How Your Home Can Help You Beat Winter Blues
- Posted on January 13, 2017
Once the holidays are over, winter can be a real test of emotional endurance. Short cold days without a lot of sunlight and weeks upon weeks of cold weather can wear anyone down. But there are plenty of things that can help you beat the winter blues—including your home.
Here are ten simple ways to help your home help you get the new year off to a great start.
Rearrange
A change of scenery is a great mood booster, but you don’t have to travel to make it happen: simply rearrange the furniture. A new layout or even trading furniture between rooms can create the same feeling as getting something new. It helps you see what you have in a new light and give you a new outlook—literally.
Open the Curtains
One of the very best ways to improve your mood (and even your productivity) is to let in more natural light. You can open the curtains for more time each day. You probably also want to swap heavy curtains for lighter, brighter, or even sheer ones that will let more light through.
Refresh Your Fabrics
Along with new curtains, changing other textiles around the house makes a big difference, too. Lighter-colored slipcovers for chairs or couches, new pillows (or pillow covers) with eye-catching patterns or upbeat messages, a soft rug, or a new bedspread can all make your home a little more comfortable and you a little happier.
Repaint
Extra color goes a long way toward lightening the mood of your home. You don’t have to repaint whole rooms, either, though that’s certainly an option. You can get great results even from smaller projects like reviving an antique hutch or painting an accent table.
Vary Your Textures
Make sure you have soft textiles for comfort, then combine them with more interesting textures for visual and tactile variety. Anything from lace to linen to burlap can do the trick in the right combinations.
Optimize Your Sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep will help anyone feel better, and your bedroom has a lot to do with it. While you want as much light as possible during the day, you want as little as possible at night. Winter nights tend to be dark enough that you don’t need blackout curtains, but you should make sure there aren’t any lights from electronics in the room that could impact sleep, including the lights on your computer or phone chargers.
Make the Bed
You don’t need luxurious new bedding for a mood boost. The simple act of making the bed in the morning gets you started for a more productive day. A neatly made bed makes the whole room look cleaner and tidier. It may even help you sleep better, too. And, it doesn’t cost a penny.
Freshen Up
Freshen any room in your home by bringing in fresh flowers and other live plants. They not only bring in color and life, but they help clean and freshen the air, too.