Want some more head space for your place? One of many things 2020 taught us was that extra space in the home has subtly transitioned from a luxury to an absolute necessity! Nearly half way into 2021, do you need some head space in your new place? Studies show that creating extra space for the home creates a mind-blowing amount of extra space for the mind!
For centuries, a house is not a home until each area of space is assigned to a particular task. We sleep in the bedroom; we work in the study and we rejuvenate, unwind and bathe in the bathroom. So, unless you’re completely mad and you enjoy cooking eggs in the gym, performing wild yoga moves in the kitchen and invite guests to barbecue events in the loft – It’s pretty clear that ‘the norm’ is the best way, with this unwritten rule here to stay! Here are LMB’s top 6 reasons why extra space in the home can promote positive wellbeing.
1. Celebrate Your Space
During Mental Health Awareness week, LMB recognise that the concept of health and wellbeing is not limited to simply exercise, diet, or ‘that’ endorphin spike we receive when our crush hits ‘like’ on our profile photo. Far more than that, in addition to our physical health, the house we live in plays a HUGE part in the way we interact. With impending lockdowns and uncertainty plaguing our culture, renovation is sweeping the nation with extra space at the forefront of the UK’s operation. Even a home’s ceiling height has a huge influence, with phycological studies showing that people who live in buildings with higher ceilings and prominent lighting are not only more creative, but far more engaged during social gatherings. So, before you begin to snore the next time you are visited by your Mother in law, let us raise the wall and feel ten feet tall!
2. Relationship Breather
Whether you need an extra five minutes in the ‘man cave’, the Mrs has placed you in ‘doghouse’- or you’re arguing over the television remote again- for generations, no matter how unified a family may be, ‘extra space for an hour or ten’ is considered to be a healthy, harmless and sometimes a necessary process to a happy home.
3. Happy Families
From diffusing arguments between bunkbed sharing siblings to pointless rows over the television remote, simply allowing for one extra room in the house can have a powerful effect on our collective wellbeing, allowing us to experience that much needed ‘us time’ in peace whilst we unwind from our stressful days. I’ll cheers to that!
4. A Sucker For A Succulent
Step aside avocado (you were so last year!) We are having a love affair with plants in 2020. As of late, the leafy goodness has taken centre stage in becoming the new cool things for millennials and allowing them in from the outdoors, they are here to not only decorate our homes but to reduce even panic attacks! A sucker for a succulent, even an earthy, airy, or botanical design can play a part on the psychology of our wellbeing (no matter how trivial) have a profound effect on who we are. For an Autumnal, comforting, cosy and energetic feel- combined with flamboyance, eclectic and intense feels, plants (more specifically a jasmine plant) can not only adorably compliment your home but can scientifically calm your mood, reduce anxiety and depression.
5. 50 Shades Of Colourway
The links between colour, architecture and mental health are real. Whether we like it or not, there is a distinct correlation between our choices of colour, and our impulsivity, anxiety levels and depression. Colours can evoke spontaneous emotional reactions that can affect mood and stress. This may in turn exert an influence on mental wellbeing, an effect that is particularly relevant to designers of the interior and exterior built environment. Whilst red creates a sense of urgency and panic, green creates a sense of harmony and peace, perfect to compliment an Autumnal night in by the crackling fire watching horror flicks!
6. Plan Ahead
Whether it is because the kids are getting bigger or you decided to get a new dog, having extra room and circulation routes can make it easier to change your lifestyle or rearrange your home’s layout as a response. If you are expecting to add to your family, pre-empting TONS of storage before the new arrival will help to promote a stress free, functional, and organised living space. Making it easier to allocate, label and adapt to your new living arrangement, there has been a huge trend for open plan living in recent years, but sometimes ‘broken plan’ (where the overall space is open but there are a few sub-divisions) can work better. We all need places to retreat to and creating cosy nooks can help with this process.
So there you have it, our top tips and tricks on how to expand your place and your head space. For more tips, tricks and information on how to turn your housing vision to fruition and turn your dreams into a reality, visit:
Loft Conversions, Home Extensions and Property Refurbishment (lmb-lofts.com)
At LMB, we are in full support of most charities, with Mind based in Croydon especially close to our heart. For information on how to donate, visit:
