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Easy ‘Five-Minute’ Home Improvement Projects To Brighten Up Your Space 

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As we all continue to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, many of us are trying to figure out how we’re going to occupy our time during the next few months as temperatures drop, and socially distanced outdoor gatherings become obsolete. Many are turning to home improvement projects to not only give them something to do in their spare time, but also finally check some of the boxes off their growing to-do lists. Here are some easy home improvement project ideas that anyone can do:

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Decorate Your Walls With Frames: Framing personal photos and artwork can draw the eye to certain walls within your space, and are perfect accent pieces to really tie a space together and make it personal. Even if you just want to hang artwork on your walls, pick some pieces that not only match the rest of your design aesthetic, but also speak to your personality. You’re going to be looking at your walls everyday, so you want something to be on them that’ll make you feel good. Consider buying seasonal art as well to freshen up your space every few months. 

Create A Makeshift Gym: This is a great idea for fitness lovers everywhere, as well as those with young children who have a lot of energy to spare. Making your own home gym doesn’t have to break the bank either. If you have a spare room or area in your house, consider investing in some rubber mats and simple dumbbells to start, and then work your way to buying more equipment that you think will fit into your daily fitness routine.

Hang Up Some New Shelving: Just like hanging artwork or photographs on a wall can make a space more personal shelving can do the same. Shelves don’t just have to be used for placing your random tchotchkes, instead, consider adding a plant vase to heighten up your walls and ceilings by bringing the eye up. Candles, figurines, and frames themselves are also great for adding height and pops of color around your room. 

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A Bird Bath Fountain: Even though winter is approaching, for some parts of the world the weather stays warm year round. Bird feeders and bird baths are great ways of inviting the natural world to your property. Take a step further and get a fountain attachment that will make any bird bath come to life, and give your yard a secret garden type of vibe. 

Coat and Mask Hooks: If you’re tired of your family members throwing their coats and masks wherever they please when they get home, consider either investing in a coat rack, or hang up some simple command hooks right next to the front door for easy access. To make it feel like an even more cohesive storage space for your clothing, add a simple ground level shelf/rack to place your shoes. This is also beneficial in the winter months to prevent snow and mud from being tracked into your home. 

Lighting: Lamps of all kinds are amazing accent pieces for any space in your home. For dining rooms, consider getting a high-quality floor lamp that matches the same design aesthetic of that space. For rooms that are more prone to having side tables (living rooms, bedrooms, offices) simple table lamps can fill the empty space and warm up any room. Be conscious with the designs of the lamps you get as well, like artwork, lamps can be viewed as those perfect design touches that really tie a space together.

Feng Shui

Easy Feng Shui Tips To Enhance Positive Energy In Your Home

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With so many of us now stuck inside indefinitely, many have begun redecorating, renovating, and reorganizing their homes. Now that we’re stuck in these places, it only makes sense that we’d want them to look and feel the most comfortable and personal to us as possible. Many have been looking to the Chinese practice of Feng shui for inspiration, as well as the best ways to create balance between the natural world within our interior spaces. Feng shui also uses energy forces as a means of creating harmony between the individual and their home, so it makes sense that so many would want to bring that idea into their own spaces, especially during times of such global unrest. 

The most general rule to Feng Shui is maintaining a clutter-free space. Open spaces are not only more appealing to look at, but they’re also proven to promote mental clarity. Think about it, in the past when you would come home from a long day at work to a messy house, that work stress would then follow you into your off time. Coming home to a clean house, however, allows us to feel completely separated and calm, because there’s nothing out of place that needs cleaning. 

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Clutter also brings down our energy and holds us back from seeing good opportunities, according to Feng shui practices, so before you do anything else, make sure your home is clean. 

Feng shui also views the front door as one of the most important areas in the home when it comes to promoting good energy flow. It’s important to keep the space around your front door open and clear, this way positive energy has the ability to freely come into your home, and negative energy can easily be pushed out. 

