Have you ever walked into a room and it made you instantly happy? Perhaps the room was bright and cheery, or filled with decor that brings back cherished memories. Just like surrounding yourself with positive people, or taking a trip to Target can help put you in a good mood, the surroundings in your home make a difference too. The way a room is decorated really can have an impact on our mood – whether it’s to lift it or to make us feel drained and even burned out. If your first thought is that you can’t afford to redecorate, you’ll be happy to learn that even small, inexpensive changes can have a big impact on the way you feel in a room. And, that’s based on science.
Here’s how you can make changes to your home that will help make it more of a mood lifter than a mood downer.
1. Plants, Plants, Plants!
Numerous studies have shown that having more plants in the home can improve one’s mood, concentration, and even memory retention, as just the sight of them, and the presence of natural elements is known to lower stress. One of the reasons behind that is that they do the opposite of what we do when we breathe, release oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, which freshens the air and eliminates harmful toxins.
We know that spending time in nature is good for the soul, and good for health, so it makes sense to bring nature indoors to improve well-being too. It’s well-known to offer stress relief, but it also allows one to connect with mind, body, and soul, which in turn can encourage healing from all sorts of chronic illness and disease, including conditions like anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain, hypertension and digestive disorders.
If you live in an urban setting, you might place plants on a windowsill or balcony, though even in a fairly small space, you can grow plants indoors by getting creative. Use plant stands, vertical gardens, bar carts and the like – you’ll be beautifying your home and lifting the mood of anyone who steps inside.
2. Clean Your House!
It’s one thing to keep your desk or your bathroom clean, but it’s a different challenge entirely to keep an entire home clean. There’s a lot of space to deal with, and you might genuinely forget about some parts. When was the last time you vacuumed your closet or wiped down the insides of your light fixtures?
Residue and mess gradually building up may not be noticeable when you look around, but it can make you feel like you’re living in a cramped or uncomfortable place. That quickly leads to a negative atmosphere, which you can fix with a thorough cleaning. You can freestyle it and clean what you see as you move through your home, or you can make a list of everything that needs some attention. However, you work best, try cleaning your house to see what a difference it will make in how you feel in your space.
Pro Tip: Hire a cleaner! Before you say no way! Hear me out. Cleaners are not as expensive as some may think. Yes, you can pay a few hundred dollars for a cleaner from a well known cleaning company or you can go local and independent. Use your resources, ask around in your friend group, church or other moms. Also check out FB marketplace, business to find local cleaners who work independently. You'd be surprised.
3. Make Things Smell Nice
Maybe you always keep your home clean, you open your curtains and even keep your work and home life separated. Have you thought lately about how things smell? People quickly get used to the odor in their home and accept it as routine, even if it isn’t pleasant. Spray some air freshener or light a candle and see if it helps lift the negative mood in your home.
4. Change Up Your Lighting
Lighting can add warmth, color, and personality to any living space, and it’s a relative bargain compared to many other home improvements. Light is a well-known mood modulator – lots of sunshine, using candles, etc. can all improve the mood of a room. A well-lit room can make you feel happier, while cool, white-toned light brings a sense of calm. Use light to define areas like seating groups, and leave darker spaces in between. You can also control a room’s mood with dimmers, using switches and lamps to set the ambiance. As bright light can increase alertness and even give you more energy, it’s best to dim the lights to wind down in the evening. On the opposite end of the spectrum, letting sunshine flood into your bedroom in the morning will help your body stop creating sleep-inducing melatonin so that you’ll wake up feeling more alert. That makes it a good idea to move your bed so that it’s near a window with the curtains open enough so that you can enjoy natural light when it’s time to rise.
5. Add Personal Elements
Personal touches are incredibly important when it comes to the impact a room will have on your mood. Include items that bring positive sensory experiences and memories. Bring in items that make you happy, like a photo of your family in a nice frame, an especially soft, cozy blanket, or something you got during your travels that means a lot to you. Think about texture too, for example, the rich texture of a shaggy rug is said to enhance the sense of happiness and comfort while wooden elements have been associated with personal growth and health.
The bottom line is that it’s important to choose the color and decor designs that you like the most, so that no matter which way you look, you’ll be reminded of the things that make you the happiest.
6. Eliminate Clutter
If your home is filled with clutter, all of those things are probably taking the joy out of your life, even if you aren’t aware of it. One of the most important things you can do to your home to change your mood to a more positive one is to reduce the clutter inside. Research from Princeton showed that clutter lessens your ability to focus as well as your ability to process information. Another study by UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families, found a link between a high level of cortisol, a stress hormone, and those who own a lot of household objects. That added stress can make you feel drained and fatigued more often, and even make you eat more, as cortisol triggers the appetite.
When your home looks nice, clean and organized, you’ll naturally feel calmer, but when it looks crowded with clutter, the stress of unfinished things that need to be done sneaks into your subconscious mind and can cause added stress. The neater and organize your view is, the more calm and happy you will become. While getting rid of clutter can be time-consuming, it will bring big rewards in the long run. Take a half-day, a full day or more, depending on how much clutter you have and go through your belongings. Sort the items you don’t use into a donate or discard pile. Create a special place for everything that is actually useful and you want to keep so that future cleaning will be easier and less stressful too. Having clutter around you can make you irritable as it’s like visual noise. When you declutter, you’ll not only boost your self-confidence, but your general mood, and you’ll sleep better too. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine conducted a study that found those who go to bed in cluttered rooms are at a high risk for developing hoarding issues and more likely to have sleep disturbances like falling asleep and staying asleep.