Please share ways to make being stuck at home a little bit nicer

[BoogleMcGroogle]

Apart from a twice weekly venture to the village Co-Op and muddy walks, we are at home pretty much constantly. Yesterday the cabin fever set in badly and I was beyond fed up with staring at the same walls.

Any ideas to make home a little bit lovelier?
So far I’ve come up with:

Treating myself to a nice scented candle.
Buying a pot of hyacinths, to herald early spring.
Making sure the kitchen is properly tidy before bedtime so everything is fresh each morning.
Asking DH to bake bread more often ( it’s his spousal USP)
Painting the downstairs loo in colours I wouldn’t normally choose ( I’ve gone for the actually quite weird colour combination of my old school uniform, as I’m feeling nostalgic).

Any other ideas?

Good coffee.
Going to bed early, with a good book.

I’ve been trying different coffee pods - wild I know - and having a cappuccino every morning

Also got hyacinths on the go!

A big bunch of daffodils in the window

Fairy lights on

If you have a garden, feeding the birds.
Still not quite too late for spring bulbs.

Yup- flowers here too.
I'm also stitching again, which is relaxing and rewarding as you see it grow.
Added bonus that its free as I've stockpiled enough to endure the apocalypse

Podcasts (so it feels like you have friends in the house chatting around you).

Blast some music and dance like a two year old 🤘🏻

Jigsaws. Sad as it sounds. I’m really not great at them so it helps pass the hours.

We have some food rituals - so sarnies wrapped in bread with fried onions and sauce for Sunday, home-made chip butties, and a platter make great lunches.

Nice bath salts, oil, or bubbles, with candles.

Nice scented candles.

DH bought me a lovely big bunch of lilies this weekend, to perk me up, bless him.

Watching a movie with a big block of chocolate.

On Friday, we take it in turns to choose takeout, and we do youtube night, where we take turns choosing music - sometimes we theme it - war and peace was a top night!

Facial exfoliator and face mask and home facial.

On Saturday mornings we get the recipe books, tuck up in bed, and meal plan/negotiate/debate and argue, for the coming week.

Waffles and pancakes for breakfast.

Have an unbirthday party.

Candles
Fairy lights
Nature documentaries, Ben fogle, wanted down under
Salted caramel hot choc with marshmallows
Alexa music

Heated throw.
Massive pile of books.
Learn something a bit unusual - I’m doing tarot.
Pamper sessions - I actually gave DH a facial the other day and he really enjoyed it!
Journaling. Your grandchildren might be interested to read about what Lockdown was like, one day.

Oh, and we’re binge watching Travel Man and making a holiday list for When This Is Over.

Fresh pastries for breakfast a couple of days a week
Daffodils everywhere
Takeaways from places a bit pricier than we'd normally go for
Definitely yes to having a dance - a wonderful spirit-raiser

I’ve tried 90% of the suggestions on the thread already but nothing is helping any more! Lockdown #3 is definitely a downer.

I reckon nice food? I’m pretty bored of my own cooking now. Happy to hear suggestions on what to try next👀

Good books and finding a drama on tv to really enjoy and watch an episode a night with a hot chocolate and marshmallows has really helped me. It gives me a luxurious end sight during long days.
Perhaps mindfulness may be for you?

I've gotten more into sewing, I started with masks, and mending clothes, now considering more advanced projects like clothes for DS and lounge trousers for DH and I.

We have also been supporting the small businesses around where we live by treating ourselves once a week to something either delivered or picked up. So an afternoon tea, or a box of cakes, pies, beers etc. It been really fun trying places out!

Oh, and I've gotten into making bread as well, so much so I've bought a sourdough starter kit and will be starting that soon too!

Rearrange the furniture? Dh and I have moved into another bedroom for the change of scenery. We've also turned the dining room into a cushy fort/movie room with a big squishy sofa and lots of fairy lights.

I've found changing my routine around has helped. Even small things like having at least one job to do each day gives me a purpose. I.e. clean bathrooms on Monday, batch cook on Tuesday, blitz kitchen on Wednesday.

I've also taken to playing air guitar whilst sliding up and down the hallway in my fluffy socks. Whatever floats your goat.

I'm lucky in that I get out for half the week, albeit in a hospital on the frontline but today I'm struggling on my day off so thought I'd check in for ideas. I think tomorrow I will get some flowers and some bright plants for the front tubs. I walked around my garden today and was so I spied by the bulbs starting to poke through the earth.

We're going for nice food treats but 8m worried about a lack of fresh air and e revise for my children and the effects on our waistlines!

There's some great ideas here and I think I shall definitely be doing some of them xx

Foodie treats that you wouldn't normally have...my trip to Yorkshire was cancelled last year so I ordered from Betty's and Wensleydale Creamery, also a sample case from Naked Wines.

At one point last lockdown, I did an 'Around the World' theme week, cooking a meal from a different country that we'd not tried before each night (BBC Food allows you to search by cuisine type).

This time round, I've signed up for a weekly writing workshop via Crowdcast, and a few FB book groups.

I've started walking with my best friend once a week. We go out early on a Sunday morning with a flask, and have now downloaded an app to do 'proper' walks. Having not been particularly outdoorsy or active since my teens I'm really enjoying it. My cousins at the other end of the country are big walkers and I haven't seen them for years so well be having a hiking meet up when things get back to normal.

I'm baking once a week. Made macarons for the first time this morning, then did a virtual tour around the base of the Eiffel Tower this afternoon.

www.virtualtrips.io

Looking out virtual art exhibitions and theatre too.

I normally love embroidery but haven't been able to concentrate really since the pandemic.

I'm liking jigsaws at the moment. They keep me occupied but I kind of feel they're wasted time in comparison to my sewing as there is nothing to show for my time

Binge watching great telly
Zoom cocktails with friends
Doing ComeDine With Me at home (4 of us)
Walking in new places
Film nights with cocktails and a takeaway
Dressing up for Friday night dinner
Fairy lights and a real fire

Ordering chef prepared food from dishpatch.co.uk/
Keeping the house warm and cosy
Emailing friends
Being grateful for people and telling them so
Sending treats to people eg flowers and hampers
Dancing in the kitchen late at night on aFriday

DH and I are (mostly) WFH Monday - Friday. We go for a walk every day when we finish work and get our work stress out in the first 10 minutes.
Still just cooking normal things, can't be bothered to create culinary genius.
Lots of "no stress" tv - House of Games, New Lives In The Wild, Grand Designs, Repair Shop.
Making plans for the garden.
I find the weekend drifts on. We have a walk, I do yoga videos, he watches football, we do some batch cooking, housework.

We have a cafetière of coffee each morning and I cook a cafe style brunch on weekends. We remodelled the front garden too. Otherwise I'm looking for ideas.

Thank you! I like all of the ideas on here, even if some aren’t for me.

Proper coffee and pastries and getting back into cross stitch and podcasts , I’m going to try. And any way to get more flowers into my life.

I’m going to start wearing my good clothes a couple of times a week. I’ve a velvet dress I was saving for a special occasion.

My daughter has her 12th birthday at the weekend and we’ve organised a proper tween sleepover. Complete with disco ball, movie, nail varnishing. We are barbecuing burgers and ‘s’mores and her brother and I are making a cake. The guests are me, her dad, her brother, the cat and the dog. I’m not sure we’d normally make the guest list!

We’ve decided to begin gundog training our daft Labrador. My cousin is doing virtual sessions. That’ll be enough of a challenge, however long lockdown lasts.