Bringing the five elements into your home is also a very important aspect of Feng shui. The five elements include earth, wood, fire, metal, and water, and by incorporating these elements into decorative pieces in your home, you’re balancing the energy of the space while also creating an open path between the natural world and your home. 

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Bringing in these elements is also much easier than it may sound. Earth can be represented by a real house plant in your window while wood and metal can easily be accomplished through furniture choices. Water can be utilized either through a vase of flowers, or a small fish tank, which would also bring life into the space, literally. Fire may sound dangerous, but this can easily be implemented into your space through candles or a fireplace if you have one. 

Maximize natural lighting as much as possible in your home. Even if you only have one small window in your room, accentuate that space on the wall. Feng shui tells us that windows are like our front door, in the sense that it helps promote energy flow and brings in positivity and happiness. 

Besides living in a clutter-free space, one of the other most important aspects of Feng shui is balance, and making your home feel as though everything is in its proper place. When you bring in larger elements like a television, floor-length mirror or anything mounted on the walls, make sure you’re placing them in a way that seems intentional and fitted. 

Balancing the space will allow you to remove any aspects of the home that you deem to be negative, or bring in negative energy, because it’s easier to see what elements of a room don’t seem to fit with the way that you’ve organized the rest of it. 

No matter how strictly you adhere to the Feng shui guidelines, make sure you’re organizing your space for yourself and in a way that makes you happy. Our homes are meant to be safe spaces, which is something we all need in a time like this.

Gallery Wall

Creative Home Projects to Personalize Your Space In Lockdown

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With all of us enduring the coronavirus pandemic and remaining under lockdown until further notice, many of us are running out of things to do in our spare time to keep us entertained. Doing home improvement projects or switching up the interior design of some of the spaces in your home can be a great way to not only distract yourself from the world, but also revamp up the space you’ve been forced to stay in for the past few months. 

When we think of home improvement or interior design, we often imagine that growing list of things that needs fixing throughout our houses, however, what about projects that are more fun and don’t really have a beneficial purpose beyond just making you happy? Your home is yours, so it should reflect that! Here are home project ideas to make your space really feel like home:

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Create An Accent Wall: An accent wall is typically one specific wall in a room, often the bedroom or living room, that differs in color, pattern, texture, etc. from the other three walls in the space. Normally, people like to put a pattern on their accent wall to highlight either an entertainment center, art piece, or furniture item propped against said wall. However, there is no limit to the possibilities of things you can do for an accent wall. Use chalkboard paint so that you and your loved ones can keep changing the designs and sign each other’s names. Order various sized prints of either personal photos, pictures of people you admire, places you want to go, or whatever else you want to look at. Frame the prints and cover the wall! The possibilities are truly endless. 

Rearrange Your Bedroom or Living Room: This is one of the more basic “home improvement” options, however, if you aren’t looking to spend any money but still want a change, moving around the set up of these spaces can accomplish exactly that. I say the living room and bedroom specifically because in normal circumstances those are the spaces one spends the most time in, however, switch up all the rooms in your house if you want! Remember, there really are no rules when it comes to making your space yours (as long as you’re following your cities specific coding requirements for larger renovation projects). Keeping these areas of the home fresh and personal can help ease any anxieties you have relating to the state of the world, because at least you know you’re safe in your own personalized bubble. 

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Make a Gallery Wall: Similar to an accent wall, a gallery wall allows you to focus the attention of a space on unique art or photography pieces that either you’ve taken, or admire. This really is one of the most personal ways you can liven up your home because even if you choose art/pictures that don’t have you or your family in it, you’re still choosing pieces that resonate with you for a special reason. 

Repair and Refine Your Furniture: Things like large chairs and ottomans can be reupholstered so that you’re not losing the functionality of your pieces, but are still basically getting a whole new furniture item. Any wooden furniture that’s been scuffed, scratched, broken off, etc. can easily be sanded, re-polished, and repainted as well. 

