In times like this, when all our daily activities have been moved back indoors, or rather back into our homes, changing things up a little bit seems almost crucial.

While Pepper Sq. team is working from home as well, we have dived into all things that are available for us to make the stay-at-home situation more normal.

“If you can’t go outisde, go inside.”

The time usially spent on commute to work is a great canvas for adding a work out into your morning routine, or battling the stress of the day ahead with a new routinely step - meditation.



Here are a couple of apps that we found useful for setting our heads staraight:

  • Headspace app is a great meditation quide for the beginners (but not exclusively), working through your 5-10 minute medidtation sessions with a calming voice of
  • Calm app (and don’t forget to check out their instagram page for some inspiration) is a meditation and relaxation aiding app that promises to boost confidence and reduce stress.
  • Happy Not Perfect – “for a happier mind everyday.” This appprovides each user with a daily routine, tailored to their mood and situation. All you have to do is choose your current mood. You will find breathing exercises, games and writing notes as well as daily dose of positivity from the app’s editors.
  • Mindicine app (only available on Apple iPhones) - it plays different sound frequencies to stimulate the five main types of brain waves – alpha, beta, gamma, delta and theta – which helps with everything from focus and anxiety to sleep and lack of creativity. Choose the length of the soundtrack form 5min to 8 hours.

For those of us who decided to try something new in the kitchen a lot of instagram accounts have taken up the challenge too.


Recipe from Nigella Lawson.

We took a liberty and collected our favourite channels to keep your eyes out on for great IGTV recipe walk-throughs:

  • @massimobotturo – for the chef behind Osteria Francescana with daily recipe inspiration
  • @nigellalawson does #recipeoftheday via #linkinbio with daily inspiration to try something new.
  • If you are tired of missing the pasta on the shelves, the pasta dons behind London’s popular Circolo Popolare are showing us how to make home-made pasta and gnocchi over at @bigmammagroup

Some fun ways to turn your to-do list into something exciting.

1.    Organise a book club with your friends over the group video chats (the likes of Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts or simply FaceTime). Maybe add a glass or two of wine to that session. Tackle the book(s) you’ve been meaning to read recently in a funner way.

2.    Pick up new podcasts. Here are some of podcasts we have been loving recently:

  • Wine for normal people
  • Table Manners with Jessie Ware.
  • How I Built This – inspiring podcast. Guy Raz is interviewing the founders behind the most wanted modern world companies.
  • Philosophize This! – great show for the philosophy lovers, this show is beginner-friendly, covering a wide range of topics, starting from Presocratic Philosophy.
  • Picturehouse Podcast – entertaining podcast to inspire you to watch new and classic movies. Just film critics and actors chatting about films.

3. Detox your home. If your plans for home improvement over the next few weeks is mostly home detox, head over to our storage furniture selection and detox your home in style.


Moli Chest of Drawers, 120 cm, Smoked Oak

Who are you staying in with? Family? Friends? Significant others? Lucky one-man band? Here are some ideas on how to spend your evenings to change things up:

  • Organise a fancy dinner at home and make everyone dress nice for it as if you were going out for a dinner (another reason to wear something you’ve been missing).
  • Enjoy National Theatre plays from the comfort of your home. From April 2, under the banner of National Theatre at Home, every Thursday (7pm GMT/2pm EST) will see a new National Theatre play released – free to watch for one week – along with bonus content including cast and creative Q&As and post-stream talks.
  • Pick a subject to paint together, or solo. Explore different styles of painting and sketching, to see what is your cup of tea.

-       Drawing classes and more, free until 9thof April at Bluprint.

-       Hit up Sinix Design youtube channel for illustration and design tutorials.

-       Head over to skillshare.com for learn the basics of drawing, illustration, design, hand lettering

-       Choose one of the free short courses from Open University at futurelearn.com/courses.

-       Create with Tate. Head over to the gallery’s website to enjoy their masterclasses with the kids, and maybe learn something new yourself.

  • Spend an evening in a museum (virtually). Numerous museums across the world have created virtual tours for you to enjoy from your sofa.

-   British Museum in London

-   National Gallery in London

-   Guggenheim Museum in New York

-   Musée d’Orsay in Paris

-   National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul

-   The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles

-   Guggenheim in Bilbao

-   Vatican Museums in Rome

-   Uffizi Gallery in Florence.


National Theatre Live - Jane Ayre

A lot of us are missing our work out routines be it simple gym sessions, group workouts or personal training times. We have scouted numerous exciting ways to keep your excercising routine with the help of London based studios over on their Instagram accounts.

  • @Crank.London – a HIIT studio in london which provides us with daily home work out routines.
  • @psyclelondon – home barre, yoga and 45 minute sculpt workouts in their IDTV section. Who’s with us?
  • @Kobox for boxing agility workout
  • @rachaelsgoodeats home work out videos in the newsfeed with some healthy cooking tips
  • Home workouts in their highlights at @f45_liverpoolst or @f45_lonfonpaddington
  • 14 days free at Alo Moves app for yoga and fitness.
  • @sosweat app for amazing workouts at home, or “facetime” workouts with a friend

Photo courtesy of Alo Moves

TAKE A BREAK. STAY IN IN STYLE.