If you’ve been reading the blog or getting my emails recently you’ll be well aware that I’m in the process of renovating a new home. We spent several years in a tiny one bed flat and finally we’re moving into an amazing 3 bed semi with loads of space.

I’ve always been passionately interested in interior design, not only from an aesthetic point of view, but also in the way it can impact your health and wellbeing. In fact its one of the things that really inspired my Wholeheartedly Healthy philosophy, how everything in our life is interconnected and in turn has an impact on our health and wellbeing.

When I noticed that Homebase were running a campaign called Life Improvement with the same ethos I was very excited indeed, talk about a perfect match. I’ve been in and out of my local Homebase store these past few weeks getting everything from paint to lampshades to new bedding!

Homebase have worked with interior designer Oliver Heath who specialises in creating happier and healthier homes. He is particularly interested in biophilic design, which focuses on strengthening our connection with nature.

You can find out more about Oliver and the theory behind Life Improvement here. I’m just in love with this approach, I couldn’t agree with him more! 

Having been in a very restricted living space, to currently designing and creating a brand new home for myself and my family, I found what Oliver had to say about creating spaces for connection in the home very inspiring.

Back when we lived in our one bed flat we had a variety of issues. Obviously space was a challenge in terms of storage, but we also had no space for a dining table and therefore no proper eating area. All of our meals were eaten in front of the TV which was far from what I wanted for our family. We had one small kitchen space which became even smaller as soon as we had to hang clothes up to dry on a clothes horse. Although there were a lot of things I loved about the flat, and although we worked hard to make it work for us, it felt stagnant and oppressive at times. I talked a lot about this in my recent post Creating Space for a Wholeheartedly Healthy Life.

As Oliver says, our homes are the most important places in our life. Making sure our home supports our wellbeing is paramount and at a time when many of us are stressed, have trouble sleeping, don’t have our own space and struggle to connect with the rest of the family, there’s a lot we can start doing to improve how our home serves us.

Oliver focuses on elements such as maximising natural light to support our energy levels and circadian rhythms to then support good sleep, areas of sanctuary for relaxation and using plants around the home for their detoxifying effects as well as the fact that just looking at them has been shown to promote stress relief.

He also talks about looking at the areas of the home that cause stress, whether that’s struggling to get out of bed in the morning or not being able to get the family all sat down around the table for lunch, and then looking for design solutions to help fix the issue.

With just one week to go until we move into our new home, I’m so excited to put the theory of Life Improvement to the test!

What do you think of the idea behind Life Improvement? How does your home currently serve your wellbeing needs?

*post in collaboration with Homebase