Create a Meditative/Relaxation Space: Even if you’re not into meditation specifically as a means of unwinding, you should have a designated space in your home separated from your bedroom or living room that’s main purpose is just for you to sit back and relax. This could even be a simple garden chair and table in your side yard, the point of this place is to make you feel completely comfortable every time you enter it. Especially with the way the world looks now, it’s important that we all unplug and find time everyday to check in with ourselves, and what better way to do that then in your own meditation room? Decorate the space with stereotypical items that induce relaxation – candles, twinkly lights, blankets, soft lighting, etc. – and also with personal pieces that make you feel safe. 

Regardless of how you personalize your home, remember what it’s felt like to be stuck in that space for months at a time. The future in terms of the coronavirus pandemic is still unpredictable, so you might as well pass the time by creating spaces in your home that truly feel like yours and yours only.

Bamboo Fabric

Eco-Friendly Fabrics To Help You Stay Green In Quarantine

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Many individuals are utilizing this indefinite time in quarantine to tackle some major home-improvement projects or spring clean ups. It makes sense, if we’re going to be staying home all day every day until the end of this pandemic, we might as well make the space feel warm and inviting for ourselves. However, many of us never take the time to think about how sustainable the things in our homes actually are. For example, did you know that the fabric in your home can determine how green (environmentally green not the color) of a space you’re living in? 

In 2017, the US produced nearly 17 million tons of fabric textiles. 66% of that ended up in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In a 2020 home trend report, it was found that because of this reason, more home-shoppers were looking for “organic bedding” for their homes. Overall, organic fabrics for the home have increased in stock by 13% within the last year for the country’s top fabric distributors. But what makes a fabric “organic” or “eco-friendly”? 

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Any fabric that’s made from natural materials and produced using sustainable practices – not in an industrial factory – can be considered eco-friendly or organic. This also means the fabric is not treated with any potentially harmful or irritating chemicals, and is typically made from plant materials. Plant materials also ensure that whenever the bedding, fabric, or furniture is eventually thrown away, it will biodegrade and go back into the Earth. These fabrics tend to also be hypoallergenic and naturally anti-bacterial, making them safer and healthier in general. 

To shop for organic textiles in your home that also benefit the environment, make sure you’re paying attention to how the fabric is produced, which you can easily do by checking the label. Here are a few examples of eco-friendly fabrics you can try in your home today:

Bamboo: Bamboo fabric is made by spinning the “pulp,” or stringy insides, of bamboo plants. This fabric is typically used as a replacement for cotton, which is a material often treated with pesticides and derived from plants that require a substantial amount of water to grow. Bamboo is a type of grass, so technically it doesn’t require any fertilizer or replanting to grow and repopulate. The fabric derived from it has been described as stretchable and perfect for things like throw blankets or fitted sheets. 

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Hemp: Hemp products are derived from the stalks of cannabis plants and have been around for quite some time. Hemp is typically used in beauty products like lotions or shampoos, but hemp fabric is a fairly new trend for the interior design community. The fabric has a similar feel to canvas, and greatly resists shrinkage or pilling, which you normally see with canvas textiles. Hemp fabric is also highly resistant to things like mold and mildew, which makes it perfect for things like throw pillows or rugs. 

Lyocell: A more unknown textile, Lyocell is typically known by its branded name, Tencel. Tencel is made from wood pulp cellulose found in eucalyptus, birch, and oak trees. The fabric has been described as being extremely flexible and durable, but soft and lightweight as well. Normally Lyocell is used for clothing, but it’s also known to be used to make sheets or bath towels. 

Linen: The last organic option on this list is perhaps the most commonly used. Linen is a soft, strong, and breathable fabric that many of us are familiar with. It’s woven with fibers from the flax plant and is able to absorb moisture while also drying quickly. This textile is naturally antibacterial, and its absorbent qualities make it perfect for things like kitchen towels. 

Beyond these, other organic textiles can be derived from plants like cacti, pineapple, and aloe. So the next time you’re looking to buy a new set of bed sheets or household linens, try the more eco-friendly option. The planet and your consciousness will thank you for it.