How To: Beautify Your Home During The Quarantine | Covid-19 Series
Learn 4 tips on how to beautify your home during the quarantine / Covid-19 .
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of co-hosting a virtual “tea time” on Instagram Live with my client & friend, Brittany Wight of Wight Tea Co. If you don’t know Wight Tea - please check them out! Brittany and her brother Joey are a dynamite duo who work tirelessly to make the most delicious custom blend teas. I personally drink their brews every day! No joke.
Sipping tea “together,” Brittany and I chatted about my:
‘Top 4 Tips for Beautifying Your Home During The Quarantine’ (below)
‘Top 4 Tips For Maximizing Productivity While Working From Home’ (click link to check that out!)
Thanks to Coronavirus, most of us have suddenly needed to barricade ourselves in our homes. I’m on day 17+ of social distancing right now. Many of us are also facing weeks of cancelled jobs — which is perplexing and scary to say the least. If you’re like me though, cancellations be damned, you just can’t sit still. You’re suddenly filling your days with a plethora of mundane tasks to stay sane and cope with the drama (hence a new email list and barrage of new blog posts).
Besides all the frantic typing, working on my house has been the next best solution in filling the void. In an effort to help us all enjoy our habitats more as we face the next few weeks (if not months?) indoors, below is a guide on how to use Covid-19 for good — as an excuse to beautify our homes as we shelter in place.
(Over a year ago, Wight Tea Co., photographer Kate Grewal & I worked together to produce the photos currently on their website. Below are a few of my personal favorites. Photography by Kate Grewal | Prop & Set Styling by Limonata Creative)
TIP 1
SPRING INTO SPRING CLEANING
I get it. Cleaning is not the sexiest. However working on your space from the inside out can be extremely gratifying. It can improve your mood & health when indoors. Think of all those pesky dust bunnies rolling around like tumbleweeds and how that could affect the air you breathe. Not to mention allergies…
Last weekend my husband, Nate, & I rallied and deep cleaned our house, which we haven’t done in a year. We worked on it for 2 solid days and Knocked. It. Out. Even though Nate was a little grumpy on day 2, once finished, even he admitted the house looked better, felt fresh and that he was happy we did it! Cleaning may seem like work, but if anything, it’s a decent excuse to get away from digital screens and have the family (or roommates) participate for the greater good.
MINI TIPS:
Make a punch list.
Include basics such as:
Tidying
Dusting
Vacuuming
Mopping
Scrubbing bathrooms
Washing your laundry & bedding
Make everything sparkle:
Wash your windows (inside & out)
Polish wood furniture & appliances
Clean all mirrors
Clean out your fridge/freezer/pantry
Diminish allergy & bacterial triggers:
Wash your curtains/blinds
Change your air conditioner & furnace filters
Dust your vents & ceiling fans
Disinfect any frequently touched objects (ie. knobs, handles, remotes, keyboards, etc.)
Make it fun!
Get other members of your household involved.
Blast your favorite music and get groovy while cleaning
Turn it into a game by offering prizes to people once a group of tasks are completed.
Reward yourself afterwards - take a nice hot bath, treat yourself to dessert, have a pizza / taco party, turn it into game night!
TIP 2
SPARK JOY
If you’re not familiar with the tidying goddess, Marie Kondo, I’m impressed (and also believing you must be living under a rock ;) ). Over the past decade, Kondo has become a household name by sharing her Japanese-inspired philosophies on homemaking & well-being. Her main mantra states:
“Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy.”
Over the past few years, I’ve applied a great many Kondo-isms to my own home (here’s looking at you, closet!). I can personally attest that it greatly improves home organization & having your space represent you in the best way possible.
mini-tips:
Show love through objects in your environment.
Scavenger hunt!: Go around your home and remove items that don’t spark joy or no longer feel relevant anymore. Pack them into 3 separate boxes/bags:
1. Keep for later
2. Donate
3. Garbage
Gather items that you love but are accumulating dust in a box somewhere and find areas to display them. This could be a shelf, on your wall, besides table, coffee table, etc.
Display items that spark the most joy in places where you’ll see them most often.
De-clutter your space, de-clutter your mind.
Clutter & disorganization causes stress & anxiety; often sending your brain constant reminders that you “need to clean that or remove that.” Use this time to go through your home to remedy that.
Things you can de-clutter:
Any object that’s not in place or where it’s supposed to be.
Your closet & dresser: There’s often tons of shirts/sweaters/shoes/underwear etc. that no longer fit, you no longer like or that have random stains you can’t get rid of. Pack these in the 3 separate boxes/bags listed in Mini Tip 1 above.
