Sensitive Canberra: Your guide to creating a chronic illness inclusive, sensitive home
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When living with chronic illness, home is everything.
It’s the one place in the world where I can take off my “I’m okay” mask, rest, recover and just be myself. Home is my sanctuary, tailored to my specific health needs, with clean air, medical aids, hypo-allergenic materials, furnishings and cleaning products. It is the minimal-ish, calm space I’ve dreamed of, and as a designer, I’m excited to share simple sensitive home tips I’ve learned over the years.
Chronic illness warriors might spend more time at home than our healthier friends, so it is worth creating your own comfortable, beautiful and safe space. Accessible doesn’t necessarily mean costly, just thoughtfully designed.
Mental load and simplicity
As we’ve explored in previous articles, the mental load, energy, time, and resources involved in managing chronic illness, on top of normal life, is huge. If you know, you know. As a designer I felt there had to be a way to simplify all areas of my life, starting at home – like swapping clutter for calm, and chronic for chic, so I have more energy to give.
This isn’t about minimalism but clearing clutter so I have less to think about, clean and maintain, while following a minimal-ish Marie Kondo, sparking joy approach. My husband and I don’t have kids, or pets, so maintaining a simple, easy-to-care-for home is easier for us, but the idea can be applied in busier homes too.
Brain fog is real in spoonie life, and I don’t want to use my precious energy, searching for things or shuffling them around. I’m not sure about you, but if there are items in a cluttered drawer, I will absolutely forget they exist. It’s so easy to buy things if and when we need them online, so let the shops store our extra items for us!
We’ve allocated each area in our home to a specific use, and the items that go with that live only there. For example, home workout area, work from bed or couch setups. The same approach goes in the kitchen, pantry, laundry, wardrobes, garage, car and all other areas of the home. Simple and clutter-free.
Accessible design for daily comfort
While studying Industrial Design, I was fascinated by the concept of human-centred design, especially as a young girl with chronic illness. During an exchange in the Netherlands, my mind was expanded by their truly client centred approach, designing products, services and spaces to enhance how people actually live their lives. Interventions as simple as rearranging functional spaces with an easy reach zone to minimise exertion. Not sexy but so effective!
Beyond general accessibility building standards, a supportive space can be created around your individual needs, with simple, affordable solutions. Do you need more light or less, could a certain chair or bed allow you to live with less pain, could accessible kitchen implements make you enjoy cooking more, or could arranging the living and bedrooms room so you have a great view, and chairs for loved ones to visit, make sick days a little more delightful?
Decor and joy
Just like the last article on finding your personal style with chronic illness, designing your home can be a source of joy! Whether it’s a flared day, or not, I love every inch of our home, and the items we have chosen, from colourful hypo-allergenic bedding and towels and easy clean rugs, to prints on the wall and beautiful crockery. Falling in love with Canberra’s design and art scene, we’d love to invest in glass and ceramic pieces from Bison, vibrant Scott Leggo prints of places we’ve been, and timber furniture pieces from Thor’s Hammer and Rolf Barfoed.
These items and other hypo-allergenic local finds could make great gifts for chronic illness loved ones too.
Air and water quality
With lifelong Ehlers Danlos Syndrome including MCAS, I live with product and fragrance sensitivities, plus allergies to dust mites and mould. Our clean home, with abundant fresh air is the dream, so we incorporate many simple strategies into our routine to keep it that way. Starting with a HEPA vacuum cleaner and daily mop.
We’ll discuss accessible building and low VOC materials in a future article but minimising difficult-to-clean upholstered and carpeted areas is a great start. We allow fresh air to flow through as often as possible, run air filters when the house is closed up, and use the air conditioner, dehumidifier and extractor fans on damp days.
The Sensitive Choice (National Asthma Council Australia) website is a great resource for verified allergy inclusive products such as air filters, and information on improving air quality in your home.
We’ve also added a drinking water filter in the kitchen, and simple screw in shower filters. One day we’d love to invest in a whole-house water filtration system from Fyshwick based AquaSafe. They provide advice on a suitable system for your home and family needs, along with recommendations for tradespeople and installation.
Communication
Communicating with loved ones and visitors is important with chronic illness, whatever your health needs. We have a sign at the front door explaining that it is a fragrance-free space, a range of natural self-care products in each bathroom and the spare room, and an email ready to send with tips for longer-term visitors.
This could be more difficult if you are sharing housing, renting, or living with family. In these cases prioritise communication, a room for you if possible, the support of your medical team and working toward a clear diagnosis.
Cleaning
With allergies, asthma, immune illness and general awareness increasing, many of us are choosing to use fragrance-free, natural cleaning products, that are kind on sensitive skin. In the last five years, the popularity of these products has skyrocketed, now many brands are available in supermarkets and chemists at affordable prices.
I grew up using bicarb, vinegar, castile soap, hydrogen peroxide, frustrated – along with my patient family – that they weren’t effective on grease, mould and dust mites. Now sensitive brands are almost as effective as standard items.
Ecostore was mentioned in the self-care article. Their fragrance free Ultra Sensitive range is verified by the Sensitive Choice program and includes general cleaning, kitchen and bathroom products.
Koh is also Sensitive Choice approved, and they offer a large range of products, including their fragrance-free Universal cleaner which does almost everything. They are also committed to reducing waste via bulk options.
Harris Farm in Majura is my favourite place to buy these brands along with Koala Eco. Scoop Wholefoods in Kingston also offers bulk cleaning products, just take or buy your glass containers and spray bottles.
Eco-friendly pest control
Okay, this is where things get tricky. Living with chronic illness, keeping pests away is important, as I’m extremely sensitive to insecticides. We approach life with this in mind, ensuring we don’t leave food out, take rubbish out often and freeze food waste if possible. I clean little and often through the week so there isn’t anything enticing to pests.
But if we needed, there are several eco-friendly options in Canberra, such as A1 Pest Control Canberra, committed to using products and approaches to prioritise the wellbeing of their clients, pets and the environment.
Canberra’s inclusive cleaners
Similarly I’m delighted to share that we also have wonderful eco-friendly cleaning companies in Canberra, such as family-run The Greener Cleaner. They are committed to using natural product line Simple Clean which we also love, bringing peace of mind to their clients and attention to detail to their cleaning.
“We started The Greener Cleaner after our daughter was born. We were committed to using only non-toxic and environmentally conscious products to ensure our family’s health. However, we struggled to find a cleaning service that met our standards for safety and sustainability. This challenge led us to create our own cleaning business, focused on using safe, eco-friendly products that we could trust in our home and offer to others who share our values”.
A lot of our clients live with asthma, eczema, or autoimmune conditions, and they’ve told us what a big difference this has made for them. We love knowing we’re making people’s lives a little bit easier”.
I wish companies like this had been around to support my family as I was growing up with chronic illness. Life is getting much easier now for spoonies in many ways, starting with passionate entrepreneurs like this.
Creating moments at home
When you’re living with a chronic illness, designing pockets of joy into your home can make all the difference, reminding us to take moments to breathe and recharge. Imagine turning a sunny spot in your home into your peaceful nook for lingering over a warm cup of tea, your Kindle reading spot piled with cushions and blankets, or a comfortable stool, chopping board and easy to reach baking ingredients setup in the kitchen.
These intentionally created spots are reminders to look after yourself, especially on tough days. Remember, you are allowed to be yourself at home, so don’t hold back on anything that connects you to the badass you are. Inspiring quote, post it notes on the fridge, “you got this” scribbled on your bathroom mirror, phone alarms whatever you need. Chronic illness can be tough, so make home your sanctuary.
Until next month, we’d love you to share your Sensitive Canberra tips and your favourite home moments. Connect with Lisa on Instagram @chronicillness.chic or by email at simplicity.canberra@gmail.com
Disclaimer. These articles don’t include medical advice. Please consult your medical team, or Sensitive Choice (National Asthma Council Australia) for verified allergy inclusive products.
