Self Care Starts With the Home

Recently, I was invited to return with a new presentation for Virtual Fitness and Wellness Fridays, a series provided by Wayne County Community College, School of Continuing Education and Workforce Development. I love talking about all things home related and I was especially excited to talk about home from the perspective of self care. I truly can not think of a more powerful self care practice than to create a sanctuary; an intentional home environment that supports the life you dream of experiencing.

This post is about one of the three ways that I talked about, to shift the energy of your home:

Decorating in a manner that triggers your thoughts,

words, and actions; supports your life goals; and

​redirects you towards joy

My client, David, is a perfect example of how to decorate in this manner. He wants a brighter, fresher look with a new paint color for the walls. Beyond selecting the paint color, he feels hopeless in his ability to create a space that reflects him and feels nurturing and comfortable.

Soon after we began working together, I asked him to share images with me of bedrooms that he finds appealing and then we talked about his likes, dislikes, and preferences. He chose to paint the walls a Benjamin Moore shade of greige;  Swiss Coffee (OC45). It is a balance between gray and beige with a slight green undertone and it will provide a fresh, clean foundation to work with.

He was nonchalant when we talked about the design of his room and the contents in it. The process of selecting images of bedrooms he finds appealing helped David become a little more comfortable thinking about his preferences and desires. He's starting to experience the uplifting power of self expression and is motivated to transform his room into an oasis that reflects who he is and symbolically affirms that he is inviting a new love relationship to emerge in his life. 

Bedrooms found on Pinterest that he finds appealing.

Notice the bold paint color choices in most of the pictures. Rather than on the walls, the bold contrast of color is going to be expressed in the new bed linens.

After deciding on Swiss Coffee for the new walls color, I selected these images to help guide and inspire David to create a room that looks cozy and feels inviting.

Source: The White Company

Source: The White Company

The layout of the images below give you an idea of how David's bed wall is going to look. He is getting new nightstands, lamps, bed linens, and artwork. 

Currently, his bedroom expresses a single person's lifestyle with only one lamp and nightstand and a spartan looking bed. Notice how the room is going to have a balance of masculine and feminine elements and be completely inviting for a couple. 

Following some Feng Shui principles, I suggested he add a hint of red as a symbolic affirmation of his desire for new love. 

David became open to the idea of creating a vision wall. I explained the importance of identifying and visually expressing his desires for romantic love, laughter, and adventure in his life. The conceptual drawing below is one area of his bedroom and this is where his vision wall will be. It will contain artwork and decorative items that symbolize love; not only romantic love but self love that is symbolized by the stack of his favorite books and photos of future travel destinations he longs for.

Vision Wall reflects love, romantic and self-love, and dreams of future experiences.

I am encouraging David to see this symbolic display as a prompt to shift his energy and uplift his emotions. By intentionally placing items that require his attention, I want him to see this as a moment to instill positive thoughts that he is tending to his own self care by actively engaging with this area. The simple act of turning on the lamp, lighting the candles, and watering the plants can help him affirm that he is nurturing the love area of his life.

A bedroom that was void of self expression, intention, and meaning left David feeling hopeless and uninspired. Now, he is improving his wellbeing and setting himself up for success. The changes he is making in his bedroom are supporting him in creating life experiences he desires. He is shifting the energy in his room, orienting his attention towards hope and joy, and creating a sanctuary that reflects his dreams and values.

This is the power of decorating in an intentional manner. Decorating matters. Design ​matters. Your feelings matter.

Interior designer. House-Coach. Guide.

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