To turn your home into a relaxing space, have a good declutter, sort out your storage and carve out spaces to relax in to create an oasis of calm you’ll find hard to leave!

Start by decluttering

Decluttering is the first step to creating a calm and comfortable home. If your home is full of piles of books, wardrobe doors that won’t shut, paperwork piled up on the hallway table and shoes creating trip hazards on the stairs, it’s time to have a good decluttering session. Being surrounded by clutter is stressful so throw away anything that does not serve any purpose. It can seem daunting if you’ve amassed a lot of possessions, so focus on one room at a time and sort everything into three piles – to keep, to give to charity or friends, or to throw away. Once you have decluttered, you will feel in control of your space.

Have a place for everything

For the things you keep, make sure everything has a home and try to keep as much as you can behind closed doors. Find drawers, cabinets, baskets, and bins for your things so everything has its place. Baskets are brilliant for everything from shoes to toilet paper. The less clutter you have to look at, the more you’ll feel calm and relaxed.

Display cherished objects

Once you have cleared everything away, you will have a calm space to display the special things that bring you joy. A gallery wall of family photographs, a beautiful painting of a special place, a rug bought on a holiday abroad – these are the items that mean something to you, and you should give them pride of place in your home. Create arrangements of keepsakes by grouping similar items together or dedicating a display cabinet to sentimental finds. A home full of the things you love will always feel calm. 

Invest in things you love

Get rid of ugly functional furniture that you don’t like and invest in beautiful pieces that are made to last. An Ikea dressing table you bought when you first moved in can be replaced by a beautiful old chest of drawers from an antique market. If you love cooking, find a wonderful old butcher’s block or a marble countertop. If reading is your great pleasure, invest in a comfortable chair upholstered in a fabulous fabric. Choosing perfect pieces will create a home you love being in.  

Use restful colours

Earthy natural colours are really on trend at the moment because they make us feel calm and grounded in these turbulent times. You don’t have to redecorate your house, but introducing accessories in soft pinks, warm terracotta, taupe and chocolate brown will instantly make you feel calm and relaxed. Think about the function of each room before choosing a colour scheme. Blue works well in bedrooms because it’s a restful colour that can help promote a good night’s sleep.

Green is another great colour to choose if you want to feel calm. It’s a quiet restful colour we associate with nature, it goes with everything and is another colour you’ll see everywhere in 2024. Don’t dismiss white – the right white can create a calming uplifting space. Use these colours in the rooms where you want to feel comfortable and relaxed – a bedroom sanctuary, a spa-like bathroom, or a restful living space.

Read my blog next week for five more tips to create a restful home.