How to create delightful, serene homes
A home should be a refuge – a calm, warm, inviting place to unwind at the end of the day. But all too often it falls short of that ideal. The clutter piles up, the sofa gets stained, the lighting seems cold, the paint colours aren’t quite doing it for us anymore, it becomes so bland and the accessories don’t work together to form a cohesive whole. By following a few simple steps, however, it’s possible to calm the chaos, take control and make any house or apartment a more welcoming home.
CREATE YOUR BIG PICTURE, MAINTAIN AN OVERALL GOAL
You may need to bring in some new items to make your home more controlled, but before that step begins, it’s important to deal with what you already have. Prior to starting a purge, set goals for what you want to achieve. People have varying ambitions for their homes, and differences in taste. You might desire a minimalist, Zen-inspired retreat, a home with a cascade of greenery all around, or a home that gives royal, castle like ambiences. Each of these goals will require different types of objects, in different quantities. (If you have a partner or roommates, you will also need to work out these goals with them before you proceed. If you strongly disagree, think compromise.)
The first step of organizing has nothing to do with stuff. It’s about clarifying who you are and how you want to live. Consider whether you prefer spaces that feel invigorating or calming, as well as the specific activities you want your home to support. Look back at spaces that made you feel unhappy, and ones that made you feel happy, and try to understand why they did.
CLUTTER UNDONE
Simplifying and removing clutter from a home is easier said than done. Indeed, it can seem so overwhelming that some people simply put it off forever. The trick to moving forward, is to relieve yourself of the pressure of making a decision to keep, recycle or throw away every single object in your home. Instead, start by eliminating the things you already know you don’t need or want. Always do the easiest things first. With the editing process, you want to get as much out as quickly as possible to help change the energy of the space. Put objects you’re unsure about aside for the time being, and don’t let them derail the cleanout.
The objective of getting organized isn’t to hide everything you own, but it does involve finding the right balance between open and closed storage. Utilitarian products can be stored neatly out of sight in closets, drawers and boxes, which will help more decorative and personal items such as vases, candleholders, pictures and coffee table books come to the fore on open shelves and surfaces. With less in the room, whatever you leave behind rises to the surface. It makes your objects look more important, rather than just looking like a lot of stuff.
When you put things away, remember that you’ll eventually want to use them again, and if you store things close to where you use them, it will make performing daily tasks a little easier. Keep toiletries you use every day together on a medicine cabinet shelf that’s easy to reach rather than scattered in different vanity drawers. Put board games close to the table where you play them, magazines by the reading lamp, and pots and pans directly beside the stove. The experience should be graceful, intuitive and easy when you go to use things.
ILLUMINATION, LIGHTS, SPARKLE:
How a room is illuminated can have a significant impact on your mood. For warm, soothing light with a golden glow, look for fixtures and bulbs that offer a warm, earthy, colour temperature, else the light will begin to look bluish white — good for an office or warehouse, but rarely desirable at home. Read specifications and packaging carefully, and test the different fixtures and bulbs together in the rooms where you plan to use them. Do all the colourr temperatures work together, and dim together?
Don’t expect a single light fixture on the ceiling to create an environment that feels welcoming. Designers typically install many different types of lighting, at three key levels — with ceiling lamps, table lamps and floor lamps — to highlight different parts of a room while offering pleasing ambient light that can be adjusted for different functions and times of day. Layers of light are very important, so there are different focal points. Think of the room as a stage, where there are things you want to accentuate and other areas you want to fade away, depending on the time of day and your activities.
Sunlight helps almost any room look its best, but too much of it won’t set the right mood. Direct natural light pouring through windows can be almost blinding, while also fading artwork and textiles. And, if the windows look out to neighbouring apartments or homes, uncovered windows may make your space feel uncomfortably exposed.
To control natural light levels, designers frequently install two layers of window coverings over each opening – a light layer, such as a solar shade or sheer fabric, to filter sunlight and provide a degree of privacy, and a heavier layer, often with a blackout material or lining, which can make the room truly dark.
CALMING WALL FINISHES
Choose subtle colours and textures over electric hues and eye-catching patterns. Personal preference always comes into play when choosing paint colours, but for the primary spaces of a serene home, a good rule of thumb is to choose quiet colours that don’t cry out for attention.
If you really want to make a room calm, making it fairly light and keeping all the parts and pieces of that room in the same colour family tends to be a pretty soothing visual experience. Many people react well to really quiet soft grays, while others prefer very pale blues. Colours that feel almost shadowy.
FURNITURE, AND ACCESSORIES
Focus on pleasing the senses rather than chasing the latest fashions. It may seem obvious, but for a serene home, comfort is at least as important as aesthetics. Don’t just buy furniture online based on how it looks; go see the pieces in person and try them out. Different people like different levels of cushioning. Some would primarily go for furniture that have pillows that are soft, while others may desire more support. If the sofa doesn’t make you want to curl up for a nap right there in the showroom, move on until you find one that does.
CONSIDER SOUND
Beyond what things look like, and how they function, pay attention to how they sound. Look for opportunities to add sounds you find pleasing. If you love music, install wireless speakers in every room, for whole-home audio. If you enjoy the burbling sound of running water, consider a small water feature.
AROMATHERAPY
Home fragrances aren’t for everyone, but they can serve as a powerful mood booster if you find scents you like. (There’s a reason that hotels and high-end condo buildings often perfume the air). There are a multitude of ways to bring preferred scents into a space, including candles, sprays, reed diffusers, incense burners and more elaborate powered diffusers. Combined with good lighting, and pleasing colours and textures, a favourite scent may be just the thing to complete a relaxing environment that encourages winding down at the end of the day.