How to make your home feel like a haven in hibernation (if you feel like it)

Home is where the heart is. But now it’s also where the hustle, the kids, the cocktail bar, the gym and the boardroom are. We’ve jotted down 10 ways to foster a place of calmness in a time of calamity. There’s even wine! (You’ll just need to get it out of your fridge first).

Out with the old

While deep cleans normally carry spring connotations, there’s no better time for a spruce than right now. When confined to one space, we tire quickly of clutter and cacophony. Start with papers, fridge ephemera and other abode festoonments to sort what stays and what goes. Isolate different areas for each day (or each week) and tackle one space at a time. Maybe, it’s the pantry and a notorious bathroom cupboard tomorrow. Go slow and steady.

Fluff your pillows

You’ve probably spilled red wine on your old sheets by now. Or pasta sauce. Either way, Strip your doona down and peruse some new, buttery threads like these from The Sheet Society. The Soft Office (bed) commands our attention, emotion and denotes the aesthetic of our Place of Rest. With duvet days ahead and uncertainty mounting, cultivate a bed you can find solace in.

Overhaul your drobe

It’s almost a bodily reflex to totally gut your wardrobe when hauled up in the house for a little too long. Funnel frustration into a cutthroat clean of your clothes, shoes, bags and the prehistoric things you find way at the back. Put a podcast on, get the dust out, put the pieces you love in pride of place and dismiss the things that no longer ‘spark joy’, as Kondo would say. Then, if you’re in the mood, make room for forever outerwear like a ‘one walk a day’ coat from friends with frank or new PE Nation sweats.

Curate an unofficial WFH uniform (for when you’re feeling a little fancy)

Maybe it’s a virtual Bumble date, a Zoom WIP or a pub trivia night a la maison. Whatever’s spicing up your agenda, a touch of understated sartorial luxury littered here and there around the house can make you feel like you’re verging on normalcy. Think velvety slippers from Monte at the front door, ready for your limited excursions. (They’ll make you feel like you’re staying in a posh hotel).

Go on, order some new art

Transform your hallway into a gallery while the NGV goes virtual. Or, finally mount that one feature frame that you’ve let lean against the wall for aeons. If you’re creatively inclined, forgo the cash hemorrhaging and try your hand at your own canvas. Dial your friends in and issue a cork n canvas boozy painting session. After all, with potent quarantinis inspire great creativity.

Check in on your plants

Happy hour isn’t just for you. Top up your glass and do then do the rounds on your green babies. Promoting lush life and glorious foliage under your roof can revolutionise your mood tenfold, and a watering relay each day can instil a small (but worthy) new routine. We’ve all seen the memes in which we’ll propose to our fiddle leaf fig any day now, so show it some tender love and care.

Promoting lush life and glorious foliage under your roof can revolutionise your mood tenfold, and a watering relay each day can instil a small (but worthy) new routine

Blitz your bedside

Adorn your side table(s) with glorious ephemera. Maybe it’s a hand cream to restore sanitiser-ravaged hands, a dreamy candle or a pile of trending books. Three Women (Lisa Tadeo) and Adults (Emma Jane Unsworth) are on high rotation right now.

Order some blooms to your door

While the divine ritual of market-hopping and flower shopping is forbidden, there are some brilliant blooms businesses slinging freshly cut bunches straight to your door (or someone you love’s door). Heed attention to Instagram stories tagging local florists getting involved. If you’ve excused self-indulgence in the past, now is the time to buy yourself the roses.

Bake something

If only we had a dollar for every loaf of banana bread we’ve seen in the past fortnight. Baking is not a badge of honour or a government mandate in isolation, but it is something often soothing and remedial to do with yourself when the news, social media and a lacklustre pantry become too much. Hone your skills if you feel like it. And do it – if for nothing else – to engulf your living area in that ‘been baking’ fragrance for the day.

Streamline your WFH station

Nine-to-five can be a gruelling mission at home, when other inhabitants flit in and out of your space and distractions buzz on your phone all day long. It can also be extremely productive, comfortable (insert activewear here), and spliced with cheeky exercise/walk/food breaks that translate into better work. To build a WFH situ that is actually conducive to productivity, start by totally clearing your desk space and starting afresh. Find a quiet, removed space (if you can) with billowing light, a window and good feng shui. Keep a hand cream, lip balm, tea, diary, water and not much else within arm’s reach. Pay homage to that old age: less is more.