With many of our readers in some form of lockdown, we know it presents countless challenges, and particularly for those with children. Whether you’re working from home and trying to homeschool, or simply trying to keep young kids entertained, we’ve done the research and found the most attractive looking indoor toys on the market. And while it might feel like a war zone, it doesn’t need to look like one!
My Nook modular play sofa: Perfect for building a fort, castle, obstacle course or sleepover bed, this Australian made design is perfect for lockdown. Soft, safe and ecologically sound (the foam inserts are sourced from a zero-waste factory), the set features ten individual pieces that zip together and zip apart to create infinite combinations that should keep the kids entertained for hours. From $595.
My Nook play sofa
My Nook play sofa
HipKids grey ball pit with 200 balls: Made from thick foam and covered with silky soft removable and washable jersey material, this ball pit is ideal for indoor play. A stylish alternative to standard issue primary coloured balls, the balls are available in pink, blue, grey and white colour ways. $279.95.
Pikler Play Cube: A cult favourite, this play cube is made from 100 per cent Australian grown timber that is sourced from sustainable forests. Designed for the six month to five year age range, crawlers will like crawling through and around the cube while older kids can climb up and over. $225.
You can add many more pieces to the cube including a ladder and ramp
Target Kid’s concept playhouse pavilion tent: Easy to assemble, and pull apart again, this cosy tent is made for play and rest. The more pillows, blankets, and cuddly toys they can cram in there, the cosier and more fun it becomes! $199.
Balance board Equilibrio: Made from sustainably sourced beechwood, and ideal for developing gross motor skills, this multi-purpose board can be used to strengthen little legs, core muscles, or as a slide, rocker, or bridge. $124.95.
Petite Maison table tent: Another fabulous cubby alternative, this clever design will fit over the dining room table. The tent features a roll-up door with ties for entry into the cubby plus two windows (one with a tie-up curtain). We like this cute Australian themed one. $199.
Petite Maison Australian Bush table tentPetite Maison Petite Shop table tent
Kmart Wooden Work From Home set: If all else fails and they really must be by your side while working, this set could be just the thing to keep them occupied! $13.
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Since we’ve been confined to the four walls we call home, the smallest throw blanket update could feel like a holiday. Pinterest is seeing users in Australia search for inspiration for decorating a home they love with a new gusto. They’re staying cosy indoors and searching for laundry room inspiration and styling tips for tables, shelves and walls.
Here’s what searches have been trending on Pinterest:
Comfort is key
While we’ve been spending time at home, anything that requires effort is out! Pinterest has seen an increase in searches for comfort related ideas.
Move over kitchens, the laundry has become the main home attraction. Whether you have a sprawling farm that requires a spacious mudroom, or are limited in space, Pinterest has you covered.
–More than 450 million people use Pinterest around the world each month to find tomorrow’s ideas.
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Entering the second week of Sydney’s latest lockdown, we reckon you may be feeling the cabin fever or getting the urge to improve your surrounds! But rather than feeling suffocated and restless within your abode, property stylist Justine Wilson, reckons now’s the best time to give your home its long-awaited makeover.
“Take charge of this period at home to do the little touch-ups that have been nagging at you,” she says. “Having a well-presented home can have a wonderful effect on productivity and mood.”
Try her five essentials tips to refresh and reinvigorate your home during this lockdown.
Introduce a nice ‘work from home’ space:
A work from home space can be a full room, or just a designated zone set up for your needs. Consider unused areas like under the stairs, or corners in guest bedrooms, so you still have the dual purpose of the room when lockdown lifts.
The key with any study nook is to ensure you have good task lighting, comfortable seating and a great work surface be it a full desk or a console table. Add something uplifting like nice art, a pinboard, or even plants to help you feel like it’s a nice space and to help with inspiration.
Declutter and organise your utility areas:
The good news is retailers like Kmart and IKEA can still deliver, so you can find many affordable storage solutions or organising products. Try introducing nice wicker baskets, acrylic containers, pretty boxes, or tubs to have all your products neat and accessible
“Consider DIY jobs like putting up floating shelves which can be useful storage or display,” says Justine. “There are many great home DIY projects and youtube has many wonderful tutorials on every subject!”
Bring life into your home:
Feeling stuck indoors can be frustrating, so try to bring the outside in with real plants. Having beautiful floral arrangements, or potted plants can be a great way to bring cheer into your home and provide something beautiful to look at. Now is a great time to learn about potted plant care, and you’ll find arranging them around the home provides a nice distraction.
