Bring happiness into your home and banish the winter gloom

You’d be forgiven for feeling a little gloomy after the excitement of Christmas and all of it’s sparkle in your home. This gloom together with the dark days and world news can have quite an impact on our well-being.

Here are some quick tips and little touches to help make you feel happy and keep your home feeling positive through the remaining winter months.

Let natural light and fresh air in

Our days are much shorter during these months and so making the most of what natural light you have is a must. Try to spend most of your time as close to the natural light as possible. Do this by moving furniture such as sofas and desks as close to or facing the natural light. If you have mirrors in your room, ensure they face the window to reflect light around the room.

Open the windows to change the air, even if just for a couple of minutes each day. This will boost oxygen in the home and leave you feeling more refreshed and energised.

Declutter and detox your rooms

“Unwanted mess only causes stress”. That’s what I tell myself when I open the wardrobe doors and feel the frustration as I try to squeeze just one more jumper on the rail. Remove the negativity of this experience from your life by taking time to declutter your stressy-space, be it your wardrobe, kitchen cupboards or sideboard. Pull out all those items you haven’t worn or needed for the last 12 months and get them gone. Either boxed away into your attic or even better, do double the amount of good and donate it to charity. You really have no excuse - decluttering doesn’t have to be done all at once. Little and often, five minutes at a time, can make the difference you need.

Use pops of uplifting colour

The colour that surrounds us can significantly affect our mood and whilst it’s important to feel cosy and warm at this time of year, the use of uplifting shades that bring bright colour and joy into your home can have an uplifting effect on your mood. Embrace bright colours in items such as doormats, cushions, throws, towels, candles and other small accessories to psychologically bridge the gap between now and spring’s colourful palette.

Remove painful memories

Take a look around your home and identify mementos that are unknowingly making you sad. Whilst I empathise that this may be a really difficult and uncomfortable thing to do, these constant, visible, painful reminders of difficult times, especially break-ups, will niggle away at you unconsciously. Placing them somewhere out of sight, where you can visit them if you choose to, will make a huge difference in the long-run.

Add flowers and plants

The view of colourful bright flowers not only makes us feel better, their scent can stimulate our brains to help us think more clearly. That means having flowers in your home can motivate and help you get through those decluttering chores, that study or office work! Like houseplants they also work as natural air purifiers and fresheners - so start cleaning that indoor air today by treating yourself to a bunch of your favourite flowers.

Use lighting effectively

The dark mornings and evenings can bring disruption to your body’s internal clock and lead you to feel lethargic. If your home suffers from a lack of natural light use brighter, unfiltered lighting to mimic daylight during the day and opt for dimmed warmer lights in the evening to adjust your eyes ready for a good night’s sleep. Consider buying a SAD (seasonal affective disorder) lamp if you feel particularly low. These are increasingly popular and available from a range of retailers including Argos, Amazon and John Lewis.

Re-style

If you’re itching for a way to restyle your room at no cost, simply re-arrange your furniture, your bookshelves, your ornaments or your kitchen counters. Swap wall-hanging pictures and artwork around to bring an uplifting sense of new and different.

Introduce a new scent

You are a highly sensory creature and the smell of your home can affect your mood, demeanour, and focus. Choose the right scent for how you want to feel in your room. Wood and leather styled living and reading rooms benefit from woody smells such as sandalwood, vetiver and warm spiced orange. If your room is more focussed around your garden, rose or lilac will work well. Bedrooms on the other hand benefit from light floral and herbal scents that encourage restfulness and calm such as camomile or lavender.

Citrus smells create a lively, fresh and stimulating environment that also hints at cleanliness and are therefore perfect for your kitchen area.

Finally the bathroom - here it depends on which time of day it is and whether you are wanting citrus energy or herbal relaxation.

Individually these may feel insignificant, twee even. But combine them together and you will feel more energised and happy at home. Isn’t that a good thing?

For more ideas linking interior design to well-being visit my website here.