A home should be a peaceful and uplifting place, where you can retreat from the concerns of your job, the latest catastrophes being written about in the news, the gossip and intrigue of your social circle, and all the rest. When you arrive home after a hard day’s work, you should be able to stretch your arms out, let out a deep sigh of relief, and feel happy about life in general. There are however, things that can make a house more or less stressful, both at the stage of purchasing a new home, and also when already established in a home for a long period of time. Buying a new build house is less stressful, say some, as it doesn’t come with the baggage and wear-and-tear that an older home might, but an over-cluttered new-build is still unlikely to be a restful place. Here are some simple strategies for creating an enduring sense of Zen in your home.
Create empty space wherever possible
Creating empty space may be one of the most empowering and soothing of all interior design strategies, and, conversely, squeezing decorative elements into every bit of space in a home until it looks like a second-hand store or antique shop, is one of the worst strategies when it comes to creating a relaxed atmosphere. There’s something about empty space that tends to resonate with the subconscious parts of the mind as being free, open, peaceful, and unthreatening. You’ll find that if your living room is mostly comprised of empty space, with the essential furniture and ornaments being tucked strategically into their selected niches, things just feel fundamentally more under your own control. Wherever you can, try and move things around so that there are as many areas of empty space as you can afford to leave.
Store everything away neatly and dispose of the junk
When things are scattered about haphazardly, forming clutter, the effect is anything but Zen. A peaceful environment relies on a certain degree of harmony, with everything being in its place, and the parts of an environment complementing the whole. Clutter is the opposite of this, and represents a form of chaos. Even if you think you’re pretty resilient to a messy environment, rest assured that it will be creating a degree of chronic stress and tension in your life that you don’t need to experience. Store everything away neatly, and dispose of any items which are clearly just junk, and which have no emotional value to you — such as old newspapers and jam jars. Buy new storage features if you need them.
Try and create a unified aesthetic
As harmony and relaxation go together in such a fundamental way, establishing a unified and coherent design aesthetic is a great way of creating a more peaceful home environment. Try to avoid ornaments and items of furniture that clash dramatically in style, but rather try to keep each room in the home — if not the home as a whole — to one design theme.
