Top Five Tips for Home Improvement during COVID
If you’re like most everyone on the planet, the year 2020 has given you a slightly different relationship with your space!
It’s either working or not working for you and those who live there at this point!
Whether it’s updating your outdoor seating or creating a work space for you that actually works, COVID-19 has made us all take a fresh look at our homes.
Enter: Feng Shui
It’s functional.
Sure Pinterest may be full of pretty interiors that make you want to buy stock in West Elm, but if the home isn’t functional, it ain’t “shui.”
So how can you keep your home lovely YET PRACTICAL for today’s times? After all, we are all spending more time than ever in our homes. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to make sure it’s a nurturing environment for our physical and mental health?
Here are my Top Five Home Improvement Tips for COVID:
1. I think the most important tip is this: You know that thing you can’t stand that you’ve been living with for way too long? That One (Big) Thing That’s Been Driving You Nuts Needs to Go Whether you’ve been living with a poor choice of paint colors or some drapes that were too long and not the right style (hand raise here!), it’s time for it to go. One client had been sleeping on a bad mattress for years! With my encouragement (and a great deal), she bought a new one, and she says it’s making a huge difference. Another friend decided to move out her apartment that she had lived in for twenty years — she’s never felt so free. (And she found mold upon leaving! — she’s finally at the root of some strange physical issues she’s had off and on for years!)
2. Outdoor Upgrade. Always wanted a hot tub in the back yard? Had your eye on a fire pit? Need a sofa and chair arrangement that is actually comfortable and low maintenance? I think we can all agree that isolation — while nice for a little while because it had us all unplugged a bit — is not that great for our mental health. Having somewhere outside to have people over — yes, even when it’s cold — is going to get us through the winter. So, invest. Then you won’t be tempted to risk spreading COVID by having people indoors. Gloves, boots, a hat, a nice fire, and hot chocolate (spiked or not) sounds just about right to me!
3. Clean Consistently. I admit, I don’t love cleaning. There are a million other things I’d rather do. And I’d rather have someone else doing it for me. But we are home so often, that we found ourselves needing a new system. I think this woman has it figured out. Whether you have a family or not, having this simple popsicle stick “chore” system (I labeled sticks by the day!) keeps everyone on top of tasks without the nagging. It really does work! But it’s important to our health, especially with that nasty old coronavirus floating around. Oh, and the little self-reward system actually feels a bit decadent — like a happy little pat yourself on the back for doing the things that you kind of have to do!
4. Be Honest With Yourself on What’s Not Working — and let a solution arise! So many of us tolerate, tolerate, tolerate — when the TV is on, a parent can’t concentrate on work because there is no door; a kid has to find room at the dining room table every night and be pushed off for dinner, making sitting down at the computer a huge chore; the dog door is broken; the plumbing is a mess.
This is no way too live. When you jump through hoops in your own home, it represents having situations that aren’t easy in your life. Don’t you want to be able to kick back and enjoy your space? And your life?!
If you can’t figure out how to make it work, no worries! Call your local or virtual (haha!) Feng Shui consultant or ask a friend who is savvy with space. It’s worth it to get another set of eyes and to figure it out. It may be a much easier solution than you’re realizing.
5. Declutter. If I didn’t put it on this list, I would not be a good Feng Shui consultant, now would I? I know I’m a broken record on this, but IT IS HUGE in creating a space that is functional and that FEELS GOOD! Ask me about my Declutter Accountability Programs or sign up for my COVID Declutter Your Way to Clarity eCourse. Marie Kondo was right when she said that tidying up was life-changing magic. Start today, and you’ll be reaping the benefits immediately!
