Hi, my wonderful friends! How are you all doing? I have been missing you but I hope you’re being able to enjoy the Holidays surrounded by the people you love. I am taking a few days off to relax as much as I can, cook for my family, read to my kids and watch plenty of Christmas movies. Did I mention I ate way too much? I actually did, but I am getting back on track. 🙂
It’s funny, but when it comes to getting back on track, it goes far beyond how we treat our bodies, how we feed ourselves. I am never on a diet and I don’t like extremes, I just try to eat how I was raised; on simple, homemade-type of food, where you cook real food with natural flavor. That doesn’t mean that I only eat “healthy” food. It means that I mostly eat real food and not empty & fake stuff. Balance is everything and it is this balance that allows me to go a little overboard on sugar around this time of the year. Do I feel guilty? A tiny bit, but I also know that I will start eating better soon simply because I feel better when I eat better.
By now you might be thinking why is she talking about how much she ate during the Holidays instead of talking about the “Top 5 Home Solutions for 2020”? You see, I think that our home is an extension of who we are and how we treat ourselves. Eating in a more balanced way is almost as the same as treating our home as our sanctuary. Balance again plays a crucial part. Yes, we like to redecorate here and there, we like to renovate, we like to reinvent, after all, we’re very creative people and we can get bored sometimes, right? Right! But I must be really honest with each and every one of you. Be aware of what you bring home. Be aware of what you add to your shopping cart because just like the junk we can eat during the Holidays, we can easily keep bringing junk into our house and transforming it more into a store display than a home.
My main goal with this post is to help you to reevaluate what you have at home right now and make the best of it. The Christmas decor will come down and it’s time to refresh and that doesn’t mean you need to go shopping for new things, but it means that you should declutter the spaces to see how you feel about them. It doesn’t need to be your entire home, but try to focus on a space where you spend most of your time in.
Start by putting all of the Holidays decor away, clean your home and while doing it, ask yourself if the items you see are truly a reflection of your taste. If not, try to sell them, put them in storage or donate them.
The goal for the New Year is to have a cleaner, airier home that reflects your personality and not a trend. Do we have a deal? If so, let’s start it!
#1: Start with the Beginning: This might be tricky if you live in a cold part of the country, but try to spruce up your exterior as much as the weather permits. Remove any Holiday decor whenever you feel it’s safe and keep things clean and simple. Replacing the exterior lighting can be affordable and they immediately update the feel of your home. A new doormat can make your front porch feel more welcoming. Start planning on a coat of fresh paint for your new door when spring arrives. Loving our home tends to make us feel happier about our life! 🙂
Design: @gerrardbuilders. 📷: @joepurvisphotos.
#2: Design a Home with your Taste: Trends come and go and your taste should remain the same, right? Not quite. Just take a look at your closet. Our taste is always evolving but that doesn’t mean it will dramatically change. Classic choices will look good no matter how many years go by. Maybe you will want to change the full outfit but that vintage Chanel bag will always look beautiful. Do you see where I am going? It’s quite the same with our home. You can play with the accessories, you should make changes that speak to you, add your taste to the spaces, and you really shouldn’t be afraid of that, but keep in mind to balance your new favorite and trendy choices with things that you know you wouldn’t get tired of. This will help you add your personal touch to your home with more confidence.
Design: @edwarddeeganarchitects. 📷: @stofferphotographyinteriors.
1st Image: Edward Deegan Architects and Interiors.
#3: Declutter: A clean home means a clear mind: I honestly don’t need to watch a Netflix series to tell me that clutter can transform my life and my mood because it simply does. The more cluttered and disorganized a home is, the more overwhelmed we feel. Decluttering might take time and it can be emotional, so you need to be ready for it. I won’t lie, I am an emotional person and I can feel attached to things, but I am much better now than I used to be. What makes me feel better about letting things go which I longer use or need is donating them. I try to imagine that that item will make someone happier, it will be more useful to them or it will help their life be a little easier.
While decluttering, try to make changes that will make the space feel calmer. Maybe you want to repaint the walls to a neutral color, add a fresh potted plant or replace a heavy rug for something lighter. It might take some time and some effort, but it’s worth it to come home to a place that you feel proud of.
Design: @simplicityinteriordesign. 📷: @ellebowes.
#4: Create a Home that Recharge your Energy: I think this is the consequence of a clean and decluttered home. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think you can feel recharged in a home that is messy and busy.
Do you know that good, welcoming feeling we get sometimes feel when we first get into a home we’ve never been in before? The house doesn’t need to be fancy or impeccable, it simply has an energy that speaks to our soul, to our vibe… whatever you want to call it. 🙂 I think it starts with the people that live in it. Our energy is felt where we live because I feel that we’re constantly exchanging it with our environment and our home can help us to feel recharged or not. This can involve more than how tidy things are, but regardless if you’re a spiritual person or not, dust is said to bring the energy down and not to mention, cause some allergies.
Life can be stressful but we must remind ourselves that problems tend to get bigger if we focus on them instead of focusing on the solutions. The first step we get on the direction to the “solution”, the farther we get from the problem itself. With that in mind, try to create a home where you consciously wish for it to be a place that feels good, where you can feel your energy recharged. Yes, a good mattress, a nice bed and a comfortable sofa can help with our daily comfort, but the feeling you get from the moment you open the door to your home starts with you.
Design: @goldcoastcanvas.
#5: Home is Where your Heart is: We tend to design our home based on what we see and I think we are very fortunate to be inspired by so many great ideas, but we always should ask ourselves if that idea we love so much is really for us. A good example of that is renovating a kitchen and removing an eating area to create a bigger kitchen island and having it as the main place to eat the daily meals. I think this can be a great idea but be realistic about it before making the decision. Unless you have a formal dining room, you won’t be able to sit facing your family members like you do at the dining table. My point is, always think of all perspectives when making any change in your home. You also want to make sure you take into consideration every person that lives in your house. Questions you should make before renovating a space: How will this affect our comfort? Will this improve our lives and bring us together as a family? Buying a new sectional where everyone can comfortably sit sounds like a wonderful idea until you see yourself stressing out because you paid too much for it and are afraid your kids will destroy the fabric in two months.
Do your homework, think about the pros and cons of every situation and remember that a beautiful home can feel lifeless without real people living a real life in it. Yes, a home will get older, the flooring will have scratches, the new puppy might destroy your rug and we need to live with a well-lived and well-loved house because that, my friends, is the best type of home you will ever have!
Design: @thelifestyledco. 📷: Taylor Cole.
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“Dear God,
If I am wrong, right me. If I am lost, guide me. If I start to give-up, keep me going.
Lead me in Light and Love”.
Have a wonderful day, my friends and we’ll talk again tomorrow.”
with Love,
Luciane from HomeBunch.com
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I really like your emphasis on finding your style and designing a home with your own taste. As time goes by that style may shift a little or be influenced by new ideas, but it is so important to avoid trends – especially in expensive surfaces. I spend some time on a design forum. Frequently a poster will start a query with “should I” do this or that. There is a sense they are decorating for what is trendy rather than what style they like. I know this is hard for some. Design may not come easy to them so they don’t know what they like. Many are too influenced by marketing, which works to make one be unsatisfied with what one has and go out and buy new stuff. When surfaces are worn, I love getting new ideas for replacement, but my home should be a place that makes me smile, not a magazine layout. I enjoy your site!