2020 – the year of making our homes a calming and enjoyable place to be. Creating a tranquil space to live and escape from the doom and gloom has been high priority for many homeowners across the UK. 76% to be exact. According to a report conducted on behalf of money.co.uk, this is the percentage of UK homeowners who spent money on home renovations during the first lockdown.
According to the same report, the top reason for homeowners wanting to make these improvements is interesting. It was not to increase property value but rather to make their homes a more comfortable place to be. This reason accounted for a whopping ⅔ of homeowners surveyed.
The report also suggests that the trend for investing in homes won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Almost three quarters (73%) of the homeowners admitted that even as lockdown eases, they will continue to stay home as much as possible.
With that in mind, here are our top tips for creating your safe haven:
For optimum zen flood the room with natural light during the day and light it subtly in the evening. To optimise natural light in your room make sure your curtains and blinds can be fully drawn. Ensure no large items of furniture are obscuring the window or light path. Finally, cleverly place mirrors in positions which reflect and bounce the light around the room.
When choosing lighting, look for warm yellow and gold bulbs rather than white. Also, use lamps rather than the main light. A standing corner lamp with a table lamp in the middle will be perfect in an average sized room. Of course if your room is an odd shape, you may need to consider an additional lamp or two to light up all the nooks and crannies.
Use fairy lights to create a cute and subtle glow too. They don’t just have to be for Christmas. Fairy lights are becoming more and more popular to decorate a room all year round.
There is nothing calm about clutter and nothing says creating a tranquil space like a clutter free room. There is a huge difference between soft furnishings, photographs and ornaments making a room feel lived in and cosy to just straight up clutter.
For people prone to clutter, use a drawer or an ottoman to stash the items away. This is a great solution until you are able to get around to sorting, filing or clearing them away properly. Creating a tranquil space is about finding the perfect balance between calm and cosy. When you get it right your mind will thank you for it.
You need your seating area to draw you in when you look at it. Whether it’s to put your feet up and watch a movie, rest your eyes for a nap, cuddle a loved one or sink in and read a good book – it needs to be a place you want to be. Clever furniture positioning and design is key to creating a tranquil space.
If it’s not, consider changing it. There are many things you can do to make it more desirable without changing the whole suite. You could give it a good clean (we’ve got some great tips for you here), replace the loose covers in a stunning new fabric or simply spruce it up with some soft furnishings – scatter cushions, blankets and throws can work magic on a budget.
A living room often needs to be a multi-purpose space. Some people use the space as a stand alone room used exclusively for TV and Netflix, some use the room as a tech free zone purely for reading, some use it is a joint living and dining space, some use it as a social space and some use it as a private space. This can create some difficulty when it comes to creating a tranquil space.
Decide what you want yours to be and what functions it needs to serve. If it needs to serve multi-functions look at how you can divide the room using furniture or screens to create the cosy areas desired.
If you feel including a social space is compromising your sanctuary, think about using alternative rooms as your social areas. Also consider temporary ‘pop-up’ or ‘pull-out’ solutions to create the social space as and when it’s required. Furnishing the room with storage which doubles up as seating, extendable furniture or investing in a set of comfy stackable seats can offer the extra seating capacity needed for when you have visitors without you having to sacrifice your tranquil alone time.