Are you looking for ways to make your home more appealing to you and your family? By making certain key changes to your interior living space, you’re sure to feel better and make your guests feel welcome. Read on to learn about five ways to elevate your home for better mental health.
1. Plants Are Great
When you have plants in your house, such as a tree, hanging plant, or even small succulents, you stand a better chance of having lower stress levels. A big part of this is that plants produce oxygen and make the air a bit cleaner. Also, taking care of a plant has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression. There are many types of plants that are ideal for growing and maintaining in your home, and they aren’t difficult to care for.
2. Water Features Inspire Calm
Most people like the soothing sound of water. Whether you’d like something just for yourself, such as a tabletop water fountain, or something grander like a full wall water feature, it’s an ideal element to include. If this is out of the question, use your audio system to play calming sounds such as waves or rain instead. Or set up your television to show a scene of raindrops hitting a window or falling into a puddle.
3. Therapy Lights Help
If you don’t tend to get much natural sunlight because you’re stuck indoors most of the day, a therapy light might be a good idea. It’s been proven to assist many individuals in boosting their moods and keeping calmer. They’re especially helpful when it comes to treating seasonal affective disorder.
On that note, your entire home’s lighting plays a crucial role in how you entertain guests and live in your home in general. Smart lights allow you to adjust the level of brightness and not have to get up to flip switches or turn on lamps all the time.
4. Be Mindful of Clutter
Clutter has a direct impact on our state of mind. If you and your family members tend to drop things when you get in the door without putting any thought into it, soon enough, you’ll have a messy entryway that is likely to make your thoughts and emotions scattered as well. It’s important to have specific places for everything or at least a few catch-all spots for storage, such as hook shelves near the doors, a cabinet in or near the hallway, and a shoe cubby.
5. Free Up Your Floors
If you have many small pieces of furniture scattered around, this will take up a lot of your floor space and interfere with your ability to move about your home. Even a large room will feel busy if there are too many individual pieces of furniture. Use stacking shelves instead of several separate units for storage. Try floating shelves, which mount onto the wall. In a child’s room, use corner nets to hold stuffed animals, other toys, and more. A rolling cart is good for keeping things close at hand. When you’re done, just roll it under a sink or into a corner. Consider furniture that doubles as storage, such as an ottoman or a steamer trunk as a coffee table. A hallway bench with storage under the seat is a great option for storing backpacks and handbags.
How you organize and use certain fixtures and features in your home will affect your mental health. Contact LifeStyle Homes to get started on building your energy-efficient, healthy, smart home.
