The following post is from Lindsey M. Roberts, a design & décor writer: 5 Ways to Love Your Home
Just like a spouse or a friend, your home needs some love to stay happy. And thinking of a house as a loved one might help us all think creatively about how we can give it the care that it needs — so that it can care for us.
Here are five ideas to get started.
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1. Make a date with your home.
Projects won’t get done, and your house won’t get that deep clean that it needs if you don’t make time for it. This can be a hard thing to do, because even if you block out a date on your calendar, other things will always come up.
Time with a friend and errands will always seem more important than tackling your piles of paper. But it’s important to find a date, stick to it, and say no to other offers if you want to get some big tasks done.
So schedule a day and make it a date! Hire a babysitter, or get the kids to help. Pencil in dinner and a movie at the end of the day to reward yourself. It will be one day that will pay off in all the days to follow.
2. Buy fresh flowers.
Can we praise the merits of fresh flowers enough? When I’m in the grocery store, flowers seem like a waste of money. But when I get the flowers home and into a vase, they always give my rooms enough warmth to be worth the money. It’s a design cliché, but flowers really do add life to rooms.
3. Get some fresh air.
Go for a walk, er, open the windows! Get your home some fresh air, even in the middle of winter; you turn off the heat, open the window, and then close it and turn the heat back on in 15 minutes. A little blast of fresh air will help sweep out any mustiness.
4. Do it a service by decluttering.
Pick up a basket and walk through your home; grab every bit of clutter that you can find, and then walk around with the basket putting the clutter in its rightful place.
If you want to take this a step further, declutter your decorations. Put away some of the treasures that you so proudly display on your bookcase — and rightfully so! — and rotate them seasonally. You’ll open up some white space and give your décor some room to breathe.
5. Pay attention to the little things.
Just like you might pay attention to the things your loved ones like, or the things they don’t like, pay attention to the little things that can make a big difference.
Take a magic eraser to the scuff marks on your walls. Go through your pens and throw out all of the ones that don’t work. Go through your bookshelves and donate all the books you didn’t like. Take a moment to notice what’s dusty and take a microfiber duster to it. Refill your soap pumps. All the little things add up!
What else can we do to love our homes?
| Lindsey M. Roberts has covered design, décor, and homes from Washington state to Washington, D.C., writing for publications such as Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, Apartment Therapy, The Washington Post, and Preservation magazine, and editing publications for Hanley Wood. |
