Welcome to March with fabulous flowers and a sprinkling of sunshine.
With new life and a vision of hope, this is the time of year when we start refreshing and decorating our home.
This month I'd like to introduce you to a 'Mindful Home' because it takes your interior design to a deeper level, creating not only a #gorgeous home but also a healthy home to nurture and support you and your family.
For those who don't know... Mindfulness is
"being aware of what is happening right now
without wishing it were different.
Enjoying the pleasant without
holding on when it changes.
(which it will)
Being with the unpleasant without
fearing it will always be this way.
(which it won't)"
- James Baraz
A 'Mindful Home' supports this practice by creating a home that's calm and relaxing, spacious and light, organised and energetic.
Let's take a closer look at each one of these...
A 'Mindful Home' is calm and relaxing. It's your sanctuary to help you unwind and relax. It takes away your daily stresses to provide a home where you feel safe and secure.
The main focus for a 'Mindful Home' is in the bedroom to help you sleep soundly and wake feeing refreshed.
There was a BBC Panorama programme recently that analysed NHS data, reporting that children under 14 with sleep disorders have tripled in the last 10 years!
Within this same time period, it also reported that children and adults under 55 are taking 10 times more medication for common sleep problems... so it's not just the kids that have sleep problems.
In the programme families changed their sleep pattern and their sleep environment, making a huge impact, creating a restful, calming and peaceful night's sleep.
A 'Mindful Home' is designed to not only help you sleep better but it also helps you wake feeling refreshed and invigorated.
Here are the main interior design considerations when creating your calming and relaxing 'Mindful Home' bedroom...
- pale or pastel colours to help lower the energy in the bedroom
- curtains or blinds with blackout lining to create darkness
- organised storage so that you can put things away easily and effortlessly
- cosy bedding to make you feel snuggled
- soft lighting to help you wake up slowly
- something inspirational to look at when you wake up
2) SPACIOUS & LIGHT
A 'Mindful Home' is not necessarily huge but it does feel spacious.
Being organised will help any room feel spacious, and I'll cover this next, but light is also a key influence for a 'Mindful Home' to help your home feel open and spacious.
Maybe you have a room that feels dark or dismal? Maybe it feels small and cluttered? Perhaps it feels unloved or underused?
When the lighting levels are unbalanced in your room, it can lead to you not wanting to spend time in the room. If it's too dark, it can make you feel miserable, and if it's too bright then it can make you feel unsettled.
A 'Mindful Home' will allow you to adjust the lighting so that you can create different moods depending on the time of day and how you're using the room.
The correct lighting will not only make your home feel spacious but it will also help you to relax and unwind, keep you safe when you're in the kitchen, help you focus when reading and enable you to see the smiles of your friends and family.
To create your 'Mindful Home' that feels spacious, warm and inviting, consider the following within your interior design:
- Use as much natural light as possible
- Add artificial light to compliment your natural light
- Create your lighting scheme to incorporate all lighting levels in a room (safety, general, task, display, ambient)
- Make sure your curtains or blinds don't drown your windows and block out light
- Use reflective surfaces to help bounce light around the room
- Consider how you're going to use the room and what type of light you need to support that activity
and remember to let the light into your home... it will energize your home, creating feelings of vitality and wellness.
3) ORGANISED & ENERGETIC
In a 'Mindful Home' the focus is not just on organising each room but creating an organised room that reflects your clutter personality and the way that you like to tidy up and keep on top of things.
The way you want your home to function is very personal and individual. For example... you might want your paperwork ordered alphabetically but your partner might want theirs in date order and the kids might want just one great big box to put it all in.
In a 'Mindful Home', being organised actually makes room for more in your life. It makes room for space, it makes room for light, it makes room for energy and it makes room for time.
When organising your 'Mindful Home', I recommend that you consider the following:
- What do you want to keep out on show that looks good (books, statue, family photograph)
- What do you want to keep out so that it's handy but it's not something beautiful to look at (TV remote control, phone charger)
- What do you want to keep but it can be stored away (birth certificate, office paperwork, suitcase)
If you want it to be on display then make sure it has a place to be seen in your home, eg: on a shelf, on the wall or in a glass cabinet.
If you want it close to hand but it's not great to look at then make sure you have a specific place to keep it, eg: a drawer, a cupboard, on a desk)
If you want to keep things that can be stored away then make sure you have the right type of storage to keep the items you want to store, eg: if it's paperwork then a drawer or a filing cabinet is appropriate. If it's a suitcase then a cupboard is appropriate. It it's a birth certificate then a fire safe is appropriate.
Once you've decided what you're going to store and what type of storage you need, then you can think about the detail and how you're going to store it... does it need to be by year, by month, by type or alphabetically.
A 'Mindful Home' works with you to support your daily routine. It makes it easy for you to tidy up because everything has a place and there's a place for everything.
With an ordered and tidy 'Mindful Home' you will feel a sense of calm and your energy levels will increase.
If your home is making you feel sad or
you're struggling to sleep
then
get in touch
I'll bring love into every room with your Mindful Home.
