How to Find Comfort in Your Home

Home should not be a source of worry or a place in which you feel you can’t or shouldn't relax. Home should feel like a sanctuary somewhere to retreat when the hustle and bustle of everyday life gets too much. Over the past year I've noticed that as I've changed my home to a more simple and comforting style I've realised my anxiety and headaches have begun to ease when I'm home. I hope this helps you as much as these have helped me.

White

Bright walls and colourful wallpaper can be tiring to the eye. A white wall is like a blank canvas for the mind which then helps you relax and feel more at ease in your own home. This is also an advantage for decorating, because it’s much more simple to change some ornaments, photographs, plants and furniture than stripping the walls and changing it to another colour.

Plants

Plants can be a stylish in the home but plants also have a list of benefits for the home. Research shows that certain plants can help you achieve better sleep, such as; jasmine, bamboo palm, honeysuckle, peace lily, aloe vera, lavender, snake plant, and the list goes on. Leaving fresh flowers by my front door often helps me feel welcomed when I come home. Dominique Loreau’s book, Simplicite, often talks about the benefits of using plants to round off harsh corners in the home.

Lights

Using harsh lights in the home can often cause headaches from straining. I like to use warm toned lamps that I can manually dim. I also like to use warm toned fairy light in places of comfort like around my bed or near or around a bookshelf. Something that helps also is a himalayan salt lamp. The lamp claims to purify air but it also creates a nice warm glow in the room.

Books

I like to read books before bed so that it becomes a routine and my mind is trained into knowing when I’m reading a book, it’s time to wind down. My books often consist of a theme of home comforts, poems and astronomy. My recent personal favourite to read before bed is The Everyday Poet by Deborah Alma. The poems tend to soothe me and create a fuzzy warm feeling inside; even the cover makes me feel soothed.

Herbal Tea

I often rely on herbal tea for comfort; there's nothing better than a cosy mug of herbal tea. Personally, I love matcha green tea, lemon and ginger, rooibos, rosehip, chamomile and rose tea. Herbal tea also comes with the benefit of casting an aroma around the room. Chamomile is often known for its calming effects and its ability to aid sleep. Lemon tea is known for its ability to reduce heart palpitations and reduce anxiety.

Decluttering

When your home is filled with clutter it can feel harder to breathe in your own home. Clutter in the home comes with a lot of baggage, physically and emotionally. When I was home I was constantly moving clutter from one room to the other in order to tidy up which turned into a vicious cycle. Once I started to look at the clutter as unnecessary objects, stuff I don't wear and stuff I don’t use, I then took the step in giving these away or throwing them away. After doing this I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I could then go ahead and make my home as comforting and relaxing as I desired.