Home: A Guide to Transforming Your Space

PART ONE

Get the FREE Printable Guide that goes with this mini series.

Interior design is all about feelings and emotions. Whether for practical and functional reasons or aesthetic reasons, we want our homes to make us feel a certain way. When our homes are cozy, they make us feel comfortable, inspired, and more productive. This is a benefit to our health and well-being overall.

In this article, we’ll explore four topics that have the power of creating a comfortable and inviting home environment. We will uncover the compelling reasons to prioritize home comfort and its effects on mental well-being and how you can create better bonding experiences with family and friends through your home.

Over the years, I’ve helped many people create an environment they want to be in. We pinpoint the aspects of their current setup that are less than ideal, and then we work to turn those areas into spaces they can’t help but show off. With the free printable you can download alongside this article, I hope we can do the same for your space!

YOU WILL NEED:

1. Free Printable that goes with this guide
2. or notepad
3. Pen

COMFORT

If you are questioning how your house is set up, it is probably because it doesn’t make you feel comfortable! As we already established in the intro, interior design is about feelings and emotions. You want your space to make you feel a certain way, and being comfortable is the most important.

When my husband and I got married, he had just recently purchased a new home. This was the new home for our little family! Of course, it was decorated in true bachelor fashion. The bedroom had no furniture, just a drum kit and a sleeping bag on the floor! There were no curtains on the windows, and apparently, all of our guests were expected to stand while they ate because there was no dining table either. When I moved in, I immediately put a mattress in the room and expected a bedframe to go with it. This wasn’t an expectation because I was high-maintenance but because I wanted to be comfortable in our new home. I wanted curtains on the windows because they brought warmth to the room and gave a feeling of coziness. And I wanted a dining table because …that was more about function than form, but nonetheless, it added to the overall comfort vibe.

If something isn’t functioning right for your family and you have an awkward space that puts you off, write it down. If you have a room that is not working for you aesthetically, so you shut the door and walk away, write down what makes you feel weirded out by it. Identify and list all the things that make you feel uncomfortable about how your home is currently set up.

For me, it was not having any furniture in the bedroom after I moved in with my husband. I knew it would take a mattress and a bedframe to be comfortable because having the mattress on the ground aesthetically made me feel uneasy, and I wanted a relaxing place for my husband and me to cuddle at night!

Your home is where you spend most of your time. It is essential that you feel comfortable in the space you are in. Not sprucing up your house at the expense of being uncomfortable for years isn’t worth it. If you just put in a little bit of time to focus on it, you will have much more peace of mind to focus on other things.

Maybe you are uncomfortable with not having pillows on the couch because there isn’t anything to snuggle up to while you watch a movie, or perhaps it makes you feel tense that there is an awkward entryway, and you dream of having something there to sit on to take your shoes on and off. Make a list, set it aside, and we will get back to it!

REDUCE STREE AND ANXIETY

When a space isn’t functioning how you want it, it can cause stress. Not having a cozy home can induce anxiety in many ways. As we’ve already mentioned, a lack of comfortability makes it challenging to relax and unwind after a hard day. When you are stressed about how your home makes you feel, it can cause you to feel disconnected and make you not want to be there altogether. By making a few simple adjustments, you can combat the psychological overwhelm caused by a stressful and anxiety-inducing environment. Don’t let your surroundings dictate your mental state – take control and make the changes you need to thrive.

My friend was struggling to want to be in her primary bedroom because it stressed her out so much to step foot into something that was so cluttered and overwhelming. She had no functional system for her and her husband’s clothes, the furniture was bulky, and she couldn’t climb into her bed without jumping because it was so high off the ground. When she would wake up to bare, dingy walls, she immediately felt overwhelming stress as she started her day. She knew all the stress wasn’t worth it, so…we got to work. We painted her walls, added some décor, and removed the bulky, outdated furniture she had used for the last ten years. She immediately felt a sense of calm and peace in her bedroom, and by changing a few things, she reduced her stress levels.

You can reduce stress and increase peace by creating the environment you want to be in. It is super simple, and your mind will thank you when you do!

