Level 4: How to make home a little more livable this weekend (Part 4)
Make staying at home this weekend more productive and organised with these home hacks.
The adjusted Level 4 lockdown restrictions comes with their frustrations, but one thing is certain, we need to stay at home this weekend, whether we like it or not.
Here is how you can make Level 4 more livable in your home this weekend on a mental, physical and emotional level.
The space you live in – your immediate environment – has a huge impact on your mental health and overall emotional well-being. Seeing that isolating ourselves from the coronavirus is recommended with South Africa having been moved back to Level 4 on Sunday, this weekend might be the perfect opportunity for you to create some Feng Shui in your home.
Sarah Barnard, a WELL and LEED accredited designer and creator of environments that support mental, physical and emotional well-being, says: “The home can transform from a source of stress or isolation to a sanctuary for calm and comfort.”
Use this weekend to make some small adjustments to the interiors of your home and see what effect it has on your mood, focus and anxiety levels. For many of us some decluttering might be in order, whether it is to convert your closet into a capsule wardrobe, sorting out your home office, adding some clever storage hacks to the kitchen or bathroom or organising the kids’ bedrooms.
It is also not a bad idea to move things around a bit. Do some research on the basic principles of Feng Shui and try your hand at arranging your home according to the five Feng Shui elements: Wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
Tidying up in general
If you have children in your home and the hallway (and the rest of the house) is always a mess, buy some pretty storage baskets online and put every family members’ scattered belongings in it for them to take to their rooms or offices as part of their house tasks. (These foldable utility baskets from Builders Warehouse are rather practical and not too expensive). Identify a spot for the baskets in the home where they can simultaneously feature as a decorative item .
Home hacks for your bedrooms
Wash all the bedroom linen and while you’re at it, store each bed’s linen in a pillow case to keep everything together and organised. This hack might just make living under lockdown a bit easier and reduce unnecessary anxiety.
Add some shelves, baskets or storage cabinets to the kids’ bedrooms for all the soft toys lying around. Another clever hack is to put the smaller soft toys in a hanging shoe holder neatly tucked away in the cupboard.
Shower plants for the bathroom
Boost your mood with some plants in your bathroom. Picture: iStock
Add some greenery to your bathroom with shower plants. Houseplants have a way of boosting the mood and why not boost the mood while showering? That should count for a double boost, don’t you think?
Some plants ideal to use in your bathroom include a spider plant, prayer plant, air plant, the hanging pothos, a peace lily, snake plant, peperomia or a heartleaf philondendron.
If you don’t have green fingers, you’d be happy to know that Typo offers an alternative to real-life greenery with relatively realistic hanging plants for you to buy online.
Read: Take your houseplant for a walk
Clever home hacks for the kitchen
Uniform jars in the pantry might add some cupboard space. Picture: iStock
A kitchen is often the one room in the home that always needs more storage space. One way in which you can add storage space to your cupboards is by putting up some cup hooks for cups to hang from. This shouldn’t take too long and is an easy weekend task to keep your mind off Covid-19 restrictions.
You can also create more cupboard space by buying some uniform containers for the pantry. You can buy an array of jars and things from The Refillery – a good route to follow as it will also encourage you to keep your kitchen more environmentally friendly. YuppieChef also has some great options to choose from.
Gardening not only has a positive effect on your mood, it also allows you to get some vitamin D, which is very important – especially considering Covid-19 – and you to get some form of exercise. Buy some herbs from your nearest nursery and add them to a shelf in the kitchen with a self-watering pot.
Gardening boasts vitamin D and some exercise, with the bonus of some fresh herbs in the kitchen. Picture: iStock
