February 01, 2012 at 7:55 AM

By Samantha Grose, Designer, JP&CO: A residential construction firm delivering a personalized home, an enjoyable process, and a remarkable pace.

The crazier my life gets, the more I realize the importance of making my home an organized and, above all, calming place. Sometimes keeping my calm is as easy as putting a few piles of stuff in their rightful places. Other times, the interior chaos requires some more permanent change. Although it is sometimes tough at first to simplify, I find that it always pays off in the end. Read on for my top 5 tips for creating a calming home.

1. Reclaim Your Surfaces: As a rule of thumb, I find that the more surface space in a room, the more inviting it becomes. When there isn’t anywhere to prop my feet, set a steeping cup of tea, lay down my work, etc. I’m often less inclined to feel at ease in any given room. This realization caused me to remove a lot of the unnecessary decorative items, and I haven’t regretted the decision since.
2. Balance Aesthetic Design with Functionality: An enormous challenge in my line of work (and one that I often value above all else!) is the aim of transforming a homeowner’s space into something beautiful and useful. Before considering furniture placement or purchases, always assess a piece’s functionality in your home. Yes, that red upholstered chair looks amazing—but it never gets put to use because it’s hard as a rock. The more comfortable the furniture, the calmer and more inviting the room becomes.
3. Use Color Therapy: Choose colors for your walls, rugs, and décor that add calm to the spaces in your home that need it most. The power of strategically used color in a space is truly transformative. It’s commonly accepted that different colors evoke different sensations and emotional reactions in each of us. Green, blue, and the neutrals white, black, and silver are often touted for their calming effects.
4. Take a Hint from a Minimalist: Ok, ok—no one is asking you to throw out everything but your couch and rug in the living room—but questioning the necessity of each item in a room is worth the effort. Items that go unused or visually compete in a room should be tossed or stored/displayed elsewhere. Likewise, there may be some items that are commonly used in a room, but not currently stored there. Consider creating a place for these items close to where they are commonly used.
5. Have a Place for Everything: The reason I often let my things get the best of my home is because I haven’t determined a good place to store them yet. Take note of your common countertop items and discover a sensible home for them. Once these storage spaces are established, take a tip from Fran Harris of HGTV and use “The Ice Cream Rule.” Harris asks, “If you walk into your house with a pint of ice cream, you don’t leave it on the counter for an hour, do you?” Apply the same rationale to all of the things you carry in the door and you’ll save yourself a whole lot of headaches later.

These calming concepts have helped me to keep my home calm and comfortable—may they do the same for you!

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