Happiness in the Home – Ways to Beat the January Blues

Beat the blues by creating your own cosy luxury sanctuary at home. Here we share some top designer tips from Black and Milk to help you bring happiness into the home.

The beginning of the year is a total anti-climax to the excess and excitement of the festive period. It can feel as though there is little to look forward to in January. You may even feel utterly uninspired, and spend a sizeable chunk of time at home. 

But, there’s nothing wrong with being at home if you love the space you’re in. There’s also plenty you can do to improve your interior and make it feel like a comforting escape from the rest of the world – much of it is fuss-free, cost effective and easy to achieve.

To avoid the seasonal negative mood, award-winning interior design studio Black & Milk has shared their top three tips on how to beat the blues at home as we roll into another year. 

Be proactive with a clean up

Giving your home a deep clean after the festive period by taking down the Christmas decorations, is a good way to declutter your living spaces and give a fresh feeling to the home. This will also provide you with some renewed motivation to see the new year in a more positive light.

With the new year we are also given a chance to refresh and make a change, to look at our homes with fresh eyes and finally make a start at tackling those design woes. Whether you are struggling with a lack of space, insufficient lighting or outdated furniture, now’s the time to make a change. Being proactive and having a home project to work on is a sure way to beat those January blues. 

Not sure where to start? Research shows that decluttering can have a positive impact on our mental health. For some this may be a mammoth task, but by allocating time each week the job will become much more manageable, and you’ll have an organised and tidy home in no time.

Create a cosy luxury sanctuary

There’s nothing better on a wet winter day than to curl up in a cosy corner with a good book or the latest box set. For days when there is little else to do, create a sanctuary in your home from the chill outside.

Black & Milk’s studio is known for curating Cosy Luxury Interior Design in London. To create these interiors could be as simple as layering textures, this brings a space together by adding depth. Not only will this prevent the room from looking too flat, but it will also help you to feel cocooned and settled. The tactile aspect invites touch and maintains a laid back atmosphere in your space. Think throws, cushions and curtains – these are all quick ways to bring in that warm and cosy luxurious feeling we all long for and can add layers of soft furnishings to our homes.

Use of colour 

Colour psychology is the notion that we subconsciously associate colours with feelings and moods. Therefore, the shades we surround ourselves with will not only transform the appearance of a room but also impact our emotions which can be particularly important to combat those January blues.

Different colours evoke different emotions. For example, yellow can be associated with happiness, laughter and energy, but it can also stimulate anxiety. Similarly, red can be associated with passion and love but at the other end of the scale, it can symbolise anger or tragedy. Blue is the colour of calm and can inspire a feeling of safety, but it is also associated with a feeling of sadness as the expression goes “feeling blue”. 

As above, with each colour there is a positive and a negative reaction, which is why they must be considered so carefully, especially in our homes. Take your time when choosing colours – consider how they make you feel and always think about how the room will be used (particularly when making big changes such as painting walls). You wouldn’t, for example, paint a bedroom neon yellow as this would be detrimental to a good night’s sleep, instead a more subdued yellow such as straw or vanilla could be used to evoke tranquility and restfulness.