How to make a happy work/living space.
I know our new year hasn’t got off to a good start but lets not let it bring us down in our mood.
Some of you maybe Furloughed which means you can’t work and activate your brain like you would do at work, causing your mood to slip and so then the feeling of boredom steps in.
Or you maybe working from home but although you're working you are still feeling that niggle of boredom and that’s because, you aren’t communicating with people face to face, like you would be in your normal day to day job. Instead you are looking at the same two walls that you have set your office up in! or your workspace within your home.
Your home is meant to be the place where you sit back and relax, unless your me and your doing a house refurb of course!
It is meant to be somewhere that shows your personal style and somewhere that can give you inspiration for anything in life. Its a place to bring your family up, a place to entertain your friends and now most importantly a place to feel safe.
I feel so passionate about making a home visually pleasing, there is nothing worse than coming home from a stressful day at work, sitting down in your living room and feeling even more stressed because that certain corner of the lounge that has no life is making you feel uninspired and miserable. The walls have seen better days and that carpet in the lounge no matter home many times you clean it or cover it with rugs just doesn’t look as it did 10 years ago! Does this sound familiar?
Now Is the perfect time to be doing something about it. We can’t go anywhere so why not spend the time working out the pros and cons of each of your rooms in your house and how you would like to change them.
In the first lockdown I spoke on Radio Devon on how you can design your home to make it a workable space for your family and for yourself if you are having to work from home. So many of you flick open your laptop in a space that you would usually chill out in. This is not a good idea! why you may ask?
What is it that you do when you get home from work? you make a cup of tea and go and sit in your living room or kitchen, maybe to have a chat with your other half or start prepping dinner? or sit and do the kids homework with them? so you always get a separation from work life and home life, but what people are now doing as they are forced to work from home is using this space to do business whether it be on the work laptop or to make business calls. So no matter what, there is no separation of work life and family life at all!!!! causing a lot of stress and depression within the home that would not usually be there.
The easiest way to fix this is to utilise a space in your house entirely for work! This may mean not having a dining room, or a guest room you can’t have any guests anyway! and using this space as your office for a while.
Now some people maybe saying hang on we don’t have the extra rooms we have a home that is suitable for our living needs. Don’t worry we can still sort out a workable space which means that you can still go to work (in your home) and at the end of the day still be able to feel like you have been in a different space. It really does make a difference to your mood.
The easiest way to separate a space is to add a room divider. If you don’t have one you can find them online new or vintage. This allows you to not only hide the ugly sight of work stuff but can also be a lovely addition to any room.
Here is how I have created a small work space within our bedroom, using the table I would usually have has a dressing table which now has my computer on. Just to show you how easy it can be to hide it and still make it look nice. I strongly refrain from having an office in your bedroom I am going against my own advice, but due to having the rest of the house as a building site needs must. If you're working from home and have a family/children try and keep that bedroom of yours a space for just you and your hubby/partner. We all need our time out.