Add all the things that cause you stress and anxiety to your printable or notepad. For my friend, it was a cluttered space with no function for her clothes and dingy walls.

COMMUNITY AND FAMILY BONDING

When you are uncomfortable and stressed about how your home makes you feel, you are not inviting people over like you otherwise would. If you are, you are likely more stressed out when you do have to host. A cozy home offers a welcoming setting that invites people to engage and connect. Relaxing in an inviting environment prompts feelings of safety and security; when people feel safe in your home, it creates bonding experiences!

I remember when we moved to Las Vegas and rented a house with the strangest living room. I decorated and set up almost every other space except the living room because I didn’t know how I was going to create a cozy environment in such a long, narrow space. After several months of pondering, I came up with an idea. After setting it all up, our friends came over and commented about how cozy it was and how it was the perfect place to host a bible study. We hosted an intimate Bible study and prayer group in that living room for the next several weeks before COVID hit. It was a fantastic time, and creating a space where people felt welcomed encouraged bonding and community. This is true for just your family, too! If you want your kids to hang out in common areas, make them cozy and inviting.

Investing in creating a setup that fosters bonding and builds community can lead to priceless memories with your loved ones. Making improvements that encourage spending quality time together and enjoying each other’s company will enhance your overall quality of life! Who doesn’t want that?

I want you to analyze your common rooms (living room, dining room, family room, bonus room) and envision your family and friends all gathered together, enjoying each other’s company, laughing over a movie, having good conversations over a meal, or snuggled up reading a book out loud as a family. Now, add to your list the things you want to see for that to become reality.

Maybe you don’t have enough seating to invite people outside your immediate family over, or you don’t have throw blankets in your living room to encourage snuggling. Maybe you would like to see a lighter paint color on the walls because the room is too dark, or perhaps you would like to see a rug in the living room to ground the space so it doesn’t feel so open and loud.

VISUAL INTEREST

This one may not seem very important, but having a visually exciting space can inspire creative thinking, especially if children run around the house all day. When you are free from stress and feeling overwhelmed, you feel comfortable and relaxed, and you are free to think about other creative endeavors! If you feel inspired in your space, you are more likely to be productive with your daily activities. If your laundry room isn’t visually and functionally inspiring, you may avoid going in there.

In our current home, I purposefully made the entire upstairs visually interesting to promote creativity and as much free play as possible for my kids. My style has a lot of neutral colors and earthy elements, but I knew implementing that style where my kids mostly roam would inevitably be destroyed, and it wouldn’t be inspiring for them. I wanted it to be as colorful and fun as possible. They used the rooms more for playing, reading, and hanging out when I was finished and expressed that it made them feel better about playing upstairs.

Making your home cozy and functional is a great place to start if you want to be inspired by your space and more likely to be productive. Remember, a relaxed mind is more conducive to creative thinking, allows for better concentration, and will stimulate productive thought.

There was one room left upstairs in our new home, and I made it into a quiet room. It is a calm and relaxing place where my kids can read and unwind anytime. We recently left our home for an extended stay in Nevada. We hopped around from one Airbnb to another, and my six-year-old asked me, “Can we find a house with a quiet room?” When I asked him why, he said, “Because I need to be alone and think.” Obviously, that was heartwarming for me to hear, but it also proves the psychological effects an environment has on our little hearts and minds. We need spaces with creative interest and spaces that relax our minds to enhance productivity.

Interior design is subjective because it is based on people’s emotions and feelings. One person’s house may not be suitable for you. You have to decide for yourself how you want your house to make you feel.

Grab the list you’ve been working on during this article and write down colors that make you feel calm and colors that inspire you.

Write down the spaces in your home that you avoid because there isn’t enough functionality, and share what you would like to see added to enhance productivity. This could be as simple as adding organizers to your kitchen cabinets so you can be more productive during mealtimes.

Now, we move on to the fun part! I want you to take the list you’ve been working on, and we will walk through how to create the home you desire. This will take time and effort, but remember, it is worth it for all the reasons we discussed above!

Go to Part Two of this guide and learn how to create your desired home.