WITH MANY OF us spending more time at home than ever over the past 12 months, it has been easy to discover the effect that our surroundings can have on our mood and wellbeing.
While it would be great to be able to completely update our interiors to suit our mood whenever we please, this isn’t an option for the majority of us. However, small changes – like updating your lighting, taking control of your air quality or having a quick tidy – can make a big difference.
Rate your home comforts in your living, work and sleeping spaces below, and read on for advice on making them the best they can be from interiors expert and Abbeyfeale Interiors founder Wioleta Kelly.
Living space
If your living room has lost its sense of being a space where you can switch off and relax, you might think that the only way to improve it is to invest in new furniture or give it a complete makeover. However, it’s possible to see (and feel) a big shift in the room by switching up a few things.
Getting rid of clutter (or hiding it away) is a good place to start, says Wioleta. “Any time we have a cluttered home, it affects our productivity, our ability to relax, and we can’t focus.
“For example, if someone has children, they might have loads of toys all over the place. But there’s loads of lovely baskets with lids in places like JYSK or Ikea that look cute and can help organise the clutter.”
One of the most effective elements to completely change the feel of a room, according to Wioleta, is lighting, as the light that creates a cosy space on your couch will be different from the light you use for reading, or the light you have over your desk.
“It’s very important, especially in living spaces, to have great lights,” says Wioleta.
Every space should have between three and five different sources of light on three different levels.
“One level is when you’re sitting down, the next is your eye level when you stand up, and the third is above you. The more light sources you have, the more you can work with them and create different atmospheres depending on what you’re doing.”
Sleeping space
If you’re guilty of leaving piles of clothes on a chair in the corner of your bedroom or having to clear your bed of junk every night before you go to sleep, you’ll likely understand just how important it is to keep this space clean and clutter-free.
An easy way to do this, even if you have lots of clutter, is to invest in storage that you can close or put a lid on. “Out of all the spaces that we have, bedrooms should be not cluttered at all,” says Wioleta. “They should be a place to relax and fall asleep.”
“I would recommend not having any open storage in the bedroom. Any storage you do see in the bedroom should be closed so you can close the doors and hide the mess. So rather than open shelving, for example, have a little closed cabinet and baskets with lids.”
With bedrooms having a tendency to get stuffy, another way to make a room feel calm and hygienic is by removing allergens and pollutants from the air and monitoring the air quality in your room.
Lastly, if you like to unwind by reading a book before going to sleep, but your partner needs the room to be dark in order to switch off, Wioleta recommends adapting your lighting accordingly, such as by having a task light. ”I would suggest having a small LED lamp that points at the book so it doesn’t cast a new light anywhere outside the book you read.”
Working space
As we approach the one-year mark of many companies beginning to work remotely, you might still be unhappy with your home office space. Whether your setup is on the kitchen table, in your bedroom or even if you have a separate office, a few simple changes can instantly improve any working space, according to Wioletta.
“Having one or two plants around your computer can help your eyes relax and increase productivity,” she says.
And, if you don’t have a separate home office, Wioleta recommends using a tray to keep everything you need in one space – making it easier to clear away once 5:30pm comes.
“Trays are amazing,” she says. “You can put loads of clutter – and it is clutter at the end of the day – on them. It’s so easy to move everything away, then. You don’t have to move bit by bit by bit.”
Lastly, keeping your home clean and tidy is a surefire way to make it a calm and enjoyable place to be. “Every spring I get this crazy dose of energy where I literally declutter the whole house,” says Wioleta. “That’s my tip for keeping for keeping the house clutter-free. It’s an opportunity to get rid of what you didn’t use for last few months, what’s broken or what you need to fix.”
If a spring clean isn’t for you, however, identify what tasks are most important to you – whether that’s vacuuming the floors or fluffing the cushions. Even a quick vacuum of your soft fabrics that are difficult to wash, like sofas or pillows, can improve the sense of comfort and hygiene in your home.
“Every person has a different kind of sense of what clean means. For me, a clean house has the cushions laid properly on the sofa, clean floors, clean windows, no fingerprints on everything. But then, for other people, it might just be clean floors and that’s it.”
From keeping your floors clean with a cordless stick vacuum, to helping improve air quality with a personal purifier, to lighting that adapts with your day, Dyson technology is engineered to help you create a comfortable, hygienic home environment. Visit Dyson.ie to learn more about Dyson technology and home care, with our digital expert team available to answer your questions.
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