With levels of stress and anxiety rising, especially among young people, it’s more important than ever to make your mental health a priority. If you’re struggling with mental health issues please reach out to a licensed mental health professional. I’ve been pretty candid with my struggles with anxiety and ongoing search to discover new ways to manage it. I’ve always been sensitive to my surroundings – when I’m surrounded by clutter my mind automatically enters a state of stress. So when I received word I secured my new apartment, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to create a calming oasis. After four months of decorating, I’ve finally created my “happy place” and wanted to share some tips of how I accomplished a calming living space. Enjoy!
1. Purge, purge, purge!
Whether you’re moving into a new living space or upgrading your current space, it’s time to minimize the objects around you. Look around you. Anything you haven’t used in the past 6 months you likely don’t need. Begin sorting through your items room by room. Create a “keep”, “donate” and “sell” pile. Be picky. This is important. If you’ve gone through everything and you’re still stuck with a ton of stuff – consider renting a storage space. When it comes to your mental health, it’s important to surround yourself with things that are useful and make you happy. One of my favorite things about my apartment is how little I actually have in it!
2. Select A Calming Accent Color
When it comes to creating a calming living space, choose your colors wisely. I’d suggest selecting 1-2 accent colors and keeping everything else neutral. Before I moved into my apartment, I knew I wanted pink blush to be my main accent color. Why? It’s soothing, easy on the eyes and is super calming. It also makes me incredibly happy – which is the most ingredient in a calming oasis.
3. Furniture: Stick To Neutral Tones
If you’re investing in new furniture, stick with neutral colors, such as a marble coffee table. A red couch may be super funky and trendy, but if your goal is a calming living space – keep things easy on the eyes. To keep my living space as airy as possible, I avoided black furniture/ appliances and opted for whites, creams, grey and golds.Bonus: neutral furniture will allow you the opportunity to change up your accent color(s) as often as you want!
4. Limit Visual Space
If you’re pressed for space – you can limit visual space two ways. First, add mirrors into your apartment. Mirrors give the optical illusion of more space . Plus, you can make sure your outfit is snatched at all times. Next, invest in glass furniture. They take up less visual space (and are super easy to clean!). I have a glass dining table and glass coffee table in my apartment – both of which I love dearly!
5. Add Calming Lighting
Keep your living space a soothing oasis with calming light fixtures. This means limiting harsh light. Replace high voltage bulbs with soothing lights that dim to create a relaxing ambiance.
6. Include Words Of Affirmation
Create a personal touch in your living space and include some uplifting quotes or soothing bible verses. Unfortunately, we all have bad days and these words will help keep you grounded. Felt boards and dry erase boards allow you to switch out quotes as often as you’d like! I used a felt board to display my favorite quotes on my bar cart.
7. Add Greenery
Plants are one of the easiest ways to add life into your living space. If you are without a green thumb (like me!) opt for low maintenance plants. Ie. cacti. If they can survive in the desert, they’ll likely be alright in your living space. I mixed real cacti with faux snake plants and palm plants for an uplifting addition.
8. Invest In Candles
If you don’t have candles in your living space, purchase some immediately. Candles are a budget friendly option to quickly defusing your living space. Essential oil diffusers are another route to achieving the ultimate bliss. You’ll thank me later.
9. Keep Your Place Tidy
Not to be dramatic, but my life has changed for the better once I made it a priority to keep my apartment tidy at all times. This means the kitchen, living room, bathroom and guest bedroom are relatively neat and tidy at all times. A tidy space also limits the stress of having to go into a frenzy every time someone comes over – your space will already be in condition for visitors at all times. Don’t forget to do a monthly deep clean! 🙂