In the kitchen: fridge, freezer & pantry. I know you have at least 3 boxes of expired goods somewhere in your kitchen. Get rid of them!
Medicine Cabinet: A few months ago, I took a deep dive into the medicine box in my bathroom. I was shocked at how many creams & over-the-counter pills were expired. Throw these suckers out!
Organize.
Place similar items in a box, basket, tray, container, etc. so that you can access them easier & organize them quicker.
Organize objects by size. This is a Kondo hack I LOVE! Especially for those pesky, overloaded kitchen drawers or toys. The “random utensil drawer” in my kitchen was insanely easier to navigate after I did this.
Rearrange. Place larger objects in the back, smaller ones in the front. That way you can see and access things quicker. This makes worlds of difference in your fridge, pantry or office supply closet.
Free space = free play!
Now that you’ve removed the clutter - LOOK at all the free space you can play with!
Use this as an opportunity to re-arrange furniture, restyle shelves, hang art or figure out how you want your space to feel more complete.
TIP 3
BRING THE OUTSIDE IN
(polaroids by Kyle Dorosz)
Due to Covid-19 many of us are stuck inside, feeling wildly out of touch with nature. At least, Nate and I are feeling these feels. There’s no better time than now to incorporate nature into our spaces. I have a black thumb and inevitably end up losing a few plants every year. However there’s so many other ways to incorporate plant life in your home that doesn’t require you to be a plant parent!
mini-tips:
For those of us that have black thumbs:
Go foraging for dried or fresh flowers, grasses, branches & foliage. Turn them into arrangements or wreaths for your home. I love picking out dried materials because I know they’ll last indefinitely.
While you’re out foraging, collect natural objects such as rocks, skulls, shells, etc. you find are beautiful. Clean them up and then display them in your house like any other decor. I have dried branches, rocks and shells I’ve collected over the years displayed in little spots all over our house!
Use silk or dried flowers/foliage to make a wall trellis, hanging door curtain or pressed flower art.
For those of us that have green fingers:
Grow flowers or herbs from seedlings inside. This can be a fun activity for all your family members to participate in.
Re-pot plants that have outgrown their vessels into cute new planters. If you can’t buy planters right now, get creative. Use other containers you might have lying around such as discarded paint cans, food cans, plastic tubs/jugs, etc. Decorate the outside with paint, paper-mache or faux finish them with concrete to make them extra pretty.
Learn how to propagate the plants you already have and make more plant babies (Hilton Carter is a great resource for this. Fun fact: he also lives in Baltimore!).
TIP 4
NURTURE NATURE
This last tip is for those who have an outdoor space such as a patio, yard, deck or even stoop. Nate and I just have a small stoop that leads to our parking pad & alley shared with neighbors. It’s definitely not the cutest (thanks to everyone’s garbage cans), but any outdoor space is better than no outdoor space in my opinion! We have enough room to fit a tiny 2-top table and grill. Every year we try to make the best of it. Here’s some tips to beautify whatever patch of nature you have. If anything, use this as an excuse to get some vitamin-D while social distancing!
mini-tips:
Tidy up: Remove any loose trash, weeds or unwanted piles of dirt/leaves.
Wash: Dust, pollen and grime collect all over outdoor objects. Power-wash or hose down any furniture, walls, fences, patios, etc. surrounding your space.
Repaint: Freshen up & waterproof anything that needs a touch up - fencing, walls, grates, metal work, furniture, planters, etc.
Grow: Plant herbs, flowers, grasses, bushes, trees, whatever your little heart desires to make you and your space happier. Last weekend I planted a whole bunch of herbs in small planters: dill, basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, sage. It’s only been 7 days and I’ve already clipped a bunch of fresh sprigs for our meals!
Decorate: Make your space cozy outside. Put out some outdoor furniture/rugs/pillows, twinkle lights, trellises, candles, hammocks, etc. Anything that will motivate you to spend time outside doing something you love: reading, sketching, eating, etc.
Make: There’s a ton of decorations you and your family members can make together to make your outdoor space extra special. Here’s some ideas: homemade wind chimes, painted planters, garden stones, DIY lanterns, sculptures, bird baths & feeders, etc.
Don’t be shy - say hi to me on social @limonatacreative ! Best of luck during the quarantine! WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER.
{All photos featuring Wight Tea Co Teas | Photography by Kate Grewal | Prop & Set Styling by Limonata Creative}
