4 minute read
Refresh Your Space to Recharge Your Life in 2021
BY MELISSA-MARIE MARKS
A
s we settle into a new year full of new hopes and opportunities, 2020’s lingering shadow may be diffi cult for some of us to get away from. Many of us are still spending most of our time in our houses, either because we are working from home or homeschooling our kiddos, and it is easy to simply continue the same routines 2020 mapped out for us.
But it does not have to be that way.
If we want something diff erent in this new year, something brighter and more optimistic, we must fi rst choose to make a change, and then take action to make that change a reality.
According to Melanie and Denisha Walker, LGBTQ+ power couple and owners of Studio MD, Gainesville-based interior design company, that change must start at home.
Make Your Home Your Safe Haven
I asked Melanie and Denisha to share their top DIY hacks for updating our home spaces in 2021 so we can manifest a new year fi lled with abundance, success, happiness, and peace.
Melanie compares updating one’s home to updating one’s wardrobe.
“It reminds me of fashion, of clothes,” Melanie says. “To prepare for winter, you might need to get out those sweaters and thicker socks. You have to adjust to the new season.”
Melanie explains that if we want 2021 to be a refreshing new year, our physical home space needs to refl ect that refreshing feeling.
“With all the chaos outside, your home must be your safe space.”
Get Rid of Stuff
Denisha believes an important component of refreshing your space is getting rid of things that no longer serve you.
Clothes you do not wear, books you will never read again, old dishes; if you have not used it in six months or more, chances are you do not need it.
“When in doubt, throw it out!” Or better yet, she says, donate it all to your local thrift store.
Melanie agrees. “2021 is a great opportunity to declutter, start from scratch, and choose to be surrounded only by things that give you good vibes.”
Rearrange Your Furniture
Updating your home does not always have to break the bank.
“Shop your house,” Melanie says. “You may not need to buy anything at all, you may just need to redirect something to a diff erent area.”
Melanie suggests that a console from one room might be a desk in another. The not-quite-rightfor-the-living-room chair might be perfect for reading in your master bedroom.
“We’ve helped a lot of people spruce up what they already have.”
And the best part of rearranging your furniture?
“It’s free!” Melanie states.
Set The Mood With Lighting
Melanie and Denisha encourage their clients to test out a variety of lightbulbs in each room, and to be intentional in their choice of specifi c lights to create specifi c moods and feelings.
“If a client says, ‘I want to feel cozy,’ I don’t install stark white light bulbs. That’s not cozy—that makes me feel like I’m in a hospital.” Melanie explains. “Get in touch with how you want to feel in that room and then choose your light bulb to refl ect that feeling.”
For her bedroom, Melanie personally chooses soft white lighting with a little bit of a yellow glow and a lower wattage.
“I don’t want to wake everyone if I need to turn on the light in the middle of the night,” she says.
When you are ready to change out your bulbs, remember to choose eco-friendly options and consider smart light bulbs, which allow you to use color therapy to enhance your desired mood.
If there is room in the budget, Melanie recommends installing dimmers for specifi c rooms such as the bedroom, hallway, and dining room.
“If dimmers aren’t an option, though, you can replicate them by using a combination of overhead lights, lamps, and candles.”
Give Those Walls a Fresh Coat of Paint
Melanie believes that a fresh coat of white or another light color paint is the clean slate by which all other design components are implemented.
“And when you see that clean slate in your home,” says Melanie, “it reminds you to apply that clean slate to your life.”
Denisha says that spending so much time at home due to the coronavirus allowed her to notice elements in her home that she was not happy with.
“For us personally, it was the color of our walls-they were Real Estate Beige! Now they are Sherwin Williams Silky White.”
Bring Nature Indoors
Both Melanie and Denisha agree that detoxing your home is an important element of detoxing your life.
“Keeping your air purifi ed is extremely important, and plants are my number one recommendation,” says Melanie. “We have a lot of plants in our home.”
Regularly opening the windows and doors, as well as utilizing ceiling fans, will also help to clear out air pollutants and even old, stagnant energy.
“Sage your space, bless your home, cleanse it.” Melanie and Denisha recommend.
“It’s the little things that you may not think about that can often aff ect you in a big way.” — MELISSA-MARIE MARKS is a freelance writer based in North-Central Florida. She specializes in writing about green business and green technology, renewable energy, conservation and sustainability, and holistic health. Melissa graduated from The Florida School of Traditional Midwifery in 2012 and practiced as a Florida licensed midwife until 2018, when she retired from private practice to focus on her writing career. She spends her leisure time camping with her kids and manifesting a life she loves by utilizing the law of attraction.
