Cheap and easy way to improve our homes during Covid19 lockdown
During this challenging time, most of us will be spending all, if not most part of our time at home. Therefore, more than ever, we’d have to ensure that our home can provide us with all the joy, peace and comfort we need.
They say that Home is where the Heart is – so, it’s apt to say that the first thing to do during this period is to love our home (or fall in love with our home again).
We are constantly looking for useful tips and best ways to improve our home without spending a lot of money. Carrying out our own DIY work or home improvement projects will not only improve our home’s appearance but will surely maintain the value of our property.
I’m sure most of us have our own DIY to-do list (we’ve been sitting on it for some time!). There’s no better time than right now for us to show a little TLC (tender loving care) to one of the most important things in our lives: our home.
Apart from improving and beautifying our homes aesthetically, we can also enhance the energy around our living spaces through simple Feng Shui practices. Feng Shui originated from ancient China and uses energy to harmonise individuals with their surroundings. Especially during this lockdown period, Feng Shui has become more relevant as people look for ways to restore peace and calm into their homes and lives.
Table of Content
- Time to Declutter (Clear Out and Clean Up)
- Repair, Recycle and Reuse
- Bring new life to special things (Rearrange and reshuffle)
- Re-orientate your furniture
- Let the light into our home
- A little bit of paint goes a long way
- ‘Feng Shui-ng’ your home (The doorway to peace)
- Energy in colours
- Create a mobile office tray
- Dust + dirt = bad energy (Keep our home clean)
They say home is where the heart is – so let’s create the ‘feel’ and atmosphere that our hearts desire. With the endless selection of images to choose from, this is our chance to express ourselves and preference through images that really speak to us.
Time to Declutter our home (Clear out and Clean up)
Be the next ‘Marie Kondo’ (Netflix’s beloved queen of decluttering). It’s true that the mind and soul find peace and calm within neat and clean spaces. Start your decluttering exercise by clearing out items that are no longer in use, or have ‘stopped bringing you joy’.
If you think some items of value might bring joy to others, then set them aside so that you can donate them to a charity or organisation that needs it more.
Sometimes this task can be daunting, so start by breaking up your home into parts or sections. Tackle each section by placing four boxes or containers on the floor and mark them as follows:
- #1 – Things that needs repairing
- #2 – Items that have lost their lustre to you, ones that can be given away to others
- #3 – Stuff that can be recycled such as glass, paper and plastic.
- #4 – Things to be thrown away
Repair, recycle and reuse
Go around the house and take note of areas that need repairing such as replacing mouldy shower sealant or putting a little putty on the wall or fixing a leaky faucet. With thousands of YouTube instructional available at our disposal, everyone can be an instant handyman. If you have a creative mind, why not turn glass jars into soap dispensers or using an old drawer as a planter?
Bring new life to special things at home (Rearrange and reshuffle)
Be reminded of beautiful memories by picking up your treasured framed photos. Give old frames a fresh look with a new coat of paint or varnish (clear or tinted). Move wall frames around to different sections of your home or you can also cut out inspirational photographs from old magazines and frame these up.
Re-orientate your furniture
Create a fresh new feeling in your living spaces by rearranging your furniture around. Do a quick ‘test drive’ by simply putting pen to paper and do a simple sketch – see if your new layout idea looks. Here’s a couple of tips:
- Keep larger furniture along the perimeter of the room;
- Introduce a fresh new item from another section of your home.
Let the light into our home
Especially during the day, dark and dim rooms can sometimes feel tight, uninspiring and gloomy. Natural light makes everything feel fresh, breezy and can uplift our spirits. Try replacing those heavy, dark curtains with more modern, simple and bright ones. Alternatively, you can replace the curtains with Venetian or Roman blinds as they add nice clean lines and soft rays of sunshine into the room.
Have you been thinking about improving your home? We’ll be happy to connect you with our partner service provider at Right Angle DS Pte Ltd.
A little bit of paint goes a long way
When it comes to painting work, we may not have the resolve to paint the whole house. Therefore, it might be easier to start with tackling a wall or two. Prioritise working on the walls with stains, scuff marks or the ones that are in dire need repairing and a fresh coat of paint. You can also choose a couple of walls to be the new feature walls by painting them with a contrasting ‘pop’ colour or as a gallery wall for your picture and photo frames.
‘Feng Shui-ng’ your home (The doorway to peace)
When it comes to Feng Shui, it is an intricate and complex practice. Only a true Feng Shui master can dive deep into this subject and give the exact dos and don’ts specific to our home location, layout and orientation.
However, we can apply the basics of Feng Shui, i.e. the more organised and calm an area is, the more tranquil and peaceful the energy will be. To activate positive energy at home, it is recommended that we start from the entrance doorway or hallway as it symbolises the entrance of our sanctuary. Keeping this area as spacious as possible would mean that you’d have to declutter and store away extra shoes, umbrellas, bags and what-nots away in the closet.
Energy in Colours
In Feng Shui, colour represents the five natural elements of metal, earth, wood, water and fire. In order to create a sense of calm and balance, make sure you select the appropriate colours for your home. The following are examples of colours and what they represent:
| Element | Colours | Benefits |
| Water | Blue tones, grey, off-whites | For calmness and tranquility |
| Metal | White, grey, metallics | For clarity, freshness and new beginnings |
| Wood | Brown, green | For strength, grounding, stability and health |
| Fire | Dark wood tones, burnt orange, red | For optimism, loving, courage and romance |
| Earth | Yellow, soft browns, taupe, beige | For balance, warmth and security |
Create a mobile office tray
During the lockdown, many of us have to work from home – and even after Covid19, this may be the new norm for future working situations. However, creating a calm and productive work area can be difficult especially for those who do not have a dedicated home office. For those living in smaller apartments, we may end up working on the dining table, in the lounge or bedroom area.
A good tip is to have a large tray or container to store your daily work ‘essentials’ such as pen, paper, notebooks, wires and chargers at the end of your work day. You can then clear away your temporary work space quickly for dinner, evening chill-out in the lounge and a peaceful bedroom for a good slumber. This may sound repetitive, but it helps create a healthy boundary for work and life balance. Furthermore, removing the visual clutter can also reduce drainage of positive energy from your home and your life.
Dirt + dust = bad energy (Keep our home clean)
In Feng Shui, the window represents the eyes to the world. Dirty and dusty windows can ‘block’ your vision to the outside world. Spare a little bit of time to regularly clean those windows (inside and out). This will allow unblocked natural light to come into your home. This can certainly improve your overall wellbeing and mood, not to mention increased productivity when you work from home.
If you have wall hangings, make sure they are not hung too low, skewed or crooked. This can also impact your mood. Instead, hang those picture frames, mirrors or wall art a little higher (particularly those in your bedroom). Doing this lift up your spirit level, and don’t forget to align those hangings properly.
In conclusion
Some people (usually mothers) would say, “I have a million and one things to do at home.” – and it’s true. The list of things that we can do to improve our home is endless and we’ll never finish it. But whatever we decide to do for ours, we’ll have to do with love. We just need to remember that one thing: Home is where the Heart is.
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