going to be a calm and peaceful one. No matter how beautiful your decors may be or how well-designed your home is, the clutter will just drain all the energy out of you and your home. In effect, you’ll find yourself feeling stressed out with all the mess you’re facing.
When was the last time you gave your home a good purge? Now’s a good time to declutter and KonMari it. Go through each room in your home and ask yourself if certain items spark you joy. If it doesn’t, then it’s time to let go. It has no business staying in your home.
Just imagine that feeling you have when you walk into a clean and clutter-free hotel room or resort. It’s like the feeling of serenity and calmness taking over your entire body. The bed or the couches are calling your name to relax because it’s so clean and tidy. You can recreate that feeling in your home by having more control over the clutter and by being proactive in keeping your space neat.
3. Choose Earthy And Neutral Colors For Your Home
If your walls are still bright, colorful, and noisy, you may want to give it a fresh new coat of paint. While bright colors are nice to have in a home, they don’t necessarily contribute to what a calm home is. To be able to achieve that standard in your home, it follows that you need to have your walls painted in clean and calm hues.
Think earthy and neutral colors. Or if you want to have more color, keep it muted. For instance, you wish to have a pink room for your daughter. Stay away from bright pink and keep it limited to a very pale color. If you want to have blue walls in your bathroom, tone down the blue to cooler and lighter shades.
The psychology of colors will explain to you how certain colors have the power to alter and shape one’s state of mind. With the right colors, you may be able to induce a sense of calmness, peace, and relaxation throughout your home.
4. Maintain A Structure At Home
A carefully curated home to bring about feelings of Zen should be tied up with good habits and attitudes. The home’s décor and design theme can’t work its magic when the overall mood at home is stressful and rushed. You also have to take that extra step in developing structures and routines in your household, especially when you have kids.
Sticking to a routine means there’s a time and place for everything. There are boundaries in place, and there’s no overlapping of obligations. You don’t have to go through rushed days where you feel you don’t have time to relax because everyone and everything at home is all over the place.
How do you achieve that structure? Here are a few tips:
- Set a morning and evening routine. When the kids are in bed earlier, you get to relax with your glass of wine on your bean bags, in your living room, and go to bed in peace.
- Let everyone help out with the chores. If you’re the only one doing everything at home, then you’ll never have the time left to yourself. Also, you can stay on top of the clutter more when the little ones making all the mess help out with packing away.
5. Embrace The Power Of Plants
When you’re stressed and overwhelmed with everything that may be going on in your life, is it not that one of the most common pieces of advice given is to go out and spend time outdoors? It’s not just the exposure to fresh air and quiet time that relaxes you. It’s also the inherent natural beauty that plants boast of.
You don’t have to go out all the time just to give yourself a sense of peace and relaxation. You can have that even when you’re just at home by bringing plants to your indoor space. Apart from beautifying and making your home feel like a serene resort, those indoor plants also have the power to eliminate toxins from your home, thus re-oxygenating your living space.
Some of the best air purifying plants you can have that are also low-maintenance are:
- Spider plant
- Peace lily
- Snake plant
- Chinese evergreen
- Rubber plants
6. Choose Natural And Light Fabrics
The natural and light fabrics pointed out here refer to your curtains, cushions, pillowcases, and even your sheets. When your goal is to have a calm home, this also means creating a space that’s bright and airy. You can’t achieve this if your curtains are dark and busy-printed, for instance. The plainer and more subdued the prints are, the better. That way, there’s no visual nuisance going on in your home.
Also, you can take things one step further by choosing more natural fabrics like linen and bamboo cotton. These can elevate the overall comfort of your home, which is also a characteristic of a calm home.
7. Choose Conflict Carefully
As you want peace and calmness to rule over your home, it necessarily follows that you’ll want to avoid conflict as much as you can. Choose your battles. You don’t have to engage in every conflict or trouble that goes on if you know that doing so will only escalate to bigger and more heated arguments.
Before you initiate anything, ensure you already know that the conflict is merited. Whenever you have to talk about certain issues affecting members of the family, do so in a calm and respectful manner. Then, don’t let conflicts escalate from one day to the next. The earlier you resolve problems, the better. That way, there’s no room for breeding anger and negativity in a calm and peaceful household.
Conclusion
Your home is your personal escape after a long day at work and all the other woes of life you may be facing, so it follows that you’ll also want it to welcome you with open arms to a relaxing feeling. If you don’t feel a rush of calm and peace when you walk into your house, then it’s just not working right for your personal sanctuary.
It’s not yet too late to change your home’s overall vibe with the tips above. See what works for your house and what doesn’t. And soon enough, you’ll get to have a home that nurtures your peace and relaxation, so you’re able to put your feet up and de-stress. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you cultivate a soothing vibe in your home.
