Reimagine Your Backyard - Peace

How to make a peaceful space in your home

What if you could step out of your home and into… quiet? Peace? A space you could open up your imagination or shut the world out for a few hours?

Our work-from-home lives demand spaces where calm is key.

With Abodu, you can turn your backyard space into a functional retreat from the demands of modern life. And here, we have some suggestions on honing in on your version of WFH-bliss.

From how to cancel out noise pollution to how to create a dedicated space to decompress, you’ll find great tips below for your own home or your Abodu.

Create true work/life balance in a peaceful setting with these tips.

Turn out the noise

In busy suburbs and neighborhoods nationwide, the quiet of the day gives way to an endless succession of motors, whirring, construction, traffic, and more — and it could impact your health.

So how do you tune it out, not only for your health but your sanity?

Create a quiet workspace by design

While decorating might seem to only serve aesthetics, if you’ve ever walked into a room without furniture, rugs or art on the walls, you know how sound bounces and reverberates. Here are some ways to reduce noise and create a quiet workspace with decor:

• Use rugs in uncarpeted rooms.

• Add tapestries or art to the walls to reduce noise bounce.

• Buffer walls on busy streets, or shared walls with neighbors or kids using acoustic panels.

• Add upholstered furniture to empty spaces.

• Weatherstrip doors and windows for efficiency and noise reduction.

Turn off unnecessary devices throughout the day

The hum of appliances, ticking of clocks or whirring of vacuums all create background noise that can be distracting — without you being consciously aware of it.

If you can, turn off unnecessary appliances or plug them into timed power cords. Swapping out old clanky appliances with new ones can also help, as many new appliances run smoother and quieter.

Cancel the noise

If you’ve soundproofed your space but still find distracting noises slipping in, there’s a number of ways to drown out sound and prevent sensory overload.

There’s two ways to do this, first you can mask the noise with a soothing sound of your choosing, or you can cancel the noise, which eliminates most noise.

• Noise-canceling earplugs designed for the comfort of everyday use.

• Sound machines that play either white noise (best for focus) and ambient sounds (like waves, best for creativity).

• Sound-dampening headphones are great if you don’t like earplugs.

• Sound masking systems are similar to sound machines, but are installed across a living or working space versus one machine in a room.

Get into the right headspace for work or life

Sometimes the hardest part of working from home is simply the lack of transition into work.

It’s too easy to sit down at your desk minutes after getting out of bed, or working from your robe.

Working at an office provides a clear demarcation line between work and home life: commuting. And while a lack of commute is usually the reason people love working from home, it does give us time and space to either ramp up or decompress from work.

So how do you create the same feeling — preparing for work or turning off from the day?

Create a transition from home to work (even if you WFH)

Many people use their daily commute to work to catch up on audio books, podcasts or enjoy their favorite music. When you work from home, it’s difficult to create that space.

Instead, you can create a work from home playlist — like this one by Abodu — to listen to while you check emails first thing, drink your coffee, or plug into creative endeavors.

The point is to be intentional about creating a space of time before you really get into your work day that allows you to mentally transition from home life into work life. The same goes for decompressing after work.

Whether that’s walking around the block while you listen to your favorite commuting entertainment, or delegating the first 30 minutes of your working morning to getting into the headspace of work or creativity.

At the end of the day, do the same thing. Step outside and sit for 15 minutes listening to something calming, take a lap around the block, or change your clothes by literally slipping into something more comfortable to mentally switch off from work.

Create a space that’s only used to decompress

Typically people delegate their home spaces for some kind of functional use — cooking, eating, entertainment. But rarely do people create a space that’s only purpose is to relax and feel at ease.

People that are more introverted, or have high-stress jobs and lives (especially with children), benefit from having sectioned spaces that feel intentionally delegated in order to relax.

Whether you have an entire home — like an Abodu — or just an unused corner by a window, you can create a space that’s sole purpose is to decompress, here’s how:

• Get creative with unused space — behind a couch, in a corner, or by window are all great spots to design a peaceful nook.

• Be mindful of clutter by adding only a few necessary things. A comfy chair, a small stand for books and a drink, and a plant go a long way in creating calm.

• If you have a dedicated working space like an Abodu, utilize one area as a dedicated decompression zone — no phones or computers allowed.

• Studies have shown having plants in your space increases cognitive performance, memory recall and lowers stress, so add a plant or two to your space.

Reimagine your backyard

With these tips, you can create a calming and peaceful area in your home. It's necessary in order to get work done or decompress from the daily stress of life.

You can do this even easier with a backyard home like Abodu, which adds functional living and working space to your home.

Create a little peace in your backyard with these tips, or find out how you can add an Abodu to your yard, just reach out to our team here.