Far too many people find the homes they live in a source of stress and anxiety instead of calm or rest. Your home is the one place you should feel the most comfortable, yet so many people live in an environment that stresses them out. Without a place to escape from it all, how will you ever be able to relax and prepare yourself for the next day? We’ll go over how to create a more relaxing home environment so that you can make your home a rejuvenating place rather than an upsetting one.

Remove Clutter Wherever Possible

A cluttered home can only breed a cluttered mind. When your home is full of clutter, whether you have documents laying out, children’s toys everywhere, or just general messes strewed about, your brain won’t have the chance to relax. It’s too busy trying to parse through all the visual stimuli around it and making lists of what needs to take place to fix it. If you have a hard time throwing things away, consider donating as much as you can to places like the Purple Heart Pickup so that your old items go to a good cause.

Understand How Color Can Affect You

If you want to create a more relaxing home environment, think about every aspect of the rooms you spend time in. For example, the room’s principal colors, such as the walls and ceiling, can have a significant effect on how you perceive it. Bright, loud colors can stimulate your brain more, making you more likely to be anxious or nervous. Stick to cooler colors and more muted tones for a more relaxing room.

Use More Greenery for Decoration

Sometimes, our homes can feel a little sterile or almost too perfect. A great way to counteract this is to use more plants and greenery as decoration. Not only does this put a little more life into your home, but it also increases the amount of oxygen in a room. Our brains need the right amount of oxygen to function and relax, so using plants to decorate is a win-win situation.

Utilize Natural Lighting

Just like with plants, natural lighting is a free mood booster. Too much artificial lighting can make a room feel stagnant and boring—almost like you’re in an office. Our bodies crave sunlight, and the more we can get it, the better we tend to feel. Wherever possible, try to use natural lighting for a more relaxing feel. If you don’t have many windows, replace your lightbulbs with daylight bulbs and use mirrors to spread the light around more.