Brought to you by
November 2026
Kyla Jenson
Light & Sleep
The Science of Light and Its
Impact on Sleep and Mental Health
Stress Free Thanksgiving
9 Ways to Get Ahead before Guests Arrive
What's Really Coming Into Your Home on the Bottom of Your Shoes?
Compliments of
Kyla Jenson
A Healthier Home For You & Your Family
Kyla Jenson
Global Real Estate Advisor
Remember always brings a little more focus to home. As the seasons change and Thanksgiving approaches, many of us begin spending more time indoors, preparing to welcome family and friends, and making space for the moments that matter most. It’s also a good reminder that a healthy home is about more than how it looks. It’s about how it functions, how it makes us feel, and how it supports our everyday well-being.
This month, we’re exploring different ways to make our homes healthier, more comfortable, and more welcoming. We’re looking at the small things that can make a difference, from keeping indoor air clean and understanding how light affects our sleep to creating a space that feels ready for guests.
As you move through the season, I hope this issue encourages you to be a little more intentional about the spaces you live in and the time you spend in them. Whether you're hosting loved ones or enjoying a quieter November at home, there are plenty of ways to make this season feel a little healthier and more meaningful.
Recipe of the Month
Pot of Gold: Saffron, Pumpkin Saffron Chantrelle Risotto
Heather Christo, Deliciously Allergen Free Recipes
It’s a creamy and delicious arborio rice with creamy pumpkin puree, fragrant saffron and golden chantrelle mushrooms. A little drizzle of truffle oil if you are feeling fancy and want to make it extra special.
Photo Credit: Heather Christo
Organization
Make Time for Small Moments This Holiday Season
By Jolene Nannette
As daylight hours shrink and holiday plans fill the calendar, outdoor time, exercise, and meaningful time with family can be the first things to disappear. Rather than treating them as separate commitments competing for space, look for ways to bring them together. A family walk, an outdoor game, or a shared weekend outing can make movement feel less like another task and create time to connect.
Feng Shui Essentials
Designed to Welcome: The Feng Shui of Hosting and the Home That Holds Others
By Dee Oujiri
There is a particular quality in homes where people feel immediately at ease. You cross the threshold, and something in you exhales. It is not always the most beautiful home, or the most expensively furnished. It is often not the largest or the most recently renovated. What it is, unmistakably, is a home that knows how to hold people.
Featured Article
Wellness-Focused Real Estate
Kyla Jenson
Hiring a wellness-focused real estate agent who is connected with healthy home experts and understands the fundamentals of creating a healthier home can provide numerous benefits for homeowners and buyers. Here are some of the benefits:
- Improved Health: A wellness-focused real estate agent can help homeowners and buyers identify homes that have features that promote good health and well-being. For example, they can suggest homes with good air quality, natural lighting, and green spaces, which are all known to have positive effects on health.
- Better Energy Efficiency: A wellness-focused real estate agent can help homeowners and buyers find homes with energy-efficient features such as proper insulation, efficient heating and cooling systems, and energy-saving appliances. These features not only promote a healthier environment but also lead to significant cost savings.
- Access to a Network of Experts: Wellness-focused real estate agents often have connections with experts in various fields related to healthy homes, such as green builders, energy auditors, and air quality specialists. This can provide homeowners and buyers with access to trusted professionals who can help them create a healthier home environment.
- Increased Property Value: Homes that are designed with health and wellness in mind often have higher property values. By working with a wellness-focused real estate agent, homeowners and buyers can invest in a property that not only provides health benefits but also offers a higher return on investment.
- Education on Healthy Homes: A wellness-focused real estate agent can provide homeowners and buyers with education and resources on how to maintain a healthy home. This can include tips on proper ventilation, cleaning, and maintenance, which can help improve the overall health of the home environment.
Overall, a wellness-focused real estate agent can provide significant benefits for homeowners and buyers who are interested in creating a healthier home environment. With their expanded network and knowledge of healthy home fundamentals, they can help clients make informed decisions that promote health, well-being, and financial value.
If you'd like to learn more, let's chat! Click below to schedule a call so we can talk through your specific needs.
Wellness Design
The New Aging
How Wellness Real Estate Is Redefining Longevity at Home
By Cassy West
The Global Wellness Institute named “Longevity Residences” the top 2026 category at their spring summit: homes and communities are being reframed as active participants in extending health-spans, integrating preventive medicine, advanced diagnostics, AI-driven personalization, and health-optimized design directly into daily life. The framing is notable as the home and community are becoming points of care, structurally integrated with healthcare rather than adjacent to it, with health-spans becoming infrastructure rather than an amenity.
Wellness Design
Light & Sleep:
The Science of Light and Its
Impact on Sleep and Mental Health
By Cassy West
