#Christmas blues? I buy a few plants to sit on my window sill

[thereforepizza]

my go-to when I feel upset is plants

[stimtoybox]

I’ve had an anon ask come in that I think is better answered with a photoset:

Any ideas for cheap or diy stuff for a subtle sensory room for an adult?

I’ll observe that I’m not the best at adult things because ... well, for an adult, I pretty much specialise in not being one by NT metric.

(I apologise for the dust in the above photos. I haven’t had the spoons for dusting in two weeks.)

1: Chenille bath mat. I found this one yesterday on discount, $10 AUD from Big W, available in several colours. The fronds are so big and it’s so soft and fuzzy. It’s so nice to stand on I don’t quite even! This can work as a floor mat in front of your bed or chair or even a foot blanket on a single bed. Also functional as a lap blanket. I’ve got mine tucked over my feet as of writing.

2: Chair or bed blanket. This one is a folded electric blanket currently on sale for $39 AUD at Aldi. (I know you’re not supposed to sit on an electric blanket, but it is honestly the only useful way I can use said blanket because I like to be able to move and don’t enjoy being wrapped up like a burrito just to keep halfway warm.) Any plush blanket will do for folks who don’t have my cold sensitivity, though - just something soft to make your chair or bed cosy. This blanket is really comfortable to sit on even when it isn’t running, and running my hands over the plush is very nice.

3: Candle oil burner. The one I’ve photographed isn’t that great - the basin is too high above the candle flame. It cost me $2.50 AUD from a dollar shop, though, and it has a deep basin, so I’ll use it until it cracks. Mine is on the window sill right beside my desk. The cost of candles does add up over time if you use the burner a lot, but you can buy those and blended essential or perfume/fragrance oils (about $2 AUD each) in dollar shops. The quality of these oils isn’t fabulous, but for not much money you get pleasant, relaxing scents while you work, read, watch, game or stim.

4: Kinetic sand in a glass jar on a shelf or dresser. Seriously, anyone who looks at this is going to think it’s just decorative. Nobody who doesn’t see you play with the sand on a tray or plate is going to even question this.

(Same applies for things like counters, dice, worry stones, glass counters, puzzle erasers. Even things like playdough and slime, as long as the neck is large enough for you to easily get a hand in and remove sand, slime or dough. Have it in a glass jar and it’s not a toy, it’s a display. I’ve got glass jars filled with water beads, puzzle erasers, bouncy balls, marbles, beads and buttons. I get nothing but compliments on these. Old pasta sauce jars work just fine, too; you don’t even have to buy these. My big ones cost $2 AUD each from K-Mart.)

5: Weighted lap pad/pillow. I’ve got a kawaii watermelon one because, like I said, I’m not terribly adult, but you can use literally any pillow case if it has a zipper or you’re willing to unpick a seam. Stuff it with a mix of something weighted - like rice, beans, decorative gravel, poly pellets - and poly/toy stuffing, because otherwise this will be too heavy for most. I also turned a duster mitt into a large weighted lap plush. My pillow cost $7 AUD from K-Mart; I only paid a few dollars for a bag of rice.

(You might also like to DIY a weighted blanket, although that isn’t like to be inexpensive, even DIY’d. Here’s a tutorial for a tie blanket, and here’s a discussion about weighted blanket fillers.)

6: Decorative or tree battery-operated LED lights. Mine are Christmas lights, but in that colour scheme they don’t look very Christmas, so I bluetacked mine to my shelves. Please note that in this, you want LED lights, not the very cheap tree lights, because the cheap old-fashioned tree lights put out a lot of heat as well as light. I got those on clearance after last Christmas for $2 AUD.

(Also, candles. Available in all the dollar shops. Relaxing and soothing, and also warm up a space a little in winter. Not as cool as colour-changing lights, but nobody’s going to think anything of them. Tip: light candles with a gas lighter, not a match. It’s so much easier.)

7: Stim toys in a fancy basket. Everything looks more adult when it’s nicely arranged in a basket. I think I paid $3 AUD for this pink plastic basket from a local dollar shop. You can also have worry stones or glass counters arranged on a plate or tray (like the oil burner photo above), too. Think things like fruit squishies arranged in a cane basket, for example - how different is that from a fake fruit or plant display?

(If you don’t want your toys to be visible at all, try putting them in a nice box - think those patterned cardboard gift boxes you get in dollar shops, as they’re only $2-$3 AUD each. The box looks pretty and everything is neatly hidden inside.)

I hope this gives you some ideas, anon. I don’t really have a lot of DIY ideas for room ideas as opposed to stim toy ideas, but you might also want to look through our tutorial collections (one and two) or our DIY tag to see if anything clicks for you! 

- Mod K.A.

Image description under read more cut:

[image description:

1 - a blue chenille frond/bobble bath mat with large, oversized bobbles sitting on the end of a single-sized bed.

2 - a grey-blue plush blanket doubled over and folded over the front size of a standard computer office chair. A white-with-pink-handled dresser holding candles, glitter jars, sand art jars, a soccer-ball stress ball and a Monster High Elissabat doll can be seen in the background.

3 - a green and brown porcelain oil burner with a green body and a deep brown basin, both dusty and streaked with dried oil. Burner sits in a light pink floral dish with river pebbles and green glass counters sitting around the burner.

4 - a tall glass mason jar with a brass screw-top lid holding green kinetic sand. A small star-shaped jar in with a silver-coloured screw-top lid holds pastel-coloured water beads and sits in front of the sand. A brightly-coloured Hoberman sphere sits beside it, mostly cropped out of the photo.

5 - a pink triangular kawaii watermelon slice pillow with round black eyes and yellow seeds, all printed onto faux canvas, sits besides a green worm-like creature made from a chenille duster mit, a red felt tongue and black button eyes. Both sit on a night-time print bedspread.

6 - Two white wall-bracket shelves holding books, trimmed with LED lights in orange, turquoise and mauve, all in the shape of doves, hearts, stars and bells. Books on the shelves are by authors Tamora Pierce, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Lian Hearn, N. K. Jemisin and Isobelle Carmody.

7 - A pink plastic basket with cut outs from the plastic to give a pattern of birds and leaves, like that of songbirds sitting in a hedge. Basket contains Play-Doh, a fabric stress ball, a car-shaped chewable, a red apple squishy, a coloured slinky, an orange makeup blending sponge, a wooden nut and bolt, a cork and a smaller green plastic basket. Green basket contains a silver and a red camo spinner, three Tangle Jrs, a green hedge monkey, a brown hedge monkey, a purple/blue/pink snake puzzle, a blue hedge creature and a green edmame popper. A white basket containing coloured hedge balls can be seen in the background.