Refining Our Hideaway Home
You’ve been told to stay home for the foreseeable future. I hope you’ve listened but staying home isn’t easy—even for me, a work-from-home, introvert. Usually when Hyler has cabin fever, I pop her in the car and we explore The Container Store together (and enviably find something I can’t live without). When Austin is feeling restless in his home office, he takes his computer to our favorite coffee shop. We can’t do that now. We can’t distract ourselves or change our location. But maybe we can change our environment.
This week, as inconvenient as the timing was, we had to move out of our home temporarily. In November, we signed a contract for an amazing program with our local public health department to remove any and all lead from our house because of the age of our daughter and the risk of lead to toddlers. We have been so excited to have this happen. And then a month ago, we were told that we wouldn’t just be relocating for the two weeks, we’d be removing everything from any room with windows. It was shocking. But at the time, COVID-19 wasn’t on our radar in the same way and we were just going to be displaced for a bit. Then self-quarantine started and it started changing the way we would move out. We’d have less help with our furniture but also, we’d need to be wise in packing, purging and redecorating if staying home was going to be a lifestyle instead of a choice.
As I worked through each room, I made a pile of things that I didn’t need to own anymore. Things that sat on shelves just to be there or items I had stored for years that I liked but could be better loved in someone else’s house. I sold things. I purged things. I donated things. For the sales, I arranged local, contact-free pick up on my porch and Venmo for payment. I made enough to purchase new curtains for our bedroom when all the work is done and I don’t have to maintain and store things that I don’t use.
I also made note of things I forgot about. I reimagined them in other areas of the house. I used to do this a lot before I was married. I’d “shop” other rooms in my apartment when restyling a bookshelf or a coffee table. Seeing things in a new light and new setting gives you appreciation for them again. I’m excited to pull things out of boxes and give new purpose to pieces I’ve collected over the years.
I sought out problem areas. When we are busy living our daily lives, scuff marks, plaster nicks and junk drawers (or closets in my case) get put off for someday later. Our spaces affect us more than we know and when we’re daily seeing issues that could be easily taken care of but not doing anything about it, it eats at us and weighs on us. When we get access to our house again, my goal is to spend a day before the furniture gets moved in just touching up paint, fixing holes and carefully considering where everything should go. As I packed the house, I spent a lot of time reorganizing the closets. There were tons of things from my office still in Hyler’s closet and there were so many random newborn things just floating from room to room without a real place to go. I didn’t want to hate myself when we moved back in so I sat down and did something that would be easier to put off.
In a bigger way, we’re also looking at redoing some rooms to make our house more efficient for us now and later. Austin’s office is on the main floor without a door. It makes it challenging for him to work while Hyler is playing because she wants her BFF to join her fun. The first room of our unfinished basement would be fairly easy to finish. Right now we use it as a pantry overflow room but some new paint and flooring could make it a suitable space for Austin to set up his home office. That would open up our floor plan as well as we’d get to take the baby gates down and turn the current office into a play room. We already planned to work out our landscaping this summer but spending more time at home will make this project even more of a priority so we can better use our outdoor spaces. I plan to garden as much as possible during the day and put my feet up on our patio as much as possible after Hyler goes to bed at night.
This is not going to be an easy or luxurious season. This is not a staycation. Honestly, as two self-employed business owners, we really have no idea where our incomes will be coming from in the next few months with businesses closing and weddings canceling. But we do have opportunities and time like we’ve never had before. All of us do. And we might as well enjoy the spaces we are confined to a bit more, right? Maybe a bright spot of this whole thing is that we appreciate and honor our belongings and homes like never before by giving them due attention so that when regular life returns, we can say we used our time and our spaces well.
photo by Lauren Day for Moglea
Refine Your Home With:
An Editing Eye. So often we think that if we already own something, we have to use it or hold onto it, even if selling it could allow you to save up for a piece that you’d really love or donating it would free up space and declutter.
Imagination. Shop your rooms. Rearrange your art. Try propping pretty accents under books or wood cutting boards. The things you already have can be reimagined in a new way. Hide your books with neon colors and find a new home elsewhere in your house for the bright red object that always catches your eye in the wrong way. And your favorite pieces? They shouldn’t live on a shelf in the laundry room. They should be displayed where you spend the most time.
Small Projects. Make a list of problems to be fixed. Break it into teeny tiny tasks and just get them done. You don’t have to be moving out to decide to do the task that never gets done. If you have little kids, try to accomplish something during nap time. If you are working from home, take advantage of being at home during your lunch hour and tackle something that can be done in 60 minutes. Touch up paint takes about 5 minutes, including finding the paint, shaking it and brushing it on the wall, just as a reminder. Fix the broken curtain rod. Change the bathroom door knob. Get the spot out of the carpet. These things don’t take much time but they do take up space in your brain.
Whole Space Overhauls. This doesn’t have to cost much money but it does require creativity. Think of poorly or rarely used spaces in your home. How can they better serve you as you temporarily work from home? How can they better serve you in the long run? Make a list of things you already have like a few gallons of unopened paint or a carpet fragment or a bookcase in the next room. Your home should be benefitting and serving your life, and if it’s not, figure out how to redesign your spaces to do so.
If you need help reimagining your space, I’m offering 30-minute, half-day and full service designer sessions where I virtually design and style your space. A preliminary questionnaire, measurements taken by you, inspiration images and a video conference where you show me the ins-and-outs of your room gets us started and then I spend the rest of the day putting together a design and plan for you to implement.
If you want to learn how to use software, concept boards and techniques to design your own space, I created an online course, How-To Home, that teaches just that and for a limited time, I’ve reduced the price to make projects at home more obtainable in this hard season. You can use the code STAYHOME at check out for 20% off the course price.
I hope you’re doing well and I hope you’re finding something hopeful and restful about being home more and more. This isn’t easy for anyone and every person I’ve talked to has a unique and powerful story of how this virus has affected their jobs, their families, their health, their freedom and their houses. I’m so sorry for how this is affecting you and I’m here if you need any ideas on how to make your home the life-giving place you need right now.