I was visiting a friend recently, and he had just finished renovating his living room. He was going on and on about the insanely expensive sofa (I have to be honest, it’s a beautiful sofa), the designer end tables, the silk curtains, the pricey art on the walls, etc. And, hey, I get it. He REALLY loves his new living room, and he spent a lot of money on it.
Why shouldn’t he brag a little?
Then we went over to the kitchen for a glass of wine, and man.
You have to squint if you’re doing anything on the counter because the only source of light is an overhead one that casts shadows everywhere. I think he’ll chop off his finger along with his vegetables any day now (hopefully not!).
But yeah, it’s a strange world we live in. Some wall art can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and people are more than happy to part with such a sum. And at the same time, they’ll settle for a barely functional kitchen.
But the stuff you settle for every day determines how comfortable you are in your home.
Which Parts of Your Home People Don’t Pay Attention To
Well, once you live somewhere for more than a couple of days, you naturally stop noticing parts of the place. And it’s not your fault for doing so. Most of us do it.
The closet door might be annoying, but you shut it, and you’re done. There are more important things to worry about, right? And why would you bother with the hallway when it’s only something you go through to get from one room to the other?
Well, I’ll tell you why you should bother with stuff like this, because ignoring it makes your home (and life) less comfortable than it could be.
Windows and Lights
You put the windows up and clean them once in a while. But other than that – more precisely, if we didn’t do that – we’d forget about them completely. But when you think about the fact that it’s the windows that let light into the house, and it’s the windows that let you see outside of the house, it’s not exactly ideal to ignore that.
We all know about the benefits of natural light, right? If you have windows, then you have some of it, but what I want you to notice is light in general, even artificial light.
Does your furniture block it? Are your curtains too thick? Do you need a floor lamp for that dark corner?
And what happens if you end up ignoring these details? The entire home will feel kinda off.
Storage Issues
For almost everyone, storage is all about, well.. It’s about storing things that you aren’t using right now, or storing things that you won’t be using for a long while. And it’s also behind closed doors, so this doesn’t help. Because of that, you forget about it. You don’t really think about it.
But if you ignore storage, especially if there are problems, it could get messy REALLY fast.
Just imagine having a closet packed with winter coats. Where will you store the rest of the stuff? If you organize your kitchen cabinets according to the way your cooking routine looked in the past, it’ll always be messy now.
So, what all this means is that you should get rid of everything you don’t need (or want). Don’t hoard.
Once you’ve cleaned house, check what’s left and put everything back, but in a way that makes sense for your current lifestyle.
Heating/Cooling
You don’t see your heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical systems, but they’re the most important parts of your home.
My buddy in Alabama is an HVAC contractor, and I have to say, I’ve found some ways to make use of Alabama HVAC continuing education courses and resources. Not directly, though. He’s always taking tests and education courses, so I find out a lot about new technologies and HVAC systems in general from him.
Anyway, he always says that nobody thinks about their HVAC until something’s wrong with it, which makes sense, I guess.
And another thing he told me is that people can notice when it starts to go off because the house feels different as their HVAC system ages. If people paid attention to things such as drafts, repairs would be much easier and cheaper, not to mention how much more comfortable their homes would be.
Entryways and Hallways
These are the spaces you use every single day, but you probably don’t care about them a lot. And what typically happens here is that you see the area behind the front door (a.k.a. the hallway) becomes a storage space where you toss your shoes, jackets, umbrellas, and things like that. And then you move on. It’s just the hallway, right? But here lies the problem.
The hallways are dark, and it’s a miracle you haven’t broken your nose from tripping there, but you put up with it.
Although you may not notice it, these spaces stress you out a little all the time.
That’s a shame, since all it would take to fix them is a hook rack and better lighting.
Conclusion
A perfect home doesn’t exist. You’ll never get it to be perfect, no matter how much you try.
But why not make it less annoying?
You put up with so much stuff already, and every day, we’re forced to settle and make compromises for a million little things. It makes no sense to come back to a home that also makes you settle and compromise.
As you’ve seen, the fixes are so easy, it’s ridiculous. I’d say you have no excuse for that jammed closet door and the mess in your entryway.
2 Interlinking Opportunities:
From https://www.easyrest.com/10-types-of-wooden-furniture-that-improve-storage-and-organization/ with anchor small things
From https://www.easyrest.com/how-lighting-shapes-the-mood-of-your-bedroom/ with anchor A comfortable bedroom
