The Adored Abode

How are you doing? Have you been enjoying your time at home? Or are you ready for it to be over? This is a strange time with social distancing and stay at home orders. Even if you are a homebody, like myself, it can still be a trying time mentally. Nathan and I weren’t used to working at home, but we have found that we truly love and actually prefer it, although, it is an adjustment for sure to have both of us being home all the time. I find when I am idle for too long my anxiety and worry tends to increase. Creating new our new normal routines and giving my mind and hands some things to do has helped me. These are some things I am doing for myself to make my time spent at home feel a little more enjoyable.

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1 // Have a Designated Work Space

If you are working from home try to create a designated work space for yourself. Even if it’s the dining table have a basket nearby that you can move all of your work things into at the end of the day. This helps us separate “work” time from relaxing time and makes it easier to leave work alone. I have been working in our front den and Nathan has been working at the dining table. Although, it’s nice to move around sometimes and the kitchen table is the ideal spot because it’s usually very sunny!

2 // Meditate or Journal

At the beginning of the year I started meditating with the Headspace app and it has made a world of difference for me. I do it almost every day and I always feel so much better when I set aside the 10-15 minutes to do so. I also try to do a simple gratitude journal each day where I write down 5 things that I am grateful for that day – they are usually super simple things; like the sun shining, warm temperatures or a cute thing one of the dogs did. When I look back through my journal it always makes me smile. Especially during these uncertain times it helps keep my mind grounded and remember all of the good that can still be found in life.

3 // Shop Your Home

Right now I know many people are feeling the unease and stress of financial uncertainty, but for myself making my home a place I love is really enjoyable and something I love doing. You don’t have to spend money to make a room feel fresh! One thing I love doing is shopping my home. If a room is not jiving for me, or if I am feeling the itch to change things up without spending any money I will “shop” other rooms in my house and rearrange a few things. Even if it’s just rearranging a few small decor items it often makes me feel good!

4 // Do a Project Using What You Have

Now that I’m feeling better and not nauseous all the time I have been itching to get back to doing a few DIY projects. I have been taking stock of things we have around the house that need a little attention and trying to plan some projects using only what I have at home. I plan on trying my hand at a different type of DIY art, giving a bench a paint makeover, and sprucing up our linen closet with some paint!

These are a few projects I have done in the past that you could potentially do with items you already have in your home:

• DIY Abstract Art
• DIY Block Print Textile Art
• Refinish a Piece of Furniture

5 // Organize a Space that Needs a Little Love

I don’t know if it’s nesting setting in a little early, or if it’s being home all the time and seeing spaces more frequently that I know need some organization help, but I have been on an organizing mission the last 2 weeks! It helps that I thrive in a tidy environment and feel fairly motivated to do organization projects and always feel so good when they’re done. If you are like me – you may like to tackle some organization in your time at home! If you don’t like organizing this idea might not be enjoyable for you. I like to take it one small space at a time. Here are a few ideas for common areas that might be in need of a little organization love in your house (at least they are in mine!). For me, a lot of these are quick hit areas that I can do over my lunch break while I’m working – organizing is truly a nice break from regular work for me.

• Paper files – shred or recycle any unneeded items
• Desk drawers
• Junk drawer
• Media console
• Linen closet & all linens
• Basement storage
• Tools/DIY supplies
• Extra decor
• Pantry
• Kitchen drawers and cabinets

Any items that I determine we no longer need as part of my organization process I will either donate, sell, or throw away based on the items state. For the time being I am creating a donate and a sell pile in my basement and will do it all at once when our stay at home orders are lifted.

6 // Tackle a Deep Clean

I thrive in a clean environment just like I thrive in an organized and tidy space. Now that construction is done in our master bathroom we have been slowly de-dusting and deep cleaning the rest of the house. Renovations are dusty and messy and the dust does not stay contained to the room you are renovating no matter how hard you try. It has really motivated me to tackle some things inside I haven’t done in a while and has even trickled to the outside a little too now that the weather is warming up.

Inside Ideas

• Wash furniture slip covers
• Spot clean furniture, rugs, and carpet (I love my spot cleaning machine and this miracle product too!)
• Wipe out fridge/freezer & dispose of old items
• Wipe down baseboards
• Dust every surface
• Clean tile & grout
• Vacuum and mop all hard flooring

Outside Ideas

• Weed flower beds
• Clean windows (inside & out)
• Trim & prune buhes
• Clean up leftover leaves from winter

7 // Do Nothing at All

It is absolutely alright to do nothing at all. You do not need to do all the things in your time at home. I will say, now that I am feeling better and not feeling nauseous as I am moving further into my second trimester my need to do things has really kicked in, so I have been doing more than I normally would, BUT I still think it is very important to just relax and do nothing. We’ve been doing our fair share of TV binging (catching up on all the shows we wanted to watch!), taking slow mornings on the weekends to enjoy our breakfast and coffee, and sitting outside when the weather is nice.

I know I listed a bunch of things you could do above, but please don’t feel pressured to feel like you have to be productive. These are really just ideas if they strike your fancy – if you are feeling bored and need to move your hands (or mind) in a different way than you have been!