How To Create a Calm and Peaceful
Home Environment

By Patrick Adams

People often talk about their behaviour and habits when it’s time to see improvements in calmness and relaxation. However, it’s important that you consider the effects of your environment on how you feel. The space you live in has an enormous impact on your mood and state of mind. Whenever you’re located in a peaceful environment, it will guide you to peaceful feelings, whether you’re aware of this effect or not.

This is why it’s so important to create a calm and peaceful home space which will positively impact your well-being. If this seems a little abstract in theory, here are some practical ways to directly impact this environment in your favour.

Start with yourself

It may be difficult to comprehend, but much of the negativity and stress that we experience can come from within. If you aren’t completely at peace with yourself, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to feel at peace in your home, or anywhere else for that matter. There are lots of things that eat away at us and make us feel anxious, even when our homes are perfectly peaceful. Taking care of these things can pave the way for calm and relaxation. It’s one of the first steps you can take to improve the atmosphere in your home, especially if you share it with family.

Evaluate what you might be doing to increase tension in your home. Are you nitpicky about chores that remain untouched when you get home after work? Is the sight or sound of something particularly unnerving? Some reactions are perfectly justifiable, but that doesn’t mean you have to make it harder on yourself. Take a calmer approach to everything in the home and you’ll find that it’s going to produce the same results. Keep mellow and approach stressful situations in a practical manner. It’s going to benefit you and your family by quite a bit.

Research has repeatedly shown that children don’t react positively to outbursts of negative emotions. Instead, they’re mostly motivated by positive reinforcement. If there isn’t a lot of cooperation or understanding on their part, you should focus on making sure that they understand the importance of good behaviour and responsibility. This way, you’ll be teaching them and relieving yourself of stress and anxiety.

Clear the entrance

There are lots of ways to make your home feel more welcoming, but none are quite as effective as having a clear and comfortable entrance. Whenever you step inside through your door, you should already feel a sense of serenity and relaxation. This sets the tone for your entire home experience, so you should try your best to make sure the tone is positive every time.

For most people, the entrance isn’t much of a priority when it comes to cleaning and decluttering. In fact, the hallway or room that the door leads to is often used for storing a few things here and there. This can create a pretty cluttered space that doesn’t really provide a sense of calm. Quite the contrary, you can feel pretty stressed out when you have to walk over brooms and several pairs of boots while you avoid making a mess with your own. To make a better show of your front entrance, you’re going to want to do some cleaning up and decluttering.

Start with the door and make sure it has enough space to open freely. You should be able to open it in one swift motion without anything getting in the way. If shoes and boots are part of the problem, you might want to invest in a separate cupboard for them. There's no reason they should clutter-up your floor anywhere in the house.

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Reorganize the furniture

When you imagine your living room, you’re hardly ever going to be thinking about the layout of the home itself. While this is also important, you’re a lot more likely to be thinking about the furniture and its placement. It’s such an integral part of any room you’re in that it’s hard to imagine the room without it. When it comes to furniture placement, you will want to design it for optimal comfort and positive interactions. It may seem obvious, but many homes have a cluttered and messy design that doesn’t allow for complete relaxation.

You will want to orient your furniture in an open way. Don't have any pieces standing in the middle of a walking path. If you want to make your way through the room, there should be ample space to do so without bumping into anything. If you have an entertainment centre in the room, you could treat it like a focal point and orient all the furniture towards it. Alternatively, if you prefer sipping coffee or tea here with your family, you could orient everything towards a coffee table and make it so everyone sitting down is given a good view of everyone else. This kind of setup fosters communication and friendliness, giving way for a more relaxed environment.

Symmetry can be a very good tool in creating a relaxing view of your room. Having two identical pieces of furniture on either side of the room can make everything feel in balance. At the same time, you have to consider the shape and feel of the furniture itself. Anything angular with a lot of sharp edges shouldn’t be considered, as it could provide ample opportunities for painful bumps in the night. A more apt decision would be to keep it rounded and soft. A round coffee table gives an open feel for everyone that puts their cup on it. Angles and edges favour the actual sides, making anyone sitting near the angle feel slightly uncomfortable when oriented towards it. A few small tweaks to your room could make it look gorgeous and feel like a very welcoming environment.

