We have never had a time with this collective period of pause, where we can take a deep breath and rid our lives of anything that doesn’t serve us. With our homes and spaces now taking on the role of being the Swiss Army Knife to cater to every corner of our lives – the home has come under the microscope more than ever.

When you think about your home as the fortress and a place of solitude, it can really be a source of calm or a source of stress. And the beautiful thing is that you get to be the CEO of this space and shake out the old to usher in fresh energy.

Self-isolation has given us a monumental lesson in slowing down and really looking at how we operate. If you’re looking at breathing new life and reenergizing your world, here are six tips on how to make your space work for you.

1. Declutter your canvas

The first and obvious step is to start with some much-needed Spring cleaning. Rid anything in your space that doesn’t serve you. Make a few piles. One that can go to donations, one for keepsakes and another pile to go to garbage. In order to enhance a sense of wellbeing, it’s important to run through everything that you have and scrutinize this inventory list to see if it makes the cut as you move forward.

2. Choose one area to work from

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This is the one area that a lot of people are struggling with. When one month you have a bulletproof work routine and suddenly it gets turned upside down and you’re forced to work from home, it can understandably threaten your productivity.

This is your opportunity to break from the traditional corporate cubicle and design something that empowers you. Creating your own concentrated office space can be as simple as having a dedicated and decluttered desk, warm and natural lighting, and preferably a slice of the home that can get closed off for silence. Try bringing in an exercise ball to sit on to follow proper ergonomic rules with thoughtful personalization tidbits that makes you happy.

3. Rearrange your furniture

Have you ever played that game, Wordscapes? You try and make words out of a jumble, and you get the option to rearrange the words you’re given to help with clarity. The same concept applies here. By simply switching up the furniture placement in a room, you can maximize the floor space and create a healthy flow so you don’t feel confined or cramped.

You really want it to feel cozy, yet spacious. Warm, but inviting. Try moving bulky furniture a few notches so it doesn’t block any walking paths. Maybe try mixing up the lighting to seat pairing. Make your furniture work for you, rather than against you. It could also spur the idea to downsize on furniture to really let the space breathe.

4. Add a touch of cozy into your spaces

Add soft lighting strings around window ledges or splashed across a wall. Fluffy pillows, candles and plants are the perfect furnishings regardless of the season. Decorate some empty space on the wall with photos, or a nice mirror to complement the personality of the room. These unique touches can really infuse a sense of character in a room.

5. Design a yoga studio and work out area

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The trick here is to make more with less when it comes to your workout space. Something that is off the beaten path and out of the way in the home. Like a back room or basement where you can make it your physical command centre. Put some mats down, bring in the portable speaker, limit the distractions in the area so your primary focus is concentrated to the area in front of you.

6. Infuse some stability into the kitchen

The kitchen is the heartbeat of the home. Just like unhealthy cardiovascular systems, the kitchen can get clogged and backed up with all kinds of stuff. The cabinets are filled with chaos and hold the remnants of a long, lost trip to the grocery store. Dust collects, tabletop real estate builds up with unused items and it doesn’t make it the most inviting place for family to gather. The kitchen is your nucleus, so try targeting it at the top of your hit list when it comes time to reduce or recycle.

At the start of 2020, nobody could have predicted that our homes would have to serve so many purposes all at once, and all of a sudden. If you want to revamp and re-evaluate your space, simple touches can make all the difference. And when we do go back to “normal life” after this, we can take a lot of life lessons from this with regards to how we approach the home.