Refresh your living and bedroom zones:
This can be as simple as doing a deep clean, shaking out rugs, vacuuming, cleaning skirting boards and dusting, and washing your blinds. Having a clean space can create a clear mind. Swapping out scatter cushions, sofa or bed throws, and refreshing your decor by moving things around can really change up the feeling of your rooms.
You can use a lot of what you have just rearranged or change placement for an instant refresh. Lighting candles and having ambient lighting like floor or table lamps on can create that cosy calming environment we all need right now.
Paint:
We all say if only I had the time! Well, now we really do. It’s the perfect time to do the more psychically demanding home improvement tasks.
Repaint your front door, the fence, or your walls. Or consider painting your kitchen or bathroom cupboards for a dramatic yet cost-effective change. Other options are feature walls or give older furniture a fresh coat to breathe new life into it. Easy jobs like swapping out handles and hardware are also a great excuse to keep your mind busy and can make a great impact.
-Justine Wilson is a leading property stylist from Vault Interiors, located in Sydney.
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You can’t beat EOFY for an excuse to treat yourself to a homewares bargain and, if like us, you find yourself in Sydney lockdown, you probably don’t need much talking into a little gift to self regardless! So here’s few goodies we’ve spotted!
Angus and Celeste create beautiful contemporary ceramic and porcelain pots, planters, and tableware. If you’re looking for new homes for your green plants and a way to brighten up and decorate your life, head on over to their Imperfects Sale while stocks last.
Save up to 50%
After 11 years, creative design studio Evie Group are saying goodbye to their product collection as they transition into a graphic design studio. Enjoy 50-to-70% off the last of their award-winning pieces ranging from homewares, lighting and small furniture.
Originally $695 or $795, all Spun Table & Floor Lights have been reduced to $150!
The Sheet Society have up to 30% off a wide range of bed linen until tomorrow (Wednesday).
Leaf Supply are still delivering (safely) around the Sydney area and you can get 20% off pot and plant packs with the code LOCKITDOWN20.
Create the home you love with Tilly Living‘s EOFY storewide sale. Save a further 15% off when you use the promo code EOFY15 at checkout.
Originally $296 and reduced to $166, with the promo code you can get the Acacia Wood Serving Trays for $138.55!
Sagitine make storage stylish and from 5pm tonight (Tuesday 29 June) they’re having a 48-hour 20% off flash sale.
Valid until Wednesday (30 June), Koala Eco will give 20% off your entire cart plus a sample size of Laundry Wash with each delivery. All products are plant-based and made with Australian essential oils. Use the promo code JUNE20 when you check out.
Sage and Clare have decent discounts on a large range of linen, pyjamas, cushions and more while stocks last.
Need help getting started on a decorating project you’ve been thinking about? Or do you need some one-off design advice on areas that you are stuck on? Interior designers Hayward and Co. are offering their initial consult for $195 instead of $220. Their e-decorating online design packages have also been reduced for the first time ever.The online design package includes personalised concept board, floor plan, shopping list, and design notes.
LANGDON LTDhave an EOFY sale with 30% off storewide. Discount applied at checkout.
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Psychologist and interior designer Mollie Kohn explains how to instill mindfulness into your home.
Image: Mollie Kohn Interiors
Mindfulness, put simply, refers to being present and aware of how you are feeling, what you are doing and of your surroundings. This is important now more than ever as we’re facing new types of stress and challenges we’ve never dealt with before. Not only are we worried for the health and safety of ourselves and our families, we’re juggling work (a lot of us from home), house chores, and parenting, with schooling thrown in for good measure. This new way of living will naturally affect our mental health in different ways.
As an interior designer and a psychologist, one of my main areas of focus is understanding what people want to get out of life and help them develop a home environment that will support it. In normal circumstances, our homes are our sanctuaries. They are the place we can refresh and find peace.
Image: Mollie Kohn Interiors
This has never been more important as the usual dynamic of our home has changed – it’s become our office, daycare, school, restaurant, café, library, cinema and still, our sanctuary for self care, family bonding or fun with housemates. It’s important now more than ever to define our “work spaces” versus our “leisure spaces” in our home as they’ve quickly become interchangeable.
Luckily, if there’s one thing we have working for us right now, it’s time. Time to reset, time to reflect and time to create a space we enjoy living in. Creating a more mindful home will help us find greater peace in this “new normal”.
