The changing seasons are a reminder that it’s time to check around the house to make sure things are operating properly and safely. Here are 10 often overlooked tasks to add to your home spring cleaning list.
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CITY LIFE: HomeStyle
Home Improvement Can Be Had “For The Price Of Fresh Thinking”
By Barbara Kaplan
Whether you live in a house, apartment or condo, your home is a reflection of you. (If you agree, that’s great.) If you say, “What, my house?” it may be time to look at your most personal space to see if you feel an intimate connection with your home.
There is so much information from experts on decorating in the media. These outside influences shape our opinions and decisions when making purchases about what to buy when decorating for ourselves. Creating pleasurable, comfortable and visually pleasing environments requires time and money.
We are concerned about how our homes look, but often neglect understanding how they make us feel, both emotionally and physically. We focus on things that look good in the rooms, rather than ask ourselves if these things nurture us. How do we feel when we come home at the end of the day and need to relieve stress and rejuvenate? Our homes can help us with this. Do we have privacy in our own home and can we share it comfortably with family and friends? Our homes can support us to build a better life “for the price of fresh thinking.”
Stepping outside into nature, feeling the sunshine or cool breezes and taking deep breaths can give us a new lease on life. In the same way, bringing flowers for your favorite vase and lighting candles on a special dish can create a new ambiance in an old room. You can bring in your individual touch. Every room can have pieces that have a special meaning to you.
Bring light into your home. Let the sun shine in. Open your blinds and curtains and benefit from views of the landscape. For the evening create softer light to prepare for sleep.
Provide a special, soothing place. You can do this with fluffy afghans, soft pillows, scented bath oils, your favorite books by your comfortable chair and reading lamp. These types of stress relievers create true healing environments.
Think about areas and activities that make you happy. If you don’t know what to do and settle for the way it is, you have cheated yourself of the opportunity to nourish and fulfill your needs and wants. Take time for self exploration and discovery to find something new. Ask yourself questions about how you would like to live. Even write about your answers.
We all have our ways of doing things – our own patterns. When we change our pattern, we have the opportunity to see things differently, in a way that would not have been evident had we not changed something.
When I go into a home, it’s easy to see the things that need changing. This happens because I am coming in with fresh eyes. This is hard to do when you see the same thing everyday. We take things for granted and after a while don’t see details or things as they really are.
Look at your rooms from different directions. Turn around and look away for a moment before looking back. Experience the different perspectives.
Another tool is to take pictures with a camera. It’s amazing how different things look through the eye of a lens. You see things you didn’t notice before.
This can be an adventure in decorating and lots of fun. It is a gift you give to yourself. You are the most important consideration. Remember, rooms have no feelings, YOU do!
Barbara Kaplan, IFDA, ASID Allied member, helps people express their “interiors” through interior design and is the author of The Bajaro Method: Rooms Have No Feelings, YOU Do!
To contact Barbara, call 480.998.5088, send an e-mail to barbara@barbarakaplan.com or visit barbarakaplan.com.