5 Design Tricks For A Stress Free Home
We all live very stressful lives these days. Managing a demanding work life and trying to balance it with your family is tough and it can take a toll on you. We all have our own ways of dealing with stress whether it’s sitting back and watching your favorite TV show, going for a run or meditating. But have you ever considered your home decor when you’re trying to manage stress?
Most people think about home decor and stress but it’s very important. You spend so much time in your home and it’s the place where you should be able to leave the stress of work behind and relax. But you’re not going to be able to do that if your decor doesn’t inspire relaxation and tranquility. These are some of the best home decor tips to make your home a stress free area.
Choose The Right Color Scheme
The psychology of color is so important when you’re trying to design a stress free home. Some colors increase feelings of anxiety in people while others have the opposite effect and are very calming. It’s important that you understand the impact that different colors have on your mindset when you’re trying to choose a color scheme for your house.
Blue is a great color to use because it has a lot of calming properties. It’s especially good for the bedroom because studies show that it encourages good sleep. When you’re choosing a shade of blue, it’s best to go for lighter, neutral ones because bright colors aren’t the best for relaxation. Pink is one that you wouldn’t think of as relaxing because it’s quite bright and vibrant. But if you go for softer shades of pink with less red (with increases feelings of anxiety) it can be very relaxing. Yellow is a great color for creativity so, it might not always be the most relaxing color, but it’s good to use in rooms where you’re engaging in hobbies and other activities during our downtime.
Connect With Nature
The natural world has such a calming effect on people so anything that you can do to connect with it in your home is always a positive. Putting plants around the home is one of the best ways to do this. You should try to have one or two in each room, and get ones that are easy to care for if you’re not very good at looking after them. Dead plants aren’t going to have a very relaxing effect at all. The other major benefit of having plants around the house is that they clean the air and tackle indoor air pollution.
As well as bringing plants into the house, you should look for ways to open up the house to the outside world so you can experience the view. For example, you can open up a wall at the back of your house and install some top rated sliding glass doors with a view into the garden. It opens up the space and brings more natural sunlight in, which helps to relieve stress. It also blurs that barrier between the indoor and outdoor space and helps you to connect with nature more easily.
Streamline Possessions
The decluttering craze has really taken off recently with people like Marie Kondo writing books and making programs about how to streamline your possessions and the positive impact that it has on your life. Possessions carry a certain emotional weight with them and if your house is filled with clutter, it can make it hard to relax. It also makes it harder to organize your life and increases feelings of chaos which is never good for stress.
If you can get rid of all of the junk that you’ve got around the house, it’ll be a far more relaxing environment. A lot of people are put off the idea of decluttering because it seems like such a daunting task, especially if you never throw anything out and you have piles of clutter everywhere. But if you take it slow and break it down, it’s manageable. Start one room at a time and go through everything that you’ve got in there. If it isn’t something that you use regularly or something that has sentimental value, just get rid of it. Don’t convince yourself that you might need it in future so you’ll keep it, otherwise, you’re never going to get anywhere.
Privacy
Your home should be a sanctuary where you can escape the pressures of the outside world and just relax for a while, which is why privacy is so important. If your home is open and people outside can easily see in, it makes it a lot harder to switch off and relax. There are a few different changes to make around the home to increase privacy. A fence or hedge in the garden stops people from looking in when they walk past. You should also consider investing in better curtains or blinds in rooms if you only have thin net curtains in there. Don’t forget about noise either, especially if you live near a busy road. The sound of cars driving past all day isn’t exactly relaxing so you should consider upgrading your windows to insulate against the noise.
No Technology Zones
Being glued to your phone all day long is not very good for de-stressing, even if you consider it leisure time. When you’re constantly being bombarded with lots of information, you’re not giving your brain a chance to get any quiet time. It’s especially bad at night time because the light from the screens tricks your brain into thinking that it’s still day time which makes it hard to sleep. Bad sleeping patterns are one of the biggest contributors to excess stress levels so it’s important that you limit screen time at night.
It’s a good idea to create no technology zones in the home to give yourself a break from time to time. Often, people choose the dining room so they can eat meals and take some time away from their devices for a while. The bedroom is another good option as well if you struggle with your sleep.
If you design your home with stress in mind, it’s a lot easier to manage it and relax properly when you get home from work.