Here are some easy tips to get you started:
Define your intention
Intention is key to mindfulness. How do you want to feel in your home, right now? At this moment, this feels obvious – because our home has become our only space for every aspect of our lives, our intention should be to create a harmonious environment that we feel relaxed in, no matter the task for the day. The time is now to carve out our ideal multi-living space. Negatives aside, consider this as an opportunity to adjust your space, set new routines and instill good habits for the future, whatever that may be.
Consider what is getting in the way of realising your ideal space. Are all those toys ruining the zen of your would-be workspace? Set aside some time and space and define what it is you’d like to change. If, for example, you want to convert a child’s bedroom into a home office, what’s getting in the way of realising this?
Start with something small and manageable. Clear away items (like toys) you’d like to remove, use storage boxes to pack things away and build from there. Designate this space as your work space, making it a “play-free” zone that you can use to focus without distractions.
It’s crucial to distinguish our spaces from each other so that when the working day is complete, you can unwind in a relaxing environment and shut off mentally. Another easy way to do this if you don’t have a dedicated (or make-shift) home office is to physically pack away all work-related items as soon as you clock off so that you can enjoy time off without a reminder of work sitting on the kitchen table.
Out with the clutter
It’s no surprise people are currently feeling claustrophobic about clutter – there’s an endless to-do list and it only gets worse by the day. One way to have a more mindful life, is removing the clutter by finding a place for the things in your home. Now that we’re finding ourselves fixed in the same space for most of the day, the time is now to make our space more comfortable and hit the reset button on our home environment.
Get your Marie Kondo hat on and find a home for all those bits and bobs that are scattered throughout your space. It may take time, so get your household family or flat-mates on-board and make it fun. Once everything has a home, commit to putting them back in their new spot after use. While this may seem like a chore initially, it will quickly become routine and free you from clutter, creating a more mindful space.
Use technology to help with organisation
Technology is a great way for people to become more mindful at home. It also transforms what can be more mundane, for example building a calendar for chores, into a fun task that can bring the household together.
The Amazon Echo Show 8
At the centre of my home is Amazon’s Echo Show 8, which is powered by the ever-helpful and welcomed voice of Alexa. Alexa keeps me on track by setting routines that suit my lifestyle, like waking me up with a mindfulness talk track to start the day right. Alexa also keeps a communal shopping list for my family – a major time saver when trying to coordinate our weekly online shop so we get everything we need – even toilet paper! I also use our Echo Show 8 as my sous chef in the kitchen! Alexa finds me recipe inspiration, gives me tips and acts as a timer so I never forget the roast is in the oven.
My daily routines aside, I’m finding that my clients are taking fewer breaks since working from home. Through the power of Alexa, we can find more balance in our day by setting reminders to take breaks whether that’s to get up and make a cup of tea or practice a meditation using one of the many Skills available through your device.
Reducing my stress by using technology helps me to refocus on the important things in life and maintain a sense of calm in my home.
Use colour to reflect what you want out of a space
Our vision plays a significant role in our mood, and believe it or not, colour plays a big role in this. Try asking about favourite colours next time you are on a Zoom chat with friends, and you will quickly find that people have a very strong opinion about colour.
In the context of mindfulness, colours can alter our moods by inspiring calm and improving focus. Soft greens bring about focus and clarity, making them a perfect choice for a home office or study. Softer shades of pink are found to be quite relaxing, so could work for a bedroom or bathroom.
This doesn’t have to mean painting your home office green, simple splashes of colour through plants, a statement bowl or a rug can do the trick just nicely. You can also use your Echo Show 8 to connect to different types of smart lighting, which can result in a dynamic space that changes colour to suit (or inspire) your mood.
Redefine your use of time
The biggest roadblock people report when thinking about living more mindfully is time. We can use our current environment to make use of the extra time we’d normally spend commuting or socialising and allocate it to defining your intention, decluttering, creating your plan, and developing healthy routines that transform your space and therefore your mindset. Being more mindful means that you choose how to react to tasks, ordering what needs to happen versus what you want to happen.
For example, you may need to complete a task for work, but you’d rather be tending to your garden. I would allow myself two hours on my laptop to get work done, and then go into the garden. This allows me to get an essential task done, and move on without being worried that I still have something else to do.
Now more than ever, it’s essential we give ourselves the time we need to do the things we want so we don’t feel burdened by other nagging things, like work or household chores. By carving out our time, we also create boundaries within our day, which promotes better mental health in this time of isolation and inevitable monotony.
–Mollie Kohn started Mollie Kohn Interiors after leaving her corporate role, to help people make anywhere they are living into a home they love. She has both a Masters in Psychology and a Diploma in Interior Design and Decoration.
