3 easy steps to a Happier Home

I have lived in a lot of houses. Too Many. 16 in the past 19 years. I’m in my 7th house in my 7 years of marriage. Every house/Apartment has brought a different feeling or evoked some emotion, not all good. Our interior and exterior environments can lift us up or drag us down, depending on what we do with them.

Over the past few years I have struggled with feelings of happiness, partly due to having 3 kids in 4 years and the crazy hormone changes that go with it and partly to the space I was living in. Recently we moved to a home that we built, so everything was planned with my own happiness in mind. I get that we don’t all get to build our own homes, but we can make the home we are living in a place we want to be in. And I’ve learned a few things from the places I have lived.

Light

I need Light to be happy. I live in a part of the world where from Sept to May the sun hardly shines and when it does it is too cold to enjoy. The last 3 houses I lived in were dungeons when it came to light. Two of those houses had only north facing windows, they were small and had inadequate interior lighting. We ended up doing most of our ‘living’ in the basement of the third house, so that also equated to dark and depressing. I lived for 4 years in places I barley saw the sun.

I’ve only been in my new house for a few months and I have already noticed a huge change in how I feel. Even before we moved in I would come and see the progress on the construction, with nothing but drywall and plywood I felt joy radiating from my core as I stood in my unfinished kitchen and living room. I never wanted to leave. Why? I have natural light pouring in my south facing windows. Sunlight fills me with peace, comfort and happiness. Whenever I am stressing over our business or my kiddos, I head to my bedroom where we get the most sun. It is pure comfort.

Color

Color affects our mood! The wrong color in your home could be contributing to feelings of sadness, unease, over stimulation, and claustrophobia. On the other hand the right color can help you feel peace, happiness, quirkiness and energy.

Adding the right color into your home is pretty easy (even if your renting and not able to paint)

• Paint – This is the best way to bring in those happy colors. see post: 5 steps to the perfect color palette Select paint colors that will make you happy. Paint can also be used to bring in more light in the space. While some colors absorb light, others reflect light allowing the room to feel bigger and brighter. If you love darker colors I would suggest using them as accents rather than painting a whole room in it, UNLESS you have amazing natural light.
• Finishes – As much as paint is an easy change, finishes are more complicated and costly. Finishes include flooring, countertops, cabinetry, and back splash. If you are renovating or building, choose carefully to maximize the positive.
• Decor – All the cute little things you bring into a room can add to your emotional well being. From couches to cushions, the use of neutrals and pops of color in the right way can easily put a smile on your face.

Organization

When I think back to the houses that had such a negative affect on me they all have one thing is common. Disorganization. We had moved from a 4 bedroom house to a 2/3 bedroom duplex half the size. And the more babies we had the more mess we had. All our ‘things’ could not fit into the space we had.

• Simplify – Get rid of the unnecessary. If you are holding onto stuff for someday, then you will probably will not miss it. When we moved to our new house and I went on a purging binge and it felt fabulous. My husband loves to hold onto stuff, so I had to use some negotiation skills, but we managed to donate a heap load of stuff. If you have boxes stuffed in storage that have been there for years, unless they are super special, just get rid of it.
• Declutter – This was a huge problem as most of the stuff we had didn’t have a proper place and we were moving things around to make place for other things. Clear off those counters. You only need a few nicknacks on the shelves. Your office needs to be revamped any way. All that stuff every where clutters more than your shelves. It does a number on our head too. We are jamming our brains with too many signals. Even if we are trying to ignore the clutter, our brain processes all of it all the time. So when we are actually trying to do something important we may get a headache…or an aneurysm.
• Organize – The key to decluttering is having a place for everything. There are so many things you can use to organize a poorly planned house. A closet with a shelf and a rail is insufficient when it comes to organization. Options are available from custom closets, rail systems to pushing your dresser into it. So no matter your budget

What makes you happy?

Have any particular colors or decor that make you smile? Tell me in the comments.