The simple act of improving your home with your significant other can not only lead to a sense of accomplishment, but it can strengthen your relationship, too. The following five home enhancement suggestions are designed to help you create a harmonious balance within your décor, comfort level, and relationship.
Create Space and Time for Little Rituals
According to experts, positive daily rituals and interactions serve as a buffer to bad news and hardship during a romantic relationship. The more little things you and your partner can do together, the less likely you are to be bothered by negative events, no matter how large or small.
To create these kinds of daily, positive interactions, it’s important to design spaces and routines that cater to them. An easy way to do this is to ensure that you share a meal at least once a day. Alternatively, you could develop a bedtime or waking up ritual that incorporates positive moments and activities.
If you have kids, updating your bedroom and making it as relaxing as possible can be key when it comes to boosting connections during morning and nighttime routines. This can mean updating your bathroom to allow both of you to brush your teeth together or updating your mattress.
Taking time to check and adjust the firmness of your mattress can be a positive moment in and of itself. To say nothing of the benefits a new mattress can bring to your health. Even if the two of you have different preferences, some mattresses are meant to accommodate those with different sleeping styles.
Invest In Shared Furniture
While it’s easy for both of you to have a favorite living room chair, there are some furniture items you can’t split in half. Your mattress, bathroom sink, and the living room sofa are three key places you should never have to compromise on.
Take some time to find pieces that fulfill both of your wants and expectations, even if they cost a bit more. You’re investing in your relationship as much as your home, so try to stay involved when it comes to these major purchases.
Re-purpose Worn, Sentimental Items
While letting go of the past can be beneficial, items that stir up fond memories shouldn’t have to disappear when they clash with current decor. For example, sentimental t-shirts and blankets can be re-purposed as wall art or throw pillows.
Small items collected on vacations and dates can be used to fill vases or bottles or added to decorative twine or thread to create unique string art. These small craft projects can add new life to your collection of keepsakes while allowing both of you to show off your creative side.
Never Underestimate the Power of Paint and Re-Upholstering
If you have pieces of furniture that you already love, but that don’t fit with the overall feel you want in your home, re-upholstering or painting them can make a big difference. Painting furniture is particularly easy and upholstery may be simpler than you think- as long as you’re working with simple furniture shapes, like rectangles and circles.
One of the biggest tricks to making any piece of furniture fit with a new style of décor is to play with mixed masculine and feminine aspects. For example, taking a lamp with a feminine filigree base and using a spray paint that lends it a hammered metal finish is an easy update. The same can be said with re-upholstering a large chair with a wide back in floral fabrics.
Set Up a Smart or Programmable Thermostat
The setting of your thermostat can cause a lot of friction. Temperature settings can affect a lot of things, from heating and cooling bills to sleep quality and daily comfort levels. Do you know what your ideal temperature is during the night or day? Does your partner?
While a programmable thermostat can help you stick to these temperatures, if you know them, a smart thermostat takes things a step further. Whenever you or your partner makes a change, a smart thermostat can keep track of when and to what, making automatic adjustments based on those metrics.
Alternatively, you can do this manually with any thermostat. Although the “ideal” room temperature is generally acknowledged to be 72 degrees, the ideal sleeping temperature is a bit lower, at 60 to 66 degrees. According to the Department of Energy, lowering your thermostat at night can cut heating costs by about 1% for each degree you lose.
