STAY HOME, STAY CREATIVE 11 WAYS TO GIVE YOUR HOME A REFRESH DURING STAYING AT HOME ORDERS OF 2020

Throughout the United States starting in New York City, through tri-state are stay-at-home sanctions are being enforced by each governor in hopes to manage the pandemic of 2020.  

We are bound to our spaces be it a New York City Apartment or a residence outside a major city; leaving us with ample time between Zoom meetings during the week.

Why not take advantage of this time we have been gifted not only to be grateful for the things that really matter. To feel the blessing that comes with the gift of time.

As our Founder always say’s the best gift anyone can give me is TIME.  

Well here we are! All gifted with time on our hands so between Netflix, Hulu and Zoom happy hours, salons, meetings, meditations, sound baths, and shares on IG live. What else can we do with our time?

We wanted to honor that we are in special circumstances that the funds we do have we should spend wisely. These are 11 hacks we will be focusing on what we can do with what we currently have besides the day to day surface cleaning to stay healthy.

Organizing

Hack 1: Closet 

Organizing: Most closets even though they seem organized are not really that organized.

Our recommendation is to take things out then put them back, this also gives you time to also review and ask yourself the “Mary Kondo” question “does this truly give me joy”.  Organize by color, by top vs bottom by dressy vs casual within the color palate so you can easily mix and match. You may ask why I should do this if I am not going anywhere any time soon. 

To assist in daily mental health routine, we recommend that you continue to get ready every morning during the week like your heading into your office.  After all, as Bill Cunningham said, “Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life”. We could not agree more! 

Hack 2: Kitchen Pantry 

Almost all of us are cooking during the quarantine so why not take this time to take everything out and organize clean your shelves and label all your containers. If you have items you purchased from your neighborhood grocery store such as Whole Foods that are in glass jars, we recommend you save them and place them in the dishwasher and re-use them for storage of dry goods like, nuts or beans that have come in bag.  After running them over hot water to remove the existing label. Here is quick mixture to create your own non-toxic adhesive remover. Create a mixture of equal parts baking soda and cooking oil. Put the mixture on top of the label you want to remove. Wait at least 30 minuets. Then scrub off the bottle and the glue is-gone.

Hack 3: Bathroom Medicine Cabinet/Pantry 

Many of us have beauty routine that we rush through every morning to get to the office. 

Why not take moment and organize your bathroom pantry and/or medicine cabinet so you can take your time during morning and evening routines. 

New Perspective 

Hack 4:  New Furniture Layout

A new furniture layout will help you create new energy flow to your space as they say it’s all about perspective.  So why not take your favorite peace you already own and work through a new space planning idea. Move your sofa on another wall or rotate your living room set sofa and chair to face another direction. 

Hack 5:  Stylizing Accessories and books:

Take your accessories from dining room, kitchen, living room and bring them all on to either your kitchen island or your dining room table. Now look at how you can mix, and match pieces, look at texture, height and overall scale and see what works together and where and how these can live in a new location from where you originally took them.  With your books we would recommend remove them and dust them off and rearrange them on the bookshelf and insert and object creating breathing room on the shelf so it’s not over packed.

Hack 6: Setting the table 

No matter if you’re eating alone or dining with a family member. Why not take the time to set the table with the plate and flat ware that you usually save for company. This is the time to expand and break out of your normal routine and treat yourself.

Spruce your walls

Hack 7: Paint Touch up

We recommend touch up high traffic area like entrance and main living room wall any hallways. Most of us have some left over paint. If you have lived in super, you can ask them if they can fill small plastic container with paint. 

Any scuff marks we would recommend using the good old “magic eraser” to take care of light scuff marks. 

Hack 8: Artwork 

Take moment and evaluate how you can take your existing artwork and rearrange it in new layout to give you fresh look. 

Hack 9: Mirrors 

Mirrors are good way to create the allusion of more space. So, if your living in small space we would recommend taking your full-length mirror that is in living room or entranceand repurposing it and placing it an area that needs to feel more expansive. 

Plants and Gardening

Hack 10:

If you live in apartment and have plants most likely you have extra stash of soil underneath your sink or in your pantry. This great time to move some your overgrown plants into large pots by repurposing the ones that your removing larger plants out off. You can find some great deals to order on Esty and amazon for additional sizes.  If your larger residence that has front and back yard this good time to do some winter clean-up to prepare your garden for new plants and your herb garden for new seedlings. We recommend, The Sill, Terrain, Etsy, and Amazon give you arrange of places you can order on-line plants or your own tools if your managing your own home garden that fits every budget. 

If you don’t have any indoor plants at the moment. We recommend you do as it has endless benefits. No matter where they are placed on center of your coffee table, bookshelf or windowsill plants truly never fail to breathe life into a space.  With additional bonus that they are known to improve air quality. If you live in a big city, that alone is solid reason to consider adding it to your on-line shopping list.

Creating something out of nothing:

Hack 11:

If you have larger space and you most recently had family member or friend come stay with you, to get out of a major city and you do not have designated bedroom area we recommend turning your dean, study or dining room into extra bedroom. You can move in the extra day bed in new location, most homeowners have extra pair of drapery in the lines closet we would recommend ordering extension road on Amazon and hanging them up between the threshold providing privacy for your guest.

Stay home and stay healthy -  with warm wishes from FCD team. 

Ahlan (Welcome) to Functional Creative Design Blog. A destination where you will find inspiration for everything creative coupled with hospitality, wellness, fashion, mental health and spirituality inspired by journey of our Founder come along while we share insights as we travel the globe, meet and create new strategies within design + technology.