In between all the stresses and complications of modern life, our homes are the one place where we can get away from it all and relax. However, a lot of us often find ourselves living in homes which aren’t quite as comfortable as they could be. After you’ve spent most of the day typing on a keyboard, swivelling around in a desk chair, and dealing with the chaos of your working life, wouldn’t it be nice to come back to a home that really feels like… well, home? If you want to make your home a little more habitable, here are 5 changes to consider.
Manipulate Windows
Most people know that windows have a pretty big impact on how comfortable you feel in a building, but also assume that their own windows are out of their hands. While modifying your windows isn’t as easy as just snapping your fingers, there are certain changes you can make which will make a real difference! Glazing windows is one common tactic, which basically involves adding a layer of inert glass in between two glass plates. This will improve your window’s’ resistance to sound, and make sure that the buzz of the outside world doesn’t get too troublesome. Aside from that, you may want to think about how your windows are making your interior look and feel. By simply moving a few things around a room, you can let a lot more light in, and transform a small-looking, dreary room into a bright, open one.
Pay Attention to the Air
Because it’s invisible, and such a subtle part of our lives, a lot of us tend to forget about the quality of the air in our homes. However, the effects of fresh air should never be underestimated. When you’re making a point to fill your home with clean, fresh air, you’ll be able to breathe easier, think clearer, and have better living conditions overall. Obviously, around winter, you’re not going to want to have every window in the house flung wide open and letting out all the warmth. However, making a point to open one or two by a crack for short period of time will help to create a flow, and ensure that you’re breathing in at least some clean, untainted air. If the quality of the air in your home is really bothering you, then it may be worth looking for some dehumidifier or air conditioning suppliers. Though a quality unit can be very expensive, these kinds of unit can be really helpful for modifying the quality of the air.
Make the Best Use of Lighting
When it comes to making the home more comfortable and welcoming, natural light is always the best choice. However, this isn’t always an option, and it looks like we’re going to have a long stretch of this between now and spring! When the weather gets all overcast and dreary, you’re going to need to rely on something a little more artificial if you want your home to be as comfortable as possible. Use target lighting like stand-up lamps and desk lights for a warmer, cosier look, and far-reaching overhead lighting when you want to brighten up every little corner of the space. You can manipulate how the light of a room looks and feels by painting the walls in a cohesive shade. You can try anything to make your home the most comfortable space in the world. However, if you’re not paying attention to the lighting, you’ll never quite get the homely feeling you’re chasing.
Get your Flooring Right
Flooring is pretty easy to overlook when you’re thinking about ways to make your home more comfortable. If you’ve been umming and erring about the furniture and décor pieces around your home, then perhaps you should take the time to look down instead! Wood flooring can look effortlessly stylish and tasteful. However, on the more practical side of things, I’m sure you don’t want to walk around on a wooden floor during the colder months. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to break up this kind of hard consistency with a few nice area rugs scattered around the house. The only issue here is finding area rugs that will mesh well with each other, as well as the different design elements of the rooms you’re placing them in, once you have solved this and you are happy with the look and feel of the room, I have discovered lately that kitchen rugs are a great addition to the room, especially if I forget to put my slippers on in the cold, frosty mornings, they make the rooms comfortable and homely, but are much easier to keep clean than a carpet.
Buy More Plants
Ideally, if you want to fill your home with life and make it more comfortable in this way, I’d recommend getting a dog or a cat you can come back to. Obviously though this isn’t always a practical option for everyone! The next best thing for it is plants. Naturally, humans aren’t built to spend so much time under roofs and surrounded by walls. There’s still a unique pleasure that we draw instinctively from being in the great outdoors, or around things that remind us of it anyway. Plants are not only aesthetically pleasing, but have a wide range of health benefits that a lot of people aren’t aware of. They purify the air more naturally than any artificial unit by breathing in carbon dioxide and expelling pure oxygen. Aside from that, keeping plants in your home has been proven to help with certain allergies and reduce people’s blood pressure. Yes, more live plants in the home means more responsibility you need to worry about. However, I’m sure you’ll agree that remembering to water the plants isn’t that taxing in the grand scheme of things! Have a look at the species of live plant you can buy, and find one that fits well with the rest of your interior.
Make these changes, and soon enough you’ll notice your home feeling more comfortable, welcoming and tranquil. Complete overhauls are a lot of work, but believe me it’s worth it!
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