Home Décor Essentials This Monsoon
The arrival of monsoon brings with it the promise of freshness, as the very first rain drops hit the hot and dry summer ground and the smell of soil wafts through the air, rejuvenating and energising your spirit. Clouds cover the sky and sometimes hide the sun for days on end, providing an ever present, natural shade. Trees, grass and plants, left lifeless and shrivelled due to the lack water are reborn, spreading a sheet of green over the earth. The interplay between thundering clouds, lightning and rainbows can make you feel adventurous. It is a season of change and anticipation and as such, might make you want to take another look at redecorating your home to be more in tune with this tumultuous and chaotic season.
The most obvious place to start would be colour. As beautiful as the monsoon can be, the lack of sunlight can potentially have a negative effect on mental health. This phenomenon is known as ‘Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD),’ and is characterized by depression, anxiety and social withdrawal. The best was to counteract this is by adding a pop of colour in your home. The keyword here is contrast. Bright colours like Yellow, Blue, Red, Greed, Orange etc. are your friends against the dull grey of the monsoon. Let these tints reflect in places like bedsheets, towels, curtains, pillow covers and the like.
Monsoon is synonymous with frequent power cuts. But if you haven’t already, this is an excellent opportunity to stock up on some candles. A hearty meal amidst candle light and heavy rainfall can serve to really elevate the atmosphere in your home to something more intimate and cosier. In order to make the most out of this setting, we strongly advise that you consider candles made out of something like beeswax, which is a naturally occurring substance extracted from bee hives. Beeswax candles burn longer and do not emit any harmful fumes, as opposed to their paraffin counterparts, which are made from petroleum and emit black soot and fumes containing chemicals.
If you’d like to go all in on the atmospheric aspect of monsoon, why not replace your steel/melamine kitchenware with bamboo cutlery, plates and serving bowls which would give your kitchen a rustic feel.
It is equally important to be mindful of hygiene in your home décor decisions. Remember that dampness due to high moisture content in the air is ideal for bacterial growth and your risk of being exposed to infections is twice as high during this season. Fabrics made out of anti-microbial fibre can help lower your chances of contracting viral or bacterial infections during monsoon. Using aprons and table cloths consisting of a water-proof coating can help against spillage thereby restricting microbial growth.
If you have wooden tables or desks in your home, you might want to invest good, absorbent tablecloths for covering them up as moisture can cause wooden furniture to rot. Make sure to choose colours which compliment the rest of your home but stick to the monsoon colour scheme as mentioned previously for a more consistent look.
Home décor during monsoon is a combination of using your artistic sensibilities to give your home a cosmetic overhaul as well as taking the necessary precautions to protect your house from the unforgiving elements of this season. With some experimenting and research and good judgement, your monsoon home experience can be as atmospheric as you want it to be.
