If the past months have shown us one thing, it is how important it can be to feel comfortable in your own home. But what if you feel uncomfortable in your home?
In this article, you will learn how to make your home a happier place. With a few simple tricks, you can increase comfort by creating a positive atmosphere at home and finally be happy with the home you have.
Determine the reasons for the discomfort at home
To feel happier in your own home, you should first recognize why exactly you are not feeling so well at the moment. Are they memories that you associate with your flat? However, often, small things are causing discomfort, such as a lack of color or personality in your walls.
For some, it is also the people with whom you share your home. In this case, this article might not be able to help you. Because here, we focus mostly on the design aspect of the home. If your fellow human beings make you unhappy, a family or couple therapy could be helpful – in drastic cases, even a move.
Practical tips on how to make your home a happier place
Bring some color into your life.
It is scientifically proven that colors can influence our mood. Of course, this is also the case at home. White walls can seem monotonous and boring, while dark colors can make the room look dreary.
If this is the case, it is time for a new coat of paint. Pick a color that you associate with a positive attitude to life, and off you go! For example, our flat is mainly painted in a Bordeaux-purple tone, with some walls painted in a light gray to make the room appear lighter in general. However, in my first own flat, I had a turquoise bedroom (my favorite color), which made me happy every time I was home.
But it doesn’t necessarily have to be the wall color that sets new color accents in your apartment. Also, colorful decorative items like blankets, pillow or couch covers, bed linen, pictures, or other decorative elements can bring new color into the room. For example, in my white-grey office, a turquoise flower pot and turquoise bed linen on the guest bed already helps to give the room a completely new and colorful atmosphere.
Lighter is better
Have you ever noticed how light can change our mood? Maybe you have felt limp and tired on a rainy and grey day, while on a sunny day, you have suddenly been full of new energy. It is the same with your house. Daylight is, therefore, important when it comes to feeling good in your home. Especially during a long winter, you will be happy about every ray of sunshine that finds its way into your room.
Thus, it is advisable to cover your windows as little as possible to allow a natural distribution of light in the room. Mirrors can also help better distributing light effects and brightness in your home.
A little bit of green
It’s astonishing how just a couple of plants can breathe new life into your home. Not only do they look beautiful and bring a little color into your house, but they also help to improve the air quality in your home. According to a NASA study, depending on the type of plant, not only can they provide oxygen, but they can even filter pollutants and dust particles from the air.
If you are often away from home or simply don’t have green fingers, plastic plants can be a great alternative. Although they do not clean the air, they add a great touch of color to your home.
Add personality to your home.
Many people do not feel completely comfortable in their home because it doesn’t really reflect their personality. That means that your flat can be as beautiful as in a catalog and still make you unhappy if it simply doesn’t fit your personality.
Therefore, there must be a little bit of you represented in the interior of your home. For example, put up some photos, hang a picture on the wall that means something to you, present some vacation souvenirs from your favorite trip, or use your favorite color to decorate the room.
Your personality can also shine through in the choice of your decorative items. Do you like it playful, or do you prefer it simple and clean? Show your preferences in your home. And you will see that right after that, your room will have so much more personality.
Decorative Elements
Sometimes we don’t feel comfortable in places because they seem so cold and empty. Decorative items can be a great solution in this case. Decorate with whatever you like, whether it’s decorative cushions on the couch or other decorative items. Often your house looks quite different with even a few small decorative elements.
From old to new
It doesn’t always take new things to make you happy. Maybe just a new coat of paint will help? Give your furniture a new shine with some varnish or paint, repair old furniture, recycle old decorative items, or create something completely new from things you already have at home.
There are no limits to your imagination and creativity. And the environment will also thank you if you give your furniture a new face instead of throwing it away.
Feel good through security
Maybe it is not so much the appearance of your flat, but the feeling of insecurity that your home might give you. Installing an alarm system, a fire alarm, or a new door lock can make you sleep much more peacefully.
Sometimes even night lights or getting to know your neighbors can help to give you a greater sense of security at home.
A breeze of freshness
The air you breathe can have a great influence on your well-being at home. Fresh air not only helps you to concentrate better, but it can also even affect your mood, health, and general well-being.
Most importantly, there should always be plenty of fresh air in your home. Therefore, it is essential to open all windows in the house for at least 5-10 minutes every day so that fresh air from outside can flow in and be distributed in all rooms. Besides, plants can provide cleaner air.
Another solution can be electronic air cleaners. These help to filter dust and pollutants from the air and thus ensure clean air in the house. However, humidifiers or dehumidifiers can also be beneficial if you live in humid or extremely dry air areas.
Fragrant
Do you know the feeling that every house has its own personal smell, but you cannot perceive the smell in your own home? Even though you may not be able to actively smell the scent inside your house, this does not mean that the smell cannot influence you.
In addition to regular airing, you can also try scented fresheners, scented candles, aroma diffusers, or similar. Many people also swear by scented oils or incense sticks.
If you prefer natural scents, you can also create your own scents, e.g., with flowers, cinnamon sticks, coffee beans, or orange peel.
Keeping order
Do you know that feeling when you have finally filed away all your bills or disposed of things you no longer need? Just as it is much easier to work at a tidy desk, we need a little order in our home.
Sometimes it already helps to keep general order and, e.g., to make the bed in the morning to feel a little better at home. If you were to receive spontaneous visitors now, would you feel uncomfortable with how your apartment looks? If so, you might want to take a little time to bring a touch of order into the chaos. Sometimes a few simple steps and just a few minutes are enough to make you feel comfortable in your flat again.
Privacy
Privacy is an important asset that should not be neglected in your home. Especially if you live together with others, you need your own space. Since I have my own room in our flat, for example, from which I can work, I feel much better.
If you live in a shared flat, you should draw clear boundaries so that nobody but you can enter your room if you don’t want them to. A lock on your door can provide even more privacy and security.
But it doesn’t only have to be your own room, a personal chest of drawers where you can store your belongings, your personal armchair, your own blanket on the couch, or the like.
If you live alone, curtains or blinds on the windows may protect you from the neighbors’ prying eyes. For bathroom windows, there are also frosted glass films that make your windows opaque but still let the light from outside through.
It may also help place large pieces of furniture, such as cupboards against the walls, facing the neighbors to create an additional noise barrier. This not only protects you from the noise coming from your neighbors but also your neighbors listening in on your next loud conversation. If the walls are very thin or your neighbors are inquisitive, you might even consider soundproofing the walls.
Feel-good temperature
Every person has his or her own personal feel-good temperature. Depending on the room, the perfect temperature is usually between 17 and 23°C. If this temperature is exceeded or fallen below, the well-being suffers quickly. Too hot temperatures or constant freezing are both not good for increasing your well-being at home.
For this reason, you should try to make sure that your personal temperature is maintained in the house. In the summer, fans, protective film on the windows to prevent the hot sun’s rays from heating the air, or air conditioning will help. However, in winter, heating or better sealing of walls, doors, or windows can absolutely pay off.
Feng Shui
Surely you have heard of Feng Shui before. The term is composed of the Chinese characters for wind and water. It is a traditional Chinese harmony theory applied to the living space and has been used for many years.
Many people report that they feel better in their home after they have redesigned everything according to the teachings of Feng Shui. First of all, you can try it in one room or familiarize yourself with a Feng Shui for beginners article on the subject.
Have any of these tricks helped you feel happier at home? What helped you personally? Please let us know in the comments below!
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