Repair, Restore, and Refresh Your Home to Improve Your Outlook

By Pat Heydlauff

Do you feel stuck? Do you want to sell your home - downgrade to something easier to take care of and less expensive? Or, do you need to have more room for a growing family and just can't see a way to upgrade to a new home or a major addition?  

A great interim solution for you and your family is to give your home an internal energy facelift by repairing, restoring and refreshing your home today.  While this may not do much to resolve the need for more space, it will definitely make your existing space more enjoyable and improve your outlook on life.

There is a natural flow to the energy in your home. This is what creates balance, harmony, and helps you maintain an upbeat attitude. During good economic times, maintaining this good flow of positive energy is often relegated to the circular file in lieu of cosmetic niceties and the latest home design trends. During difficult economic times balance and harmony is much more important and needs to be carefully nurtured.

It is a basic Feng Shui principle that the flow of positive energy throughout the entire house breathes life into good health, abundance and wealth so a family can prosper and experience joy. When you feel trapped because you cannot move or change your surroundings, you feel imprisoned, helpless and lose hope drip by drip.

More often than not, your floor plan might not even provide an easy path for energy to move gently throughout every room. Each area/room of your home is important because it energizes specific areas of your life such as health, wealth, good luck etc. Some floor plan designs completely leave out certain segments of your life map so it is important you become aware of just what parts of your home energy is missing and where it might get stuck because of clutter which becomes stagnant energy.

What follows are some ideas on how to repair, restore and refresh your home; ideas that are guaranteed to give you a boost and help you get unstuck. Just remember, the place to always begin is by uncluttering all areas of your home so fresh new energy has the opportunity to meander throughout all areas of your home and life.

Repair!  These are some of the fastest and most economical ways to give you a boost and energize your home. 

• Fix leaking faucets and dripping toilets – it will save you money and prevent your luck from running down the drain.

• Lubricate all door hinges and stop the annoying squeaking – anything that squeaks increases anxiety.

• Properly attach to the walls broken or loose towel bars, holders, hangers, curtain rods, closet shelving etc. – you will instantly feel more organized and will increase your utilizable space

• Wash your windows inside and outside – they are the eyes of your home and need to be clear for new energy to enter your life

Restore! Some things don't need repairing as much as they need to be restored. Put some of these are on your list.

• Restore kitchen and bathroom cabinets to their more glamorous days by replacing those broken or half-missing drawer pulls – it looks better, makes the cabinet more efficient and makes you feel better.

• If your cabinets really need a bit of a face-lift, replace all of the hardware or give the finish a facelift – it will give newfound life to your cabinets and you will feel like you are walking into a new room.

• Give your front door a fresh coat of paint and restore it to its original beauty. If your windows are the eyes for your home, the front door is its mouth for welcoming in fresh new full of life energy – it benefits everyone living there.

• Shampoo carpeting and clean tile and wood flooring, restoring them as much as possible to their original condition. If necessary add a few well placed area rugs

Refresh!  When you think refresh, think of the energy of a new spring triumphing over a long hard winter. Refreshing your home will help you refresh your outlook.

• Invest in a small paint roller and do touch up painting throughout your home, much like you would do spot cleaning on a piece of clothing. Most people save the paint cans from newly painted rooms and never open the can again. Open the can, stir it well and then use your new little roller you've dampened first and touch up all of those nicks and dirty spots on walls and corners that annoy you. By using the roller and not a paint brush, the touch ups will blend into the old paint better. Paint touch ups definitely refresh your home and your thinking.

• If there is one room that really needs a fresh coat of paint, invest in the paint and paint it, just be sure it is a good color for that room. The two best rooms to freshen up would be your bedroom and/or your living room; they're where you spend most of your time. Use colors that are soft-pastels in both rooms; tending toward peach, taupe and pastel green in the bedroom and any shade of pastel green in the living room. The first set is good for relationship energy and the second set is great for calm peaceful energy and welcomes in new healthy growth energy.

• Make sure the colors on your walls are similar in value so your flow of energy is encouraged to meander throughout. The flow of energy is restricted when you paint one wall or room bright or dark colors and the others are light.

• Invest in fresh linens for your bed. They will life your spirits and encourage peace-filled rest. Or, purchase new accent pillows for your living room that are bright and bold to life your spirits.

When you repair, restore and refresh your home you are providing yourself the same repairing, restoring and refreshing energy. You win because you feel better about your surroundings and your home wins because it has been not only lovingly maintained, but also improved for when the market turns around and you are ready to make that change.

The really great thing about the above options is that none of them cost much money, most of them increase the value of your exiting home and all of them improve your outlook on life. And, ultimately, help restore your hope for a better future.

Read other articles and learn more about Pat Heydlauff.

[Contact the author for permission to republish or reuse this article.]