Tips to Create a Calm Home and Mindset
If you are like me, I have been spending more time at home. But, I still needed to get out of a rut to be more inspired and develop a more positive outlook. Our daily living environment makes a difference to our perspective and has the opportunity to boost a positive attitude. By making subtle changes in an interior, you can change the mood and create an inspirational place which affects how you feel and translates to how to perform with work and relate to family and friends.
Do you need an inspirational place to live and/or work? Here are some suggestions to make changes in your home, or room, or even a corner of a room. The small touches can make a difference.
Get rid of the clutter. Too much clutter is distracting. Studies have shown that clutter affects your wellness, your ability to process information and less efficient thinking.
Bring nature into the space. The calming energy of plants is undeniable and great for mental health.
Use natural materials. Think of cushy rugs under your feet or comfy cushions made from fabrics like wool, linen, and cotton. Add wood furnishings for warmth and texture.
Show your personality. Keep the things that you love and that make you smile, no matter what the style is that you want to show.
Hidden Storage. Use storage for organizing items and keeping then less visible to keep your room calming and peaceful. Organizing also saves time when you are looking for things.
Let the natural light shine into the room. The light adds airiness and openness to the room.
Layer lighting. Think of the different functions and ambiance of the lighting, such as display, general, reading. And candlelight has its own magical glow.
Allow the space to have harmony and flow. Visually the eye should move through the room easily, and functionally, the furniture and items should not create obstacles.
Appeal to All Senses. Emotions and reactions are triggered with smell, touch, sight, or hearing. Does the smell of cinnamon or sound of the waves relax you? Do you love the feel of a cozy blanket around you. Add things that bring the feelings you want in the room.
Add the Right Art to the Room ;) I cannot forget this! Expressive original art is needed to add beauty to a room. Beauty is necessary, especially in times of uncertainty. Research studies state that art provides psychological healing connections and emotions. It can emphasize the mood you are creating in a room.
In addition, you can gather all your ideas and create a moodboard like the one below. For more information on creating a moodboard see my previous blog post “How to Create Your Lifestyle and Design Inspiration Boards”.
“Dance With Your Heart” is a flowing gentle painting which was influenced by nature’s calming elements of gentle waves, patterns of marble, subdued neutral colors. This is one of my favorite color palettes. It was easy to get into a state of flow during the making of this painting. (Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”)
“Daydreaming in the Clouds” did not start out to be a big sky cloud landscape. After working with the many translucent layers, I stepped back from the canvas and saw clouds, so I developed it further. As a kid, and even now, I love finding shapes in the clouds. (Acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”)
Design is a big part of who I am. I have spent my careers involved in some aspect of design. Throughout those design career years, I created inspiration boards for clients and now I also use them within my art process. They are helpful to create a commission or explore my thoughts for a new painting or series. It allows me to focus because my mind can race with different ideas and thoughts. The mood boards help create an environment and a mindset to paint. The amount of photos that I have saved over the years fills a file cabinet drawer :) That is a story about much needed purging, which I will not go into here!
Uncredited sources of the mood board photos. Over the years I have collected many photos from magazines, personal photos, images saved and printed from Pinterest, etc. If I have used a photo and you know of the person that should be credited, please let me know and I will note that in my blog. Thank you.