Don’t have the money or time to start the big projects in your home? Don’t fret! Even a little fix can create a huge (and positive) difference! How do I know? Let me tell you two stories of small changes that made living in our home happier!

Case Study 1: The front door lock.

A few years back, maybe two years after we finished our big remodel, I found myself walking through our front door frustrated and annoyed at my hubby. He gets home before me and while *sometimes* he’ll leave the door unlocked, he’s from New Jersey and has a habit of locking the door after he comes in (smart, yes, I know). The thing is, the lock on our front door didn’t work very well. It was one of those where you had to put all your bags down, use one hand to lift the door, and the other to turn the key. 😩

I hated that lock. I would always come home with my arms full, and just got so annoyed after a long day at work having to manage that extra chore.

Since my hubby got home ahead of me, my brain said “gosh, he should leave the door unlocked, doesn’t he know I’ll be home soon?!” 🤬 As a result, I projected my annoyance about the lock onto my hubby. Silly, but true.

I did that for about a year. A YEAR! Then one day I realized – I had the power to fix this! It didn’t have to be about whether or not my hubby loved me enough to leave the door unlocked. And it didn’t have to be *his* job to fix it (sure, he’s a contractor, but I have opposable thumbs too, right? ie., all the tools I need to operate a screw driver?).

So I popped over to Home Depot, grabbed a new lockset, and in 20 minutes had a front door that locked and unlocked smoothly, leading to more happiness in my home and marriage every day! 😁

From Rebecca’s book, Happy Starts at Home!

Was that silly? Of course it was. But we’re often too close to our own problems to see the easy answer right in front of our nose!

Case Study 2: The toilet seats.

The good news is that when you make a habit of fixing things around the house, instead of letting them fester, then you can identify those small fixes *much* faster.

Just this month I realized I’d finally had it with the slamming toilet lids. Like many folks, we pinched pennies near the end of our remodel, and our toilet seats were one of the victims of those penny-pinching decisions. Instead of the slow-close seats I recommend for our clients, I’d opted for the lowest-cost (ie, loudest-closing) toilet seat on the shelf at good ol’ Home Depot. And they served us well for years! But when I’d finally had enough (thanks to maybe *too* much togetherness during the pandemic) I hopped on build.com and ordered two Kohler slow-close seats to go with my Memoirs toilets, and now our marriage is smooth sailing once again. ⛵️

Am I really saying door locks and toilet seats save marriages? Of course not. It’s what it represents that saves marriages.

Fixing my front door lock and changing my toilet seat:

• reminded me that I have the power and agency to improve things in my life.
• focused the frustration on a thing instead of on a person.
• removed something from the to-do list, freeing up my energy for other things.

Need more convincing? Go fix or clean something. Try to pick something that will take 20 minutes or less, and see if it shifts things for you. Here’s a quick list of ideas:

• Rehang that picture at the height you’ve always wanted – who cares if it puts an extra hole in the wall!
• Change out those burned out light bulbs – it’ll literally brighten your day (and night!)
• Spray WD40 on that squeaky hinge
• Sweep away the cobwebs around your front porch lights
• Replace the felt pads on the bottoms of your chairs to protect your floors
• Tighten the hinge on that cabinet door
• Replace that shredded cat tower

We don’t always have the time or budget for the big projects, but little changes can bring about surprisingly big shifts in energy! I’d love to hear what this inspires you to do! Tag us on Instagram at @seriouslyhappyhomes and @beseriouslyhappy and we’ll celebrate with you!!

Need some help figuring out just where to start? That’s what our Design Helpline is for! You can have 60 or 90 minutes with a design pro to start getting some momentum behind your home projects!

MAY YOUR HOME ALWAYS BE HAPPY!