Simple home decoration ideas that will create more quality time

As moms our homes can be both a source of joy and a source of stress. I often felt this after the birth of my second son. I was grateful to be home with him but also overwhelmed by all the housework and had very little time or energy to do it.

In general, starting new home projects can be hard because there are many other things you could be doing instead.  However, there are little changes we can make in our homes that have a BIG IMPACT on how we think, feel, and connect with our families.

Here are 3 practical and simple home decoration tips you can try out today! None of them require buying anything new but rather ‘shopping your home’ and getting creative about using what you already own.

 

1. Enhance your favorite areas

This is all about taking time to appreciate the little joys your home already has to offer. 

Action steps:

1. Write a list of 10 things you appreciate about your home. Circle your favorite one.
2. Take a moment to reflect on what you enjoy about that area.
3. Then ask yourself: “Is there any way I can enhance this area? What’s something I can add to make it even more enjoyable?”

For example, if you love the view from a certain window, maybe you could enhance it by switching curtains or placing a comfy chair next to that window and turn it into a reading nook.

Having a personal zone in your home that brings you joy is a great way to treat yourself throughout the day. It will encourage you to take an extra two minutes to drink your cup of tea in your ‘new’ reading nook.

Even if it’s only a few minutes a day, those little moments of quality ‘me time’ are worthwhile. Taking time for yourself is one of the best ways to give more time to your family.

 

 

 

 

2. Display décor with meaning and intention

Have you ever set a new goal and then totally forgot about it?

This happened to me a lot after becoming a mom. There are so many decisions to make on a daily basis, that it’s harder to remember long term goals.  That’s where your home décor can help! It can be a visual reminder that will motivate you to pursue your goals. 

You can do this by decorating with meaning (what) and intention (why).  Knowing the meaning will help you choose items you want to display and knowing the intention will help you decide where to put them.

Action steps:

Ask yourself these questions

1. WHAT would you like to do more of as a family?
2. WHY would you like to do it? (Why is it important to you?)
3. HOW can you do this more often? (What’s stopped you from doing it before?)

 

Next! Shop your home, start looking for items that remind you of ‘your what’ and ‘your why’. Use the ‘how’ question to think about the practicalities.

It’s important that the items you choose can be placed somewhere they’ll stand out and catch your attention.  Typically this means removing items that aren’t so meaningful. For example, if you have a kitchen with open shelves, you could display your favorite cookbook next to a plant on one of the shelves. The green plant will catch your eye and you’ll notice the cookbook next to it right away. It’s a perfect visual reminder if your goal is to test a new recipe once a week. Make sure to keep only those two items on the shelf.  The less there is competing for attention, the more your meaningful décor will stand out and be easier to remember! 

My own example: Art

As another example, here are my own answers about my goal:

1. WHAT: To create more art together with my sons.
2. WHY: It brings me joy and is something I dreamed about doing as a mom.
3. HOW: It needs to be EASY to take out and clean up, with lots of floor space to spread things out.

 

Here’s a list of the visual reminders I chose:

• I displayed my paint brushes in a glass jar with a flower on top of my desk.
• I hung twine across one wall in the boy’s room to hang their artwork on.
• I displayed artwork I’d created around our living room.

 

 

 

 

For the practical side, I moved our coffee table to another room. That opened up more floor space so we could easily lay out an old shower curtain and set up our painting supplies any time we wanted to paint!

 

What I love about finding meaningful and intentional décor is that it’s a process you can repeat again and again in different rooms or with different goals for your family members.

Remember to focus first on shopping your home to find these items. Especially when looking for meaningful décor it’s always a good idea to check in closets, under the bed, or other storage places. Typically those are items you’ve been holding on to because they have a special memory or meaning attached to them.

 

3. Make taking care of your home a family activity

This is a big one! Delegating household tasks as a mom isn’t easy. Have you ever asked your husband to put the dishes away only to end up re-doing it all over again, your way?

Delegating was a challenge for me because I cared the most about how things were displayed and organized. So I’d try to do it myself instead of asking for help. In reality though, I was rarely able to do everything I hoped. Something that’s helped me delegate better has been establishing ‘home care habits’ together with my family.

This works well because I’m able to guide the process and everything goes much faster with all four of us helping each other. Some examples of ‘home care habits’ for us are: setting and clearing the table at dinner time and picking up toys as part of my sons’ bedtime routine.

Not only is it helpful, it’s also an opportunity to invest time as a family to create a home everyone loves.  It’s less about what you do and more about spending time together which is what young children want most of all.

Here’s a list of a few ‘home care habit’ ideas:

• Involve your children in the cleaning and make it part of their daily routine.
• Work on creating something (DIY) to use or display in your home.
• Grow plants or garden together.
• Plan out future home projects.
• Rearrange furniture and shop your home together!
• Ask about their favorite spots at home – what they like and why, then decorate a space with meaning and intention together with them.

Action step:

Choose 1 or 2 ‘home care habits’ you can establish in your family.

Depending on the age and attention span of your children, these activities will vary. However, the goal is the same: encourage your children to take care of the home together with you. Not just as a one-time event but continually.

 

So there you go! Three simple home decoration ideas that also encourage quality time in your home.  Which one are you most likely to try out first?

 

About Yun-A Johnson

Yun-A Johnson is an American mom living in Norway with her husband and two toddler sons. She is an Interior Redesigner and runs her own company called Your Aesthetic Style where she empowers busy families and small business owners to turn their visual inspirations into a beautiful reality.

Yun-A’s passion is to inspire families to create homes that encourage lots of family time because it’s those quiet moments together that we come to cherish the most.

Download Yun-A’s free guide to being your own home interior designer here. 

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