Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Disney Plus, and all your other mainstays have run dry and you want something else to do besides watch TV, but reading seems boring, you’ve never been artsy, you don’t have the ingredients to cook something labor-intensive and you can only stare blankly at your pets and they at you for so long. As you pace your house, you look around and realize with horror that you finally have the time you’ve never had to do all the projects you’ve needed to do but have never gotten around to.

Or maybe it’s not as dramatic as that – you just want to improve your space while you’re stuck there. Here are five ideas for things you can do around the house to both keep you occupied and get the feeling of accomplishing something (or get your kids to do if there are no rocks left to pick up in the yard).

1. Declutter your space

This is more than just your general Sunday chores or cleaning heavy-traffic areas. You may have noticed now more than ever the amount of unnecessary stuff you’ve collected over the years, like all the boxes of stale, mostly-eaten cereal at the back of your pantry. Or the army of definitely expired hair products in your bathroom cabinet that have been collecting dust since 2005 but have never parted with for some reason. Or the worst of all, the closet in your guest bedroom. Who knows what’s been thrown in there over the years.

There are so many different guides and strategies out there on how to effectively declutter your home, the most popular one in recent memory being the KonMari method. Since the task can quickly become overwhelming, especially depending on the size of your home and how many people live in it, a good rule of thumb is to compartmentalize the process as much as you need to, i.e. attacking your overstuffed sock drawer instead of tackling the entire bedroom. It’s much easier to manage!

2. All the things you haven’t done but know you should

While practical fixes aren’t as fun as some of the others on this list, they are necessary. Here’s some ideas on things to tackle:

Clean air vents (use the brush head on your vacuum so dust doesn’t spread)
Change HVAC filter
Clean out gutters
Seal gaps and cracks in windows
If you have leftover paint, touch up any scratches or chips you can find
Clean and condition leather furniture, wooden cutting boards and cast iron skillets
Clean baseboards

3. Upcycling

Refreshing or repurposing old pieces of décor is the perfect time-consumer and will save you money in the long run compared to buying new pieces. Slap a new coat of paint on a bookcase. Upholster a table and turn it into an ottoman. Make your dresser into a bar. Turn a lamp stand into a birdbath. Use scrap wood to make floating shelves. You can look up pretty much any item of décor and find twenty different things to do with it. Here’s an article with more ideas.

4. Change up the mood

As sort of a continuation of upcycling, freshening up the mood can change the atmosphere of your home, especially after sitting in it for several weeks. Along with doing something simple like airing out your house to get rid of any mustiness, you can:

Change the layout of your picture wall(s) and hang up any pictures you’ve neglected
Rearrange your furniture – consider looking at different design concepts such as the tried-and-true feng shui
Paint an accent wall (bonus points for a chalkboard wall)
Purchase indoor plants that improve air quality
Clean the inside and outside of your windows

5. Exercise your green thumb

If you haven’t already, picking up a rake and getting rid of all the leftover winter gunk on your lawn to make sure it’s prepped for the fast-approaching summer months is both another good time-consuming activity and it gets you out of the house. Your HOA will probably be very happy with you. While you’re out there, you might as well restain or repaint your porch too.

Additionally, since accessibility to food has become a concern, you may be considering growing a garden. Whether you’re growing watermelons in your backyard or growing herbs in your kitchen window, it’ll certainly make you feel more self-sufficient. Planting and maintaining your own garden can be a great project for the whole family.

Whatever you choose to do (or not do, no judgement here), remember to take joy in the small things, like the smell of freshly washed sheets or sunlight filling your home. Stay safe, stay inside and stay healthy!

Home Improvement Projects You Can Do During Quarantine