Everyone wants their home to be perfect, but more importantly to be happy and healthy. Sometimes, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the ins and outs of home ownership. Decor becomes second thought and design falls by the wayside. Perfection may not always be an achievable goal when life gets in the way, but if you want to put your best foot forward, here are a few tips to help you make your home as happy and healthy as possible. 

Life: Pets and Plants

All homes should have life in them. Perhaps that life is your immediate family or visitors, but also consider the value of pets and houseplants. Indoor plants bring fresh air and color to your home. Sometimes they even bring scented flowers. Keeping pets is both entertaining and soothing, as well as teaching your children responsibility. Just make sure the two can safely coexist! Look for pet safe indoor plants or keep them out of reach of prying pups and climbing cats. A plant on a high shelf may be harder to water, but at least your cat can't eat it there. 

Space: Peace and Harmony

The spaces in your home should be visually peaceful and harmonious. There are two ways to make sure that they are: keeping them tidy and making sure that they are well-designed. Mess and clutter in your personal space can create equal amounts of clutter and mess in your mind. It's amazing how reducing the mess in your life can reduce stress as well. Harmonious decorating choices can do the same thing. Your collection of furniture may be eclectic, especially if you are shopping for bargains or using a lot of hand me downs, but that's no reason for them to not be cohesive and harmonious. 

Movement: Flow and Function

Always remember and respect the dynamism of your living spaces. A horse isn't just somewhere your sleep: it's where you eat and play as well. People live there and they move in certain patterns while they are living there. You may have to observe how your family moves through the space and rearrange your furniture accordingly, but it will certainly be worth it in the end. Flow is especially important in heavily trafficked spaces like the kitchen. Bad flow in the kitchen can make the space functionally useless. For example, if the refrigerator door obstructs traffic, that can make it difficult to cook, and if your prep spaces are inconveniently placed, that can make it even harder. 

Color: Pleasing and Practical

Color may seem like a relatively minor thing compared to issues of flow and function, but don't underestimate it. Selecting colors for your walls and furniture is an opportunity to please yourself, but it's hard to ignore the people who may visit your home in the short term or even own your home in the long term. For example, say you love the color orange. Painting all four walls of your living room orange might be a little overwhelming, and it could reduce the resale value of your home. An accent wall, on the other hand, could be very pleasing. You can always add color in a less permanent way with throw pillows, furniture, and rugs. Strike a balance between what pleases you and what is a practical choice. 

Owning a home is always a compromise to some degree. If you aren't compromising with the people you love with, you are compromising with your means and your schedule. There will always be something that is not exactly perfect, but the one thing you should never compromise on is the health and happiness of your home.