April 6, 2020
To my Cherished Design Client,
Hello. This letter is full of my gratitude for your support over the years. Working with you to successfully improve your home environment is a life long dream of mine that with your trust continues to come true for the past 20+ years!
Welcome to week 4 of our unprecedented situation. In reflection of this situation I wanted to do something to give back to my clients and their and families who’s lives I have touched on this creative journey throughout the years. I thought I would share some ideas of simple things you can do at home while sheltering in place to update, repurpose or freshen up your home environment. I will also share with you some personal experiences of sheltering at home with environment improving ideas. May this bring you cheer, laughter and a little more light in to your world!
In the past three weeks I have worked on making adjustments in our home environment to live most effectively together as a family in this new temporary “norm”.
The most impactful adjustment I made was rearranging our household to accommodate our three girls. Now that they are all living home I knew I needed to provide them with the best learning and living environments, to minimize their anxiety, and continue their success with online classes.
I started with knowing that Meghan and Lauren needed so be able to successfully live and work in their room, together. This idea was actually exciting to them (and me) as they had not been able to see each other since January. So my first focus was to creatively rearrange their room to accommodate two full size beds, a sitting area, two makeup tables, dressers and a desk.
What we came up with is a room that slightly resembles a dorm room. They both are enjoying their room together- even though it needs a new paint job!
Katy’s room still is set up with a desk, so just a cleaning off of that area was all it took for her to get her all settled in.
Don’t have access to a GYM anymore and need to find space in your house to stream your favorite gym classes? That was totally the case here! We have lots of people in our house who stream workout classes everyday so we picked the biggest brightest room in the house to enjoy our workouts in- our Living Room! So who needs a living room these days anyway. It is not like we can entertain and have anyone over for? We moved a few chairs around, lined up some yoga matts and added a row of weights. Now we have a workout station area that gets used several times a day! I have to admit it was a bit hard for me to see my pretty living room turned into a make-shift workout area, but this was a good exercise for me to learn to let things go and be okay with this new temporary norm. So what the couch pillows are not all in their proper place every minute of the day and the blankets are messy? It is a lived in room and a good use of space for this situation!
Working at home now? You may be among the lucky millions that are still working, and from home. This is a place that you need to sit 8-10 hours a day. 1. Do you have the space to allocate for a quite work place? 2. Is your desk free of clutter and large enough to accommodate the technology that you require to be successful? 3. Most importantly, what are you sitting on for all those hours? Do you have a proper adjustable ergonomic task chair?
If you had to pick one of the three questions to focus on, I am suggesting to get yourself a proper ergonomic task chair. They are easy attainable online these days at Amazon, staples or the like. It is so important to properly support your body while you work. You don’t need to spend crazy money or get anything fancy. A simple cloth and mesh chair that adjusts in height, and has a supportive back will do the trick. You can personalize your space with a new or repurposed rug, a vase of flowers and a few pictures.
It has always made me happy to see flowers. It was during the first week of this situation that winter turned into spring and the stores started stock up on all kinds of spring flowers. I picked up some tulips and a hydrangea plant last time I was in the grocery store and happily displayed them around my house. It is such a simple thing to add flowers in vase around the house. You can be creative and use a mason jar or a glass. I also love to put my forsythia branches from my yard in a vase on my deck so add more color and life to our environment. All these simple and inexpensive changes can bring days of color and light into your world. All these questions are important to consider for your success as your work environment changes and is incorporated with sheltering at home.
If you are working on a home project and have design questions, or if you find yourself tired of looking at the same room everyday and need suggestions as to how to bring more function, life and light in to the space, please feel free to email me pictures and your questions.
I am happy to take a look and suggest changes to improve your home environment, and support you now. Stay Safe and Healthy!
I hope that these few suggestions will inspire you to love your “sheltering in place” home environments even more and make it easier to #stayhomestaysafe.
With gratitude and love,
Jeaninne Comstock
Jeaninne Comstock Creative Interiors
