Making a "Peace Space"

Creating a space is much more about the process of creating it, as it is the finished product.  I have found that as a parent and wife, it is important to make a space in your house for yourself. Whether it's your bedroom, a reading nook or my personal spot at our house, our patio.  There is nothing worse than feeling stressed out by the amount of things that need to get done around the house on any given day, but, by creating a spot just for myself to relax at home, it has made all the difference in the world.  There are a few things that you should consider when creating a space for yourself to enjoy, away from household chaos.

1. Define your space.  What type of space do you want?  Browsing sites like Houzz can inspire you to visualize your perfect space.  For me, being able to be outside, but comfortable is important.  In NM we have the weather tat allows us to be outside nearly year round and I wanted to take advantage of that.  I also like to grow things and garden, so I tried to incorporate a little bit of that into my own "peace space".  It sounds corny but for me, its a small retreat where I can sit and hear the birds chirp, play music, write and sip some earl grey tea in the afternoons, without worrying about putting laundry away, cleaning my house or seeing the pile of dishes in the sink.  My husband helped me arrange the space into a place I want to spend time at.  For you, a reading nook or a studio room to work on projects might be that place.  Defining your space for what you want to get out of it is important in driving you to creating that peace space at your home.

2. Decorate.  Go a little nuts if you want.  After all, this is your space and it should be about what motivates and inspires you.  I have added a few personal things to mine o make it my own.  I love hanging lanterns, especially ones that give a spot a Mediterranean feel, so I started by hanging a Moroccan lantern I had from a hook on the rafters.  Then I bought a few more and strung them around the rafters in different spots, added tea light candles to them and also put a fun string of cafe lights out on the patio as well.  It might seem a bit much, but at night when they are the only lights on, it creates a serene and peaceful place to relax with a glass of wine and some good music.  I also up-cycled an old baker's rack into a plant stand and added a few garden things and my personal favorite potted aloe vera plant.  I love it :)  Making it personal is important!  For you, the color of paint on the walls or a certain type of chair might make it the idea creative space.  Use your imagination and get inspired. I even started my own sweet potato vine and then made it a home in my peace space.  Love it!

3.  Think outside the box.  I enjoy the fact that my patio reminds me of a small outdoor living room.  In fact, my husband even put a mini refrigerator out there to keep micro brews and pop in for when we are relaxing.  It's fun!  We have also started to eat dinner on our patio table as a family, which is a nice change from the same routine.  We all really enjoy it!  Making a small investment in something out of the ordinary for you peace space s sometimes worth it.  We have our mini fridge and my husband bought a JamBox wireless speaker system that was worth it and we can listen to any music we want outside, without having to spend a ton on an outdoor speaker system.  Get creative, see how your family would use the space and incorporate it into something everybody will like.  We also use our patio wall to show movies on.  Its great!  It's like our own outdoor dinner theater complete with surround sound:)

I think your own personal peace space calls to you in a strange an serene way.  I knew the patio was mine when I saw the grape vines along the fence start to get bigger and fuller and then, all of the sudden, we had grapes!!!  What better place to spend time writing and sipping wine and coffee than in my own mini vineyard?!  I knew it was my perfect spot, and I hope you find yours and make it your own :)  Cheers!