Working for a residential home designer during a global pandemic has been, well, fascinating. There was a month early-on where the phones got a little quiet for comfort — that first April when everyone was hunkering down, figuring out how to do their jobs from home, become teachers for their children, establish a black market for toilet paper and baking yeast, and just generally survive the days and drown their worries in alcohol and Netflix binges until they stumbled to bed. (Please tell me that wasn’t just me, but it WAS me.) And then May rolled around and the phones started ringing again, like…a LOT. Those folks that were fortunate enough to do their jobs from home quickly found that their homes weren’t meant to be lived in 24/7, along with every member of their family. Those kitchens and baths that had been fine when they were a quick stop in a busy day became very not fine when there was nowhere else to spend time (and privately cry out the homeschooling woes). Momentum has continued to build, and we’ve had more work than we know what to do with for many, many moons now.
Not everyone was in a position to drop a large financial investment into a major remodel, but I’d venture a guess that just about everyone found ways to make some adjustments to their living spaces. For instance, I painted nearly every ceiling and wall in our house because I had a very real sense that the sea of beige covering every inch of our home was going to suck my soul out. (I did most of this in an orthopedic shoe with a broken foot if that gives you a better indication of my level of desperation, btw.) Once the painting was done, I bought an inexpensive new area rug to freshen up our main floor. I replaced the potted plants that the general mental health funk in our household had viciously murdered one by one. And more recently, we pulled the plug on all the lovely boob lights that have seemingly had a decades-long romance with every builder in America and replaced them with lights that don’t even hint at private parts. Those lower budget home upgrades have given me a happy distraction when lots of things were so heavy, and every time I walk into our house now I breathe a little easier and feel a bit more at home.
So I’ve been trying to find ways to incorporate this feeling in small ways to give my mood and energy a boost (hello, gratitude!) throughout every day without straining the family budget — little pockets of pretty that make me smile. Yesterday a precious client stopped by with a thank you gift of the most unique bouquet of flowers, and I just can’t stop looking at it. I put together a super simple little pumpkin-y arrangement on our dining table that’s a sweet nod to the gorgeous Fall colors outside with a $3 bunch of flowers and a pie pumpkin. The smell of a yummy candle is tough to beat. Even just a quick swipe of the handheld vacuum over that new-ish area rug and speed clean-up of shoes and toys gives me a sense of calm for the rest of the evening. It’s a magical mood-lifter.
This little life hack has saved a bit of my sanity, a whole savings account worth of money, and has checked that constant desire for more, more, more — pockets of pretty. What are your favorite ideas for mini-space-and-mood-makeovers in your home?
