5 Ways to Appreciate Your Home Right Now, Flaws and All

There’s no shortage of advice about how to improve your home. While there’s nothing wrong with dreaming about your next house project, home-improvement FOMO doesn’t do anyone any favors. Enter the concept of Home Positivity: By focusing on the things that make your space uniquely home, you can cultivate contentment in it right now, without a trip to your local Lowe’s or Home Depot.

To help your mind zone in on the positive things about your space, we asked some experts to suggest home-positive thought exercises. Here’s what they had to suggest:

“It’s easy to get caught up in feeling like you have to constantly improve your space and forget to celebrate and be grateful for your home as it is now. Try shifting your thoughts from the physical aspects of your home to the people who spend time there. Think about the guests you have hosted and the meals you have shared around your table. Find gratitude in the comfort and generosity that you have been able to provide friends and family by sharing your home and in turn the pleasure you have enjoyed in their company.”

—Claire DeBoer, New York City-based professional organizer, Home Decluttered

“I’d like to give a shoutout to mining the sensory pleasures of where you live. (Beyond just, y’know, stuff looking good.) I’ve lived in my current home in L.A. for a little over a year, and still pinch myself about how much natural light it gets. Most of the windows in the living room face southwest, which is a ::chef’s kiss:: for the kinds of houseplants I like to grow. The sunlight also feels amazing on my skin while I’m reading on the couch.

To see my birds of paradise grow so tall and perky is something I literally thank my humble abode for. By contrast, my last place had stunning vaulted ceilings, but it was so shadowy because it faced northwest, so houseplants would drop their leaves in surrender within the first week. On another sensory note: The tile floors took some getting used to, but the first time I felt their coolness under my bare feet during a very hot Los Angeles summer, I knew I was renting the right place.”

— Chantal Aida Gordon, co-founder, The Horticult

“I’ve turned cleaning into a ritual for myself to express my gratitude for my home. I love to straighten up once a week and then light some sage to cleanse the space of negative energy. As I’m walking through my home with the sage, I am giving appreciation for every little corner and nook, as well as objects and furniture. It turns cleaning into something I enjoy doing, and it’s a great way to reset the space (and my mind!) for a new week to come.”

—Sarah Ashley Schiear, Founder of Salt House

Rearranging furniture has to be classified as some sort of legit therapy, because it’s an immediate boost for me every time. And bonus, it’s free to do! I love trying furniture in different configurations or even moving pieces from room to room. Most recently, I moved our coffee table from the family room up to our study. And I love it in here! (Disclaimer: I loved it downstairs, too, and I’m pretty sure it would look good wherever it landed.) This rearrangement was not just for looks though. The girls are really starting to use the playroom to its fullest now, inviting friends over, and because this coffee table was not inexpensive–I wanted to set them up for success (a.k.a. not get in trouble for hurting furniture that I put in their play path), so I moved it up here. This exercise made me thankful for a home that is so functional—and where special pieces can find new homes when they really need to.

—Julia Marcum of Chris Loves Julia

I think it’s really easy to forget one of the most important aspects of home—providing safe shelter for ourselves, our families. Few, if any, homes are perfect so there’s always going to something. And whenever I find myself obsessing over and being annoyed with that “something” I try to pause. I take a moment to just be thankful—thankful that I have an imperfect home that’s filled with love that serves as safe shelter for my family.

—Christine Platt of The Afrominimalist