Curb Your Cabin Fever
Now that we’re spending a lot more time at home, you may have decided to tackle a few projects like organizing your closet, clearing out the basement, or finally sewing those curtains for the kitchen. Whether you’ve finished all the organizing or you’re feeling a bit aimless, I’ve got three suggestions for you to refresh your decor while we’re hunkering down.
Rearrange
One thing you can do is rearrange your furniture. If you’re a do-er, then jump right in and start pushing things around. As a first step, try to get as much furniture out of the room as possible, because it helps you to see the space in a new way, and you’ll need room to move the furniture as you place it. If you’re a planner, then grab your trusty tape measure and get to work. Measure your room including all windows and doors, plus all the furniture that’s staying in there. For some old-school fun, you can make your floor plan with graph paper and cut-outs. Or you can transfer your dimensions into an app and plan that way. Then get your fitness outfit on and start shifting the furniture around. Bonus points for breaking a sweat!
Another thing you can rearrange is your gallery wall. Lay everything on the floor, set aside pictures you don’t want now, and arrange everything else in a totally different way. You’ll need to patch some nail holes in the wall, but you can also cover some of them with your new arrangement!
Rotate
If you’re not so much with the whole rearranging project, you can keep it simple by swapping just a few items around. “Shop” in your own house by taking a fresh look at pieces in other rooms. Maybe you could use a side table in the living room as a nightstand, and the nightstand as the side table. You can swap out chairs as well; it’s easier to rotate small furniture like that.
On an even smaller scale, try rotating some knickknacks. Take a look at your mantle or bookshelf. Do a bit of sorting, then dig out your box of little things and choose a few of those to change up your decorative arrangement. If you don’t have a box of little things, then you can just swap knickknacks between rooms.
Reclaim
Because self-care is extra important right now, discover where you could reclaim a bit of space in the house for yourself to read, relax, meditate, or connect with friends on the phone. Living in close quarters with our families can become annoying at times, so having a mini-retreat in a peaceful corner will give you the space you need to wind down and take a breather.
When you decide on a place to reclaim, tour your house to see which pieces you could use. Maybe there’s a comfy chair underneath that pile of clothes in the bedroom, or even a patio chair with a cushion would be perfect. Then find a small table or maybe an ottoman that could hold your cup of tea. The final thing for your corner would be lighting, either a table or floor lamp that you can borrow from another room. Those three items are really all you need for a small, personal place to chill out.
You can do one, two, or all three of these things, depending on your energy level. Changing up your space a little (or a lot) can literally reset your outlook by having different things to look at every day.
