As a Sydney-sider, you’ve no doubt become comfortable with spending more time at home. While it’s easy to yearn for the days of long cafe brunches, lockdown at home can give us the opportunity to look at our spaces with fresh eyes. We know that by completing simple tasks like making your bed each morning can help to provide you with a sense of routine and a feeling of productivity, but there’s a range of other easy ways to refresh your home right now to help your home feel more like a sanctuary that you’ll never want to leave.
Create a mood board
It’s always the first step in my design process, and for good reason. Mood boards are key when designing or styling a space because they act as a reference to base all of your decisions off of. My go-to place for visual inspiration is Pinterest, where I’ll filter images into specific boards for organisation eg. ‘living room’ or ‘lighting’. I create all of my mood boards in Photoshop, but an easy and free online alternative like Canva will do the trick. If you’re more of a tactile person, a great way to spend an afternoon is by sorting through any design magazines you’ve got lying around and attaching any pages that inspire you to a board or sticking them in a book. A mood board can be as simple as capturing a feeling you’d like to create at home with images from a range of sources, or very specific, showing exact colours, materials and styles if you’re looking to completely re-design a space.
Image credit: Cate St Hill
All about ambience
When I talk about ambience in a home, I’m referring to all of the senses that you’re aware of when you enter a new space — distinctive aromas, sounds, temperature etc. The most effective way of upping the ambience at home in my opinion is through scent. Incorporating specific scents in a room through the use of candles, diffusers and sprays can instantly shift the way you view a space. Whether you want to feel more relaxed in a space, or you’d like to feel uplifted and energised, there’s a signature scent out there for you to try. Other than radiating beautiful aromas, candles offer a beautiful flickering focal point and personify warmth and a homely feeling.
Image credit: Cate St Hill
Liven up your room
From air purifying benefits to providing a resort-style aesthetic, there’s no better time to incorporate plants into your home. Small or large, indoor plants are a sure-fire way of freshening up a space and making a room feel more organic and comfortable. If you’ve already got a favourite plant on the balcony that would be well-suited to a sunny window position inside, see how the new green introduction shifts the feeling in the room. Smaller, trailing plants are perfect for shelves and buffets, while cut stems are a subtle and affordable way to inject a much-needed touch of nature inside. My favourite go-to foliage is monstera leaves, philodendron stems and even Australian natives like eucalyptus and wattle. Add a ceramic or glass vase and place on your dining table or kitchen bench to instantly brighten the space.
Fresh bed linen
You know the feeling — you’ve just made the bed with sheets straight from the dryer and it feels like a comfy cloud that you could spend hours wrapped up in. The power of fresh bed linen is underestimated, and it’s a quick way to get your bedroom feeling like a relaxing sanctuary again. I recommend switching up your colours every couple of weeks as well to keep things interesting, and my bed linen staples are always light greys and beiges, pinstripes, and of course, a fresh white set. A budget-friendly way to introduce new patterns or colours is to buy a set of pillowcases to complement your existing pieces, such as an olive green or burnt orange tone. My favourite thing to do after the bed is made is to use my favourite Aesop room spray to instantly transport me to a warm Italian night by the sea.