Introduce some greenery

Your home can never have too many plants. At least, this depends on who you ask. The general consensus is that you should always have a few plants around your home’s interior. They provide you with quite a few benefits that are hard to argue against. Plants produce oxygen and clean up the air in your home, making the air feel fresh and a lot less stuffy. At the same time, they also provide some relaxing visual stimuli that you could get used to having around.

The calming effect of plants shouldn’t be underestimated. There’s a reason that every office will have a couple of green, leafy plants in every corner. Just surrounding yourself with plants can relieve tension and anxiety. They remind us of a natural environment that we crave from time to time, only we can actually have them around us, inside of our homes. Add a couple of them to your home and you’re going to find that it will feel like a relaxing oasis more and more. You don’t even need all that many plants to achieve this effect. The only question is: which plants do you choose for your home?

Plants come in all shapes and sizes, so you’re never going to run out of ideas for your home. You can find attractive pot plants that match every house design and aesthetic to a T. Some homes might benefit from a nice fern placed on a high-standing vase, while others might go better with an indoor croton plant. Whatever your choice, you’re going to want something that matches the overall aesthetic of your home. If you’re sticking to something contemporary, get plants that give off a similar vibe. Old-timey and chic designs might go better with some lush plants, but you never know! You could come up with a new combination that looks nice and has you feeling wonderful in your home.

Learn how owning house plants can help improve one's mental health during this time of uncertainty.

Create your own personal space

Establishing some quiet time for yourself is essential for your mental health and well-being, as well as the well-being of those around you. Even the most social and positive individuals among us need some peace and quiet every once in a while. Constantly being exposed and emotionally available will very quickly leave you exhausted and yearning for quiet. This is why it’s so crucial to have a zone all to yourself, especially in your home.

Being able to separate yourself from your worries starts with physical separation. If you can brew up some tea and relax on your own for a short time, you’ll be able to recuperate and prepare yourself for work and spending time with family. Most people take solace in their bedrooms, but this might not be enough to provide complete relaxation. We often use the time in our rooms and bathrooms to prepare for our day, so it’s not always a special comfort zone. Instead, you can organize a special spot for yourself where you can partake in some calming hobbies. If you like reading, create a small study or reading nook for yourself. It’s going to give you a designated area where you can relax and unwind, making you calmer and more focused.

It doesn’t even have to be a separate area necessarily. You could be in the middle of a room located on a special chair or sofa that you have designated for calm and relaxation. You should make a point of creating a ritual that keeps you busy for a short time, anything from reading to solving puzzles could work. If you enjoy watching TV shows or playing video games, setting up a system or portable device would do the trick. Enjoy a Netflix show on your tablet while wearing headphones and you can dive deep into the story without being interrupted by background noise.

Set the mood with music

The calming effects of music shouldn't be understated. When playing music, most people just stick to the music they enjoy and don't put it in the background. Instead, they simply experience the music in its fullest effect, before moving on with their day. However, music can be extremely effective at setting the mood for your entire home, especially if it's subtle and somewhat stimulating.

Think of the visual aspect of your home. What kind of feelings does it evoke? If you’ve designed your home to look cozy and comfortable, it’s certainly going to have an effect on you as long as you’re inside. You can recreate this with auditory stimulation just as effectively. Set up some relaxing music on your living room speakers and create the tone you wish to convey. You’d be surprised at how a little jazz can make your home feel fuller and more positive.

It can be any music that you enjoy, but you should definitely consult your family when it comes to song choices. You could even make a deal to play certain types of music on certain days. This will add a lot of sentimental value to the idea and it will leave a lasting positive effect on your home environment. Imagine remembering what day it is simply by the music playing in the background. It’s a small move that doesn’t require lots of effort, but the payoff can be tremendous.

Conclusion

When it comes to impacting your state of mind, your environment can have some huge and long-lasting effects worth considering. With a few changes here and there, you can make it so that your home becomes a bastion of calmness and positivity. Even without a lot of experience in things like home design and Feng Shui, you can use some tried and tested methods to turn your home environment around and make it as positive as can be. Take these examples into consideration and you’ll achieve this with minimal effort.