Here at Stearns, our goal is to create a space that puts our clients at ease, allowing them to feel comfortable and happy in their homes. Your home should reflect your personality, while simultaneously functioning as the home base and happy place for you and your family. 

Enter our company slogan: “We Design and Build Happiness.” 

This is so much more than our tagline; it’s actually based on substantial and empirical evidence. Learn more about our transitions design theory here. 

If you arent ready to make any major adjustments to your home, we decided to round up some inexpensive + easy adjustments that you can do right away to make your home feel better than it already does. With 2020 being such a challenging year, these simple items can easily add a happy refresh to your home.

 

Lighten Up Your Home

Try to find ways around your home to utilize the natural light where available. Our goal at Stearns is to ensure a seamless transition between nature and residential design. This is where the largest effect can be felt. 

Throw open those windows, take down those blackout curtains, and let that fresh air and natural light into your space. If you aren’t able to remodel, try using tricks like painting a dark room with a lighter shade or use mirrors to reflect light, giving the illusion of a lighter room.

Another option is swapping out your lightbulbs, which can make a huge difference in a room. It changes the mood of the room and will play a big role in how paint colors look in your space. 

 

More Greenery

Bring the outdoors inside with some mood-boosting plants. Plants offer benefits such as lower stress levels, improved mood, and restores mental energy. 

Don’t worry if you don’t have a green thumb, there are many plants for beginners that have a high survival rate. If you need a starter plant, we would suggest Golden Pothos Vine, Spider Plant, Aloe Vera (which is a very useful plant), or a Jade Plant.

 

Designated “Happy Space”

We believe that our homes should be more than just our happy place; they should be a COLLECTION of happy places. If you want to begin to make your home a collection of happy places, start with one space. 

Maybe it’s a reading nook? You can rearrange by adding your favorite chair into an unused space or a hobby space that currently exists in your garage. Perhaps you can light your favorite candles during a bubble bath or hang a eucalyptus plant or some drops of essential oils into the shower.

Happiness at home doesn’t come from an expensive piece of furniture or the approval of others.  The journey is to make your home an expression of who you are.

 

Decorate With Things That Bring You Joy

Think before you buy: “Do I like this or do I love it?”. Every item in your house not only needs to have a purpose, but it should also make you happy by seeing it.  

Yes, even the vacuum. Joy goes beyond aesthetics. It’s also present in stuff that works well and makes your life easier.  Japanese organization expert Marie Kondo has great advice regarding this topic in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.

This can also happen with creating connections such as to one’s past as well. 

Furniture that has been handed down from someone you love, inspiring art, or hand-painted dishes from a family member that incite nostalgia- this is where the warm, safe, and meaningful past connections happen. When you have your grandmother’s favorite chair on display, you get to think of all your memories with her every time you see it and it brings your joy + happiness.

 

Avoid Clutter In Your Home

My great grandmother used to say, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”  One of the biggest sources of stress for people is living in a cluttered home.  Your home should be a peaceful place for you to retreat to every day. If your home is filled with excess stuff, it’s harder to recharge. 

When decluttering, consider giving to a local charity that can help get it to a home in need.

 

Here are some local charity options:

 

These are just a few simple ways you can improve your happiness in your home TODAY! Our homes should be a place that restores, rejuvenates, and replenishes. Now more than ever we all need homes that support our wellbeing – so we can seize each day as it comes. Read more of our Happy Home Blog here.