Do you often feel like you don’t want to come home and actually dread doing this? I sometimes do, and it wasn’t much later that I figured out the reason I was getting antsy of my home situation: it is because I’m tired of the décor, the clutter had begun to build up, and my nose has gotten used to the fragrance that I’ve set up. All in all, it all felt — blah.
How do we make someone, ourselves or another, look forward to come home?
1. If you can avoid it, refrain from working at home. Your home is your sanctuary, a place where you rest, where you act the way you want to. Work {and all that comes with it} is usually accompanied by stress and anxiety, unless you work from home then that’s a different story. If you must, create a home office setup so that your space for office work and for personal life are defined from each other. If you need other work from home tips, check out this article.
2. Do periodic cleaning. Here’s how weekend cleanup becomes crazy: we forget to clean daily. For some of us who do not employ the help of kasambahays, cleaning on weekends can become a Herculean task if left unnoticed during the past five days. Try incorporating cleaning into your schedule i,e. every morning before cooking for breakfast and taking out the trash. If daily is too much, begin with thrice a week until you get the groove of it. This way, you don’t have to deal with gigantic dust balls come Saturday and Sunday.
3. Change your home’s lighting. This is a pet project I have taken on when I decided to move to an apartment in the city, but still, no real progress to this day. Though I have yet to decide whether I will get chandeliers or mood lighting, home life has been better since I got some standing lamps. Also consider reducing the use of white light in areas meant for sleeping and relaxation as this type of light has been shown to keep us awake longer. Remember: never underestimate the power of light.
4. Change your room scents, or have one. For a long time, it was acai berries. Then I had a fling with Diptyque candles. This week, I got a bottle of Zenutrients Peppermint Oil and my tiny home has been spa-like since. I’ve actually drifted off to sleep while writing an article.
5. Change your linens, rearrange your furniture or bring out the china. Changing a queen bed’s linens can be considered a workout but the prize of laying down on fresh, 1,000-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets is heaven on earth. If this is not enough for you, try moving around your furniture to change your perspective or adding mirrors to make rooms look bigger than they actually are. And on one especially normal day, cook something spectacular and bring out the good china for no special reason.
Having a comfortable place to go home to is an important aspect to maintaining our wellbeing. To make your house feel like home, start with understanding what makes you feel good and cozy and add more of those into your space. After all, home is where we relax, recharge, and restore our energy for tomorrow. If you need tips on how to declutter your home, see this article.
Image used under Creative Commons from Bach Tran
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