How to improve your home for free!

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What if there was something totally free that you could do to feel good in your home even if your home isn’t perfect or close to how you want it to look yet?

What are you focusing on?

It​ ​is​ ​becoming​ ​a​ ​well​ ​documented​ ​scientific​ ​fact​ ​that​ ​our​ ​brains​ ​search​ ​out​ ​and​ ​hang​ ​on​ ​to​ ​the negative.​ ​I​ ​invite​ ​you​ ​to​ ​start​ ​to​ ​notice​ ​when​ ​you​ ​do​ ​this​ ​about​ ​your​ ​home.  Raise​ ​your​ ​hand​ ​if​ ​you​ ​have​ ​ever​ ​welcomed​ ​guests​ ​at​ ​the​ ​door​ ​and​ ​immediately​ ​apologized for or pointed​ ​out a​ ​mess​ ​or​ ​a​ ​flaw​ ​in​ ​your​ ​wall​ ​or​ ​furniture?​ ​My​ ​hand​ ​just​ ​went​ ​up​ ​for​ ​sure!  

We​ ​unconsciously​ ​and​ ​sometimes​ ​consciously​ ​find​ ​the​ ​flaws​ ​or​ ​failings​ ​of​ ​our​ ​homes, furniture​ ​and​ ​fittings​. This causes us to ​spend​ ​precious​ ​energy​ ​focusing​ ​on​ ​it​ ​without​ ​any​ ​intent​ ​or willingness​ ​to​ ​take​ ​action​ ​to​ ​change​ ​it.​ It becomes a habit and unknowingly starts to change the relationship we have with our homes. ​I​ ​don’t​ ​believe​ ​this​ ​serves​ ​us​ ​or​ ​gives​ ​our​ ​homes​ ​the love​ ​they​ ​require​ ​to​ ​support​ ​us​ ​as​ ​we​ ​live​ ​our​ ​busy​ ​modern​ ​lives.

What we focus on expands.

There is a fun game that my grandson and I play it can be played inside or outside. We say,  find all the blue or red or yellow and it is amazing what we see. Suddenly so many objects with that colour appear and we didn’t notice them before. All that changed was that we focused and looked for it! I think this is true about our homes too. If we focus on the flaws then they too seem to expand and become all we see.

Change the focus.

It seems reasonable to conclude that  if it works one way then it can work the other way too. By focusing on what we love or what makes us feel good in our homes we expand and notice these things instead. This seems like a healthier more productive practice. To be grateful for those things that sustain and enrich us and to openly express what we are grateful for and love about our homes feels so much better. This becomes the path to making good choices and planning for changes to our homes.

Let’s find the good and build on that.

Through our work as interior designers we have the privilege of helping people find the good in their homes as we work together to create beautiful and sustaining spaces. Whether it is online or in person we believe this is the foundation of our work. Find the good and what our clients feel they really need and want in their homes and build on that!

Dwaina

Author: Dwaina

I am devoted to making people love living in their homes. I have done that with absolute joy for most of my life and as a career for the past 20 years or so... I am a homebody – I do not actively seek adventure but I have had adventures. I believe home is the most sacred and important place in the world. I say I grew up on a farm – but I doubt technically it would qualify as a farm. Five acres – one milk cow – one calf - we ate them when they grew up, lots of chickens and a few pigs – we ate them too… I was that kid who dragged rugs and furniture out to the orchard and set up outdoor rooms. It mixed my two favourite things – outside and comfortable furniture. My friends and I would sleep outside in my “rooms”. It was magical because my ceiling was full of stars. I have lived in small houses, big houses, basement suites, cottages, condos and apartments. I have built and I have renovated houses. For a short time in my young life I was without a home – this changed me. I have lived with pets, wanted and unwanted – rodents are unwanted… I have lived in a house richly full with the raising of my four children. I have had the tremendous joy of my children carrying my grandchildren into my home. I have had my home become an “empty nest” and my life shrunken and shattered with the loss of my beloved husband. Home and my people there have always been my comfort. It does not matter where home is, it only matters that you are in it and that you find comfort there and that is why I do what I do.
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Dwaina

About the Author: Dwaina

I am devoted to making people love living in their homes. I have done that with absolute joy for most of my life and as a career for the past 20 years or so... I am a homebody – I do not actively seek adventure but I have had adventures. I believe home is the most sacred and important place in the world. I say I grew up on a farm – but I doubt technically it would qualify as a farm. Five acres – one milk cow – one calf - we ate them when they grew up, lots of chickens and a few pigs – we ate them too… I was that kid who dragged rugs and furniture out to the orchard and set up outdoor rooms. It mixed my two favourite things – outside and comfortable furniture. My friends and I would sleep outside in my “rooms”. It was magical because my ceiling was full of stars. I have lived in small houses, big houses, basement suites, cottages, condos and apartments. I have built and I have renovated houses. For a short time in my young life I was without a home – this changed me. I have lived with pets, wanted and unwanted – rodents are unwanted… I have lived in a house richly full with the raising of my four children. I have had the tremendous joy of my children carrying my grandchildren into my home. I have had my home become an “empty nest” and my life shrunken and shattered with the loss of my beloved husband. Home and my people there have always been my comfort. It does not matter where home is, it only matters that you are in it and that you find comfort there and that is why I do what I do.