A peaceful home is something that can relieve stress, provide comfort and encourage harmony around you. Our homes are where we begin and end our days. A peaceful home can help us approach life with calmness and optimism. It can be a place of respite from the frantic and harried pace of life.
Creating a more peaceful home doesn’t require a consultation with a decorator, a $5,000 living room overhaul or a massage chair. Rather, you can create a more serene, relaxed living space in small intentional ways. We’ve got a few ideas to get you started.
1. Look for Peaceful Playlists
It’s easy and free to find beautiful, peaceful music playlists online. Go ahead and search for one right now. We’ll wait. Then, hit “play” and listen to it while you read the rest of this article. Often, when my students are struggling, being disruptive or negative in class, I’ll find a playlist of calming instrumental music ― typically something that lasts for a couple of hours. It’s always surprising how these peaceful and soothing pieces of music can transform the entire atmosphere of the room immediately.
Lebanese artist and poet Kahlil Gibran said, “Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”
2. Display Items That Give You All the Feels
Do you have a letter your child wrote for you in the second grade, a movie ticket from your most important first date or a framed photo of your favorite aunt? Dust it off and put it up in your home. It doesn’t matter if you tape it to the refrigerator or artfully arrange it over the sofa. Every time you walk by an item or a keepsake that warms your heart, you’ll have pleasant and peaceful memories. Family heirlooms, meaningful souvenirs, and items that remind you of the best times of your life are wonderful things to display in your home.
3. Clear Out the Extra
It’s difficult to feel peaceful in your home with too much stuff around. When there isn’t a place for everything and you are surrounded by piles and stacks, you can begin to feel anxiety and inner chaos. Take some time to clear out items you don’t need or aren’t using. Although it may seem that you have more pressing things to do than clean and organize your living space, it is time well spent. It feels peaceful and relaxing to enter a home that’s neat and tidy, with everything in its place. Quite the opposite feelings arise when coming home to clutter and disarray.
4. Throw Out Items That Are Associated With Bad Memories
Letters from an ex-boyfriend, pictures of people you don’t like or a side table that caused you to trip and twist your ankle ― none of these items deserve to live in your peaceful home. Throw them out. While you’re at it, throw out anything else that reminds you of bad memories. These items aren’t making your home more peaceful. They are reminders of failure, loss, and sadness. It’ll feel great to toss items that are associated with those feelings.
5. Fill the Air With Good Scents
Another way to create a more peaceful home is to bring in essential oils to enhance the atmosphere. These days, essential oils are easy to find online or even in many grocery and natural foods stores. Be sure to purchase pure essential oils made by a reputable company. Here’s a chart with certain essential oils and their peaceful benefits:
| Essential Oil | Peaceful Benefits |
| Bergamot | Uplifting, antidepressant, assuring |
| Basil | Regenerating, stimulating, uplifting |
| Jasmine | Anti-anxiety, calming, uplifting |
| Lavender | Relaxing, healing, floral |
| Wild orange | Invigorating, renewing, uplifting |
| Clary sage | Balancing, calming, |
| Ylang ylang | Calming, soothing, floral |
Use any of the above oils singularly or combine a few to create an entirely new aroma. I like to use a pretty bowl of decorative rocks and add in several drops of a few calming essential oils to add peace to the home. You can also diffuse the oils with an essential oil diffuser. It’s also nice to add 10 to 20 drops of any of these essential oils to a homemade, all-purpose cleaner so that each time you clean up the kitchen or bathroom, you’re adding more peace-promoting scents to your home.
6. Put Writing on the Walls
One lovely way to make your home more peaceful is to select words, quotes and meaningful verses carefully to place about the house. Decorating with framed passages will inspire you each time you see them.
Recently, one of my children was stuck in a negative rut. He was consistently finding the bad in seemingly everything and complaining a lot. I gave him the following quote from Ziad K. Abdelnour to make into a poster, and we hang it up in a prominent place at home: “A negative mind will never give you a positive life.” Truly, every time I see the poster, I’m reminded of that truth. The simple act of copying the words and displaying them was beneficial for my son.
A friend of mine writes out Bible verses that have been important to her and puts them up in her kitchen. Other words to display might be admonitions like “breathe,” “let go” or “love.” Displaying a prayer or blessing over your home would also add to a peaceful environment.
7. Bring in Plants
Several years ago, when my husband and I were selling our first home, we had hired a Realtor to help us. Before our first open house event, he walked with me through each room of the house to tell me what to change and how to arrange things so that the home would look and feel more appealing to prospective buyers. One of the things that he insisted was that I had something living in each room of the home. By that suggestion, he meant plants or freshly cut flowers. Ever the motivated seller, I went out to buy some plants and flowers. Once I had living plants and arrangements in each room, there was an inspired peaceful feeling in my house that hadn’t been there before.
If there are parts of your home that feel a little cold and lonely, try putting a potted plant near the window. If the room doesn’t get much sunlight, consider a pothos plant. A pothos can grow well with no light at all. I have one of the vining plants in a bathroom with no windows. I also have these plants in other rooms of my home that need a little brightening. Just the presence of a plant or grouping of flowers will add a peaceful vibe to your space.
8. Designate Workspaces
In every home, there are bills to be paid, work to be done and tax records to store. However, it doesn’t feel peaceful in the kitchen if you’ve got a stack of utility bills sitting on the dining table.
Designate a guest room to be the business center of your home. If you don’t have a guest room, any other room will do, but you’ll need to literally section off a space for work that doesn’t overlap into a place for rest. A simple desk or table and filing cabinet will do the trick for most people. Having a specific area just for paperwork and business helps keep it contained. It also helps keep the rest of the home peaceful and free from work clutter.
9. Open Up Curtains for Natural Light
There’s no light more life-giving than that of the warm sun. Be sure to open the blinds and curtains so that natural sunlight can bless your home. Lamps and overhead lighting are fine for an office building but, when you want to create a peaceful home environment, let the sunshine in. When the weather allows, also open up your windows to enjoy the fresh air along with natural light.
10. Speak Life
Perhaps one of the most essential elements of a peaceful home is the words spoken within the four walls. Potted plants and photos of chubby babies on the walls will do nothing for the atmosphere if the people inside are speaking words of negativity and aggression.
Make it a habit to speak words of life into your home. Don’t invite people over who are complaining or gossiping constantly. One rule we have in our home is that if anyone says something negative, the same person must then speak about something for which he or she is thankful. It cuts down on the complaints quite a bit. It also keeps the atmosphere primarily positive. The words we say can add peacefulness or negativity to a home.
We also try not to yell in the home. I particularly don’t even like to yell from room to room. It completely changes the entire atmosphere in the house when someone is yelling. Make it a point to keep a calm tone in your home and to speak to others inside lovingly. The words we speak and the way we speak them can bring peace or disharmony into our homes.
11. Make Good Memories at Home
The things you do inside your home can also bring peace. Consider inviting friends over to assemble snack packs to distribute to homeless folks in the city. Host game nights and potluck dinners with neighbors. If you have friends who play music, let them use your living room for band practice. Make wonderful, peaceful and good memories that will linger inside your home forever.
Create a Home Full of Peace
In the outside world, there is so much stress, chaos, and controversy. It’s not uncommon to witness all sorts of disheartening and ugly images each day on a typical commute to and from work. However intense and harsh the days may be outside of your home, commit to creating a peaceful living space for yourself and your loved ones. Shalom.
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