This year, you’ve likely spent more time at home than ever before. Although you love your casa, you do find yourself wishing your place was a bit more cheerful and uplifting.
Thankfully, there are several ways you can add more joy to your home, and as a bonus, you don’t have to spend a ton of money or time doing so. For instance, consider the following ideas:
1. Put Meaningful Items on Display
As you gaze at the artwork on your walls, the knick-knacks on your bookcase and the photos on your mantel, do you feel happy or are you somewhat indifferent about these items? If the latter is true, only display the keepsakes you truly love— not the items that are necessarily the most stylish or trendy. Yes, the mirror you bought for a pretty penny from a high-end store may look nice, but you likely would rather have your late grandma’s wood-framed mirror in your entryway. The same is true for posters and art; maybe your BFF gave you that classy-looking oil painting. But, if you’ve always dreamed of having a wall of black and white photos of your pets, by all means, go this route instead. Inspect each room of your place and remove any items that don’t make you feel joyful and replace them with things you enjoy.
2. Add Fresh Flowers
There’s something about a vase full of fresh flowers that immediately improves the mood of any room. From cheerful carnations to regal roses, adding bouquets of blossoms is a fun and easy way to add flair and happiness to your home. To make things as easy as possible, consider ordering flower delivery every month to keep things fresh and colorful. This way, if you’re understandably trying to limit your outside shopping trips, you can still bring the beauty of fresh flowers into your home.
3. Change Up the Lighting
For better or worse, lighting can definitely make an impact on your mood. In particular, if your home is lit with a bunch of dim fluorescent bulbs, you may notice yourself feeling more melancholy than if rooms have lights with bulbs that mimic natural light. Additionally, finding ways to bring in natural light during the fall and winter seasons is especially important. To make the mood of any room more relaxing, add some candles — opt for flameless versions if you have small kids or pets — and try to keep curtains and blinds open as much as possible to let in light during the day.
4. Keep it Clean
A sink full of dirty dishes, a kitchen table stacked with junk mail and a sticky kitchen floor is not only unattractive but this level of disorganization and filthiness can also stress you out and make you less happy. Yes, times are crazy right now, and you might be busy helping your kids adjust to online learning as you balance working from home. But, as much as possible, enlist the services of your significant other and kids to help keep everything clean and tidy. For instance, set aside pockets of time here and there to clear off the kitchen table; indeed, once the junk mail and other items have been removed, add a pretty tablecloth and set down your bouquet of fresh flowers to boost your mood.
A Happy Home Can Be Yours
As you can see, you don’t have to take on a second job or devote several hours every day to making your home a happier place to be. By making simple and/or economical changes like changing up your décor, buying flowers at least once a month, and doing some much-needed decluttering, your home will be a joyful haven from which to derive some much-needed pleasure.