Designing a home that helps you beat burnout

We often think of burnout as something that comes from our schedules, our work or the pace of everyday life, but what’s often overlooked is the role our home plays. The way your home is laid out, how things are stored, how spaces flow, and how they make you feel all contribute to your disposition throughout each day. When these elements are thoughtfully considered, even the most mundane tasks can feel calmer and more effortless.

Make home life more effortless

The way our homes are designed can either cause friction and overwhelm, or they can streamline chores and simplify our routines. Our fast-paced lives, work, traffic, and endless to-do lists are already stressful enough, so there is no need for our homes to add to this. When designing work-zones like your kitchen, bathrooms, laundry and home office, there are a few important things to consider to make these spaces as functional as possible:

• Where are your particular bottlenecks? Consider the exact friction points that are making these chores harder than they should be, and work toward finding solutions that will help remove or reduce these.

• Group tasks together, so that completing these becomes streamlined and faster. For example, make unloading the dishwasher easier by placing the drawers/cupboards were all your plates/cutlery/containers need to go within an arm's reach.

• Make things easier to access by using drawers over cupboards, pull-out mechanisms for hard to reach corners, and dedicated storage for things like spices and oils.

• Give yourself ample clearance between and around cabinetry, showers, baths, and doorways, to avoid creating areas that become frustrating to use and travel through when others are also using the spaces.

Create spaces that rejuvenate you

It's important to have a clear separation between spaces made for working, focus, and high-attention, and spaces made for relaxation and switching off. Once you nominate a space for unwinding, like a bedroom or lounge, the first thing you need to do is not bring work into that space, as the mind needs to associate this space with relaxation only. Once you've done that, then you can start to transform the room into your personal paradise:

Make it personal

Consider what makes you happy so that you can include it within this space. This could be colours, artwork, photos, textures, plants/flowers, memorabilia, or even a spot for your favourite hobbies. This should be a space that feels safe and joyful, so you can fully relax.

Use Biophilic Design

Take advantage of our brain's natural preference for colours, materials and textures that remind us of nature and the outdoors. We feel naturally more relaxed and calm when surrounded by greenery and water, and even bringing small touches of these into the home can have a big effect on our mood. Greens and blues in particular tend to have a soothing effect on us, as do natural materials like timber and stone, and patterns with nature motifs.

Design for better sleep

Sleep is one of the most important ways that our bodies recover and prepare us to better deal with stress and problems. During sleep, the brain processes information and memories, and regulates mood and stress hormones, allowing us to improve our focus, patience, and resilience to stress. There are a few things that we can do in our home to prepare us for better sleep:

Lighting

Layer the lighting within your home so that you can mimic the way we would have experienced light out in nature. Our circadian rhythm relies on cues from light to know when we need to feel awake and when we need to prepare for sleep. At night you should therefore be transitioning from using bright overhead lights, to soft and warm lamps, wall sconces and pendants.

Noise disruption

Minimise noise in the bedroom by incorporating soft materials that absorb noise rather than reflect it. Examples of this could be large upholstered bedheads or armchairs, rugs, and soft fabric curtains. To reduce noise between rooms (and from neighbours), we also recommend having solid doors, good insulation, and double glazed windows.

Light pollution

Lights, like noise, can also disrupt our sleep. To ensure no light can leak through your window furnishings, they should be positioned at least 200-300mm past the window on all sides - but where possible, we recommend going even bigger than this! Floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall curtains not only block out all light, but also make the room feel extra cosy.

Your home should be the one place that supports you, restores your energy and makes life feel a little easier. When your environment is working with you, rather than against you, it gives you more time and energy to focus on what really matters.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog post. Have a wonderful week!

Nina xx