Show Love

If your space is feeling a little BLAH and uninspiring, the quickest way to show it some love (and get a little boost yourself as a result) is by painting a wall. Bright colors are great for breakfast nooks and home offices where you want to be awake and productive in and softer more tonal colors are great for relaxation and rest. If your space is feeling like it needs a little something fresh, paint a wall a nice, bright color that goes well with your existing décor and the mood boost will be instant. Color is one of the most powerful elements of design we can wok with so knowing that- use it to your advantage.

CLUTTER

Clutter represents old, emotional baggage that no longer serves us and is “taking up space” where new opportunities could be coming into our lives. We see it on almost every residential project we work on so it’s a big one for most people. Once you realize what it represents and how powerful releasing it is, it’s an easy one to tackle.

Since it can be overwhelming, it’s important to start one room or closet at a time. We love using the Marie Kondo method where we ask- does it spark joy? And if the answer is no, then you thank the item for its service and give it away. Once you get through your first closet or room, the thought of doing your entire space will become a whole lot less overwhelming as you will begin to feel lighter and may even see a new opportunity
come your way.

SANCTUARY

Because the pace of life just keeps getting faster and faster and being stressed has almost become a daily ritual, the importance of creating a pocket of sanctuary at home is paramount to wellbeing. Whether it’s a super chill bedroom or a comfy chair next to a window with a nice throw blanket, it doesn’t matter. The idea is to create at least one small area that screams relaxation and that you can spend a couple of minutes in daily, off your phone, doing nothing. Is there any other way to practice self-love than doing nothing?

COMMERCIAL SPACES

GOOD LIGHTING

Bad and insufficient lighting is one of the main issues we see when visiting clients’ office spaces and this can have detrimental effects on employee wellbeing and productivity. One of the best things we can do in an office space is maximize employee access to natural light. Science shows us that natural light affects our mood, energy levels and hormone levels and that these change throughout the day as the sunlight changes. So maximizing how much natural light an office space gets is the easiest thing to do. After that, the other thing we see a lot of and that is fairly easy to fix is making sure that the office has plenty of light so all work spaces and areas are properly lit and there are no “dark areas”.

CLUTTER

We see this in office spaces as much as we do in residences. Sometimes in office spaces it’s worse because you have a bunch of employees sharing a space (versus a small family). Knowing that clutter holds us down and takes up space where new and better things and opportunities could be coming into our lives, and considering this is a place of business, the office is the first place we should be doing monthly edits of anything we don’t need or aren’t using. It’s a great way to keep teams feeling light and energized and helps create a orderly office environment for everyone to work in.

PRIVACY

The best way to show love to employees? Make sure that they have plenty of areas in which they can have private conversations. The most consistent qualms we hear from companies is that employees do not have enough areas to have quiet, private conversations in. Purchasing a phone pod or converting a meeting room to a phone room is a great way to create this for employees.

SEEN + HEARD

This month, we want to highlight some of the vendors that we LOVE! Our projects wouldn’t be possible, or as beautiful, without their products.

Whenever we design a kitchen space or cafe area, our minds go straight to Concrete Collaborative for the most gorgeous and unique countertops and backsplashes.