6 Tips to Make You Say “Ahhhh” When You Walk in Your Home
Are you in love with you home or is it pushing you away? Close your eyes and imagine yourself walking into your home. Do your spirits lift or do they fall? Are you living in a house that looks and feels like a designer showcase? Does it leave you feeling cold and somber, and void of your personality, or does your home reflect your sense of organization and style? Is your home so full of clutter that you won’t have company over? Is it bare, lacking any personal touches? In all of these scenarios, there lies a disconnect between the soul of the home and the people who live there. If your home feels stagnant and doesn’t nourish your soul, you’ll love these 6 tips to enlighten your living space and reignite your zest for life, feeling inspired by your home.
1. Don’t love it? Let it go.
Did you know that holding onto items that you don’t love drains your energy? Envision yourself walking into a home filled with colors you can’t stand and uncomfortable furniture. How do you feel? Thoughts of discomfort and tension confirm the low vibration you’re feeling. Now picture yourself walking into your dream home filled with all the décor that you’ve savored in magazine pictures, on Pinterest or Houzz. How does this leave you feeling? Surrounding yourself with decor you love sustains you and keeps your vibration high. Make a mental note of each room of your house and see how you feel when you walk in. Be mindful of your furnishings, accessories, artwork, flooring, and wall and window coverings. Is there something that makes you feel heavy, annoyed or uncomfortable? Are you holding onto items out of obligation, even though you can’t stand them? If so, let it go. Donate it to charity, and allow someone else to receive pleasure from something you no longer love. This is an instant way to lighten your vibration and help others in need and leave space for you to expand.
2. Make room for what’s most important.
Clutter can stop your love affair with your home in its tracks. Clutter includes an excess of any particular thing or something that is broken, not being used regularly, and things that you don’t love. Start small, and then work up to bigger areas. You’d be surprised how even clearing a drawer can make a difference in improving how you feel in a room. If the idea of where to even start overwhelms you, consider hiring a professional to help you. It is a wonderful gift to give yourself. By removing clutter you are allowing new opportunities to come your way.
3. Decorate your home with love.
Take time to find the pieces that you simply can’t live without. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your home doesn’t have to be either. I’ve seen former clients hurriedly furnish a room just for the sake of filling it, but the end result lacks warmth and personal touch. Even the smallest things that are chosen with love can make a house a home and feel special and unique to its homeowner. The point of your home is to love your things and use them to help you. Pick up new treasures that have meaning when you travel instead of purchasing everything on a one-stop shopping spree. Understand that your taste will change over time. Don’t force yourself to stay in love with something you chose years ago, especially if you feel you’ve outgrown or become tired of it. Give yourself permission to change things up. Choose wall and flooring colors that are neutral, so that when your decorating style changes, you can more easily change the look. Add pictures of happy times with family and friends and places you’ve traveled or dream to visit. Add your favorite accessories and artwork, colors, and things that make you smile.
4. Balance the Five Elements to create harmony.
In Feng Shui, the five elements include water, wood, fire, earth and metal. A space that incorporates all of these elements creates a sense of balance and peace. In contrast, imagine standing in a stark, cold room with hard metal furniture, straight lines, mirrors, exposed stone floors and icy colors. This environment will likely leave you feeling tense and unbalanced. Now, imagine that same space with a mix of soft upholstery, accent pillows in an array of your favorite colors; a combination of metal and wooden furniture with earthy tops, warm wood floors, lively plants and candles that sparkle at night. Add a water fountain to enhance the sound in the background. See how you feel now? You’ve just brought the balance of nature indoors. Observe your space and see if it feels in balance or not with the Five Elements.
5. The Yin to your Yang: Opposites attract!
Take note of the less noticeable aspects of your home. Notice the temperature of the room, the lighting, architectural features, and the textures. Are the ceilings high or low? Is the room exposed to natural sunlight, or is it dark and void of windows? Are there sharp, pointed edges, or are there rounded and curvy features? You may not be able to change the architectural features of your home, but you can make changes to enhance or diminish features that need balance.
Yin energy is quiet, dark, cool, soft, and inward moving. Yang energy is bright, sharp, intense, loud and upward moving. The idea is that these two energies are made whole when are in balance. Picture a dimly lit, cool room with one window, low furniture and dark colors. This room has an over abundance of yin energy and needs more Yang elements to balance it out. In this case, another window, skylight or artificial lighting is recommended. Accent the low furniture with taller furniture, or add floor-to-ceiling drapes. Tall floor plants to pull the eye upward, as well as brighter paint color would liven up the room and invigorate the space. You could also place a water feature in the room to add sound to evoke more Yang energy.
6. Give your house a job – Make it work!
There’s nothing better than a home where every room has its own useful purpose. Ideally the house, much like you, is living to its fullest potential. Think of a family with young children, where bedrooms and playrooms are throughout the home. The house is full, and is serving its purpose. Unfortunately, as the children grow up and leave the nest, there may be several rooms no longer being utilized as they once were. This may create a stagnant energy, or a lingering “heavy” feeling. It is possible to make changes so that you can enjoy a space, even if you don’t spend a lot of time in each room. Add a timer to a table lamp or accent lighting to light up each evening once it’s dark. Illuminating a space invites a sense of warmth and creates a depth of field in the house. You can also add a water fountain, a solar wind chime or a mobile to create sound and movement. Convert an unused formal living room to an inviting, more relaxing space. Instead of the sofa and loveseat combination, add four comfy chairs with a center ottoman to put your feet on, or change it into a home office, reading room, music room, meditation room, craft room, or entertainment room with a pool table. It’s up to your imagination to create a space that you will love and use.
When you’ve consciously decorated your home with love, mindfulness and balancing energies, your heart and soul connect with the heart and soul of your home. Create a mutual relationship that nurtures and sustains you, while allowing harmonious balance. It’ll feel like a warm, loving hug each time you return home. And you can’t help but to let out a sigh of relief when you feel its warm embrace.
If you’re curious how to feel the “Ahhh” in your home again, I would love to talk with you. Click here for a complimentary 15-phone consultation.