These days, our day-to-day lives are based around our homes. Whether you’re working, schooling or home-making you want your space to also feel like a retreat and not just associated with work or stress. This is especially more difficult in our current climate but there are steps you can take to help make your house feel like home again.

Below you’ll see nine tips to help you improve your environment and specifically, spaces where you do work, schoolwork or any other computer activities:

Organize and declutter your space as well as your desktop and other virtual spaces
Physically separate your workspace with dividers or use a different room if possible
Make sure you’re getting plenty of natural light in your space, use white curtains to soften the light if it’s too bright
Fill your space with plants and other greenery to help relax your mind
Face your work station towards a nice view, preferably one with nature
Incorporate aspects of nature through visuals (art, waterfalls) and scents (candles, diffusers)
Play music that helps you stay motivated or white noise if that helps you focus
Make sure the temperature in your space is ideal (68-76℉) and doesn’t make you feel tired
Invest in making your space comfortable with a standing desk and ergonomic accessories

To help improve your home environment you can’t just focus on the space but also your relationships within the space. It doesn’t matter how optimized your space is if you don’t have harmonious relationships as well. Here are some tips to improve your relationships:

Take care of yourself before expecting yourself to be the best parent or partner
Know that not everything will go to plan and accept that
Work on compromising better, whether that’s sharing the TV or splitting chores
Encourage your partner and children to share how they feel and communicate
Fight fairly: Don’t rub salt in wounds especially since outside factors are so tumultuous

See some additional tips to improve your home environment in the visual below (provided by Rocket Mortgage):