Many decorators and interior designers believe that your surroundings can influence your mood and general sense of well-being. Since we spend so much time at home, taking time to create a soothing sanctuary to help you relax and unwind from the stresses of everyday life is a smart investment in self-care.
How Does Your Living Space Affect You?
It’s easy to choose home and patio furniture sets to coordinate with a particular style. Still, it’s equally important to select furnishings and decor that help you reduce stress, feel inspired and promote a calm, peaceful atmosphere. A few changes to your home’s interior and exterior spaces can transform your living areas into a mood-boosting personal retreat.
Select furniture and decor that offers calm comfort as well as style to boost your mood.
How Can I Uplift the Mood in my House?
Stressful situations due to daily life and work are often beyond our control. However, one thing we can do is take charge of our home environment, change how it affects our mental health and create inviting outdoor spaces to reduce stress. The following mood-boosting decor tips can help you transform your home into a private retreat that lifts your spirits and fosters comfort and self-care.
Declutter and Minimize
Organizing your home inside and out is one of the best ways to change your environment to benefit your mental health. Overdecorated or visually messy spaces can overstimulate and stress your senses, and the simple act of decluttering can be a soothing self-care endeavor. Adopting a minimalist mindset can help you decide what to keep and what to recycle or sell.
Adopting a minimalist decor style can help you declutter your space.
Take outdoor spaces into account, too. Handy patio storage benches and ottomans help you keep porches and balconies clutter-free, while deck boxes give you a place to stow lightweight items and furniture covers when they’re not in use. Give yourself the time and tools you need to organize the inside and outside of your home to reduce stress.
Uplift with Lighting
Swapping out heavy curtains for sheer panels and letting plenty of natural sunlight into your home can instantly lift your mood. To make the most of natural light, mount mirrors on walls across from your windows to reflect the sunlight and brighten your entire layout.
Outdoor lighting enhances your patio decor and offers gorgeous illumination at night.
Adding colorful lighting and lanterns to your balcony or deck can give your mood a serious boost, too. Consider cheerful yellow or blue lanterns made with outdoor-friendly materials to completely change the tone of your patio dining or conversation set layout.
Incorporate Color
Use color theory to reevaluate the hues used in each part of your home. How does your palette make you feel? If neutral tones saturate your home office, maybe it’s time for some vibrant, energizing hues. A living room full of bold tones and lively patterns could feel stressful or distracting, while earthy colors and natural finishes could be just the transformation you need.
Take the same approach on the deck or balcony. The colors you chose may coordinate with your siding, but do they make you feel relaxed or comfortable? Adding a plush blue rug to your ensemble or placing teal chaise lounges next to the pool could make a big difference in how you see your outdoor spaces.
Colors can influence your overall mood, so look for hues that promote calm, peaceful vibes.
Focus on Comfort
Play close attention to the furniture you and your family use daily. If you prefer your recliner rather than the couch because it’s more comfortable, it might be time to invest in a new sofa. You can also look for accents like pillows or throws to make seating cozier or pick up a cushy mattress topper to boost your bed’s comfort level.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed, indulging in creature comforts can help you relax.
On the patio, treat yourself to a wicker daybed as a shady spot to lounge or create a relaxing patio design with comfy furniture that suits your style. Create the right ambiance with accents and features, and think about adding a fire pit to give you and your family a cozy outdoor space where you can de-stress and unwind.
Add Inspiration
Search for mood-boosting decor and furnishings that motivate and inspire you. If spending time with others is a personal pick-me-up, purchase an outdoor dining set and a bar cart with a cooler for fun brunches and barbeques. Want to spend more time on self-care and journaling? Opt for a slim metal bistro set so you can sip coffee, jot down your thoughts and watch the sunrise in the morning.
Create inspiring spaces to nurture self-care goals such as spending more time reading or writing.
Create Work-Life Balance
If you work from home, you may need to separate your family life from your job. A cheerful and productive home office space in a spare room or basement can help you close the door on work once you clock out. Setting up a home office on the patio is another option, and you get the mood-boosting benefits of spending time outdoors, too.
Bring New Life to Your Decor
Houseplants are a great way to uplift your home decor. If you’re new to caring for ferns and foliage, pick up a few low-maintenance succulents or easy-care plants like pothos and philodendrons. Caring for houseplants is a relaxing activity, and when you’re ready to test your green thumb further, consider adding a container garden to your balcony or deck.
Caring for growing plants both indoors and out is a time-honored mood booster.
Taking the time to investigate your home environment and making changes to improve your sense of well-being is a proactive self-care activity. Even relatively small changes like decluttering, changing your color palette or adding a few plants can go a long way toward improving your mood.