Homestead Overhaul : 4 Home Improvement Tips for the Happiness Hopeful

Improving your own home would almost be therapeutic if it wasn't so stressful, but the end product is a house that’s more yours than it was before you started. Maybe your summer project will be ordering a koala mattress in a box, and then figuring out what to do with the box, or maybe it will be re-staining the deck to rejuvenate the wood. Whatever it is, your home improvement is a direct link to your happiness, and we want nothing more than to help increase that, so we’ve put together a list of 4 tips for home improvement, just for you.

Bedroom Blitz 

Starting with the big one, the bedroom.

Bedrooms are very subjective, and very subject to change, and that makes them tricky things to improve, but there are some things intrinsic to a bedroom that can be improved no matter what. Things like the curtains, which can be swapped out for Blackout curtains - a special kind of curtain that blocks out all available light from the outside, making them the most effective curtains you can buy. Another aspect that is good for a bedroom is adding a dimmer to allow you to dim the lights. Dimmer lights allows your brain to naturally release melatonin and get you nice and sleepy before bed, which is ideal in a bedroom sense. 

Garden Growth

For your happiness, growing a garden can be anything from incredibly hard and challenging to easy and rewarding, so there’s something for everyone. To start with, try growing some simple veggies like beans. Beans grow quickly and easily, making them a great starting point for the burgeoning gardener, and if you have kids, the kids can get in on the fun too. Planting trees is a great long-term plant to grow, if you own your own home, and the resulting fully grown tree can provide shade and playing surfaces for you and your family for literal decades to come.

Change of (Living Room) Scenery

A lot of people spend the majority of their home-lives in the living room, as it is often the main room in the house and where the entertainment systems are kept. Staying in the same living room setup year after year can give one a sense of stagnation, and changing up the configuration is a great way to freshen things up without going all-out on your bank account and buying new furniture. Try swapping the dining room and living room for a weekend and see how it feels, maybe the other rooms suits your living room activities more effectively, and you’ll have a whole new way to look at your house after all this time.

Add an Art Space

Even if you’re not the artistic type, an art space is a great project to undertake for improving your home. Adding an area to make art in, whether that be painting, sculpting, making music or just drawing, creates a new neutral zone in your house, where any members of your family can go to relax and express themselves. Just because you don’t like painting on a canvas doesn’t mean your partner or child might not want the opportunity to privately express themselves in a tangible way. Warm lighting, soft surfaces and changeability are key in an art space, as you need it to be able to become whatever the artist needs it to be. It’s also worth covering any surfaces you don’t want paint on, as artists are expressive and occasionally messy people.

Look forward to a happy homestead that becomes more and more like home with every addition, and relish in the power you hold over the physical state of your house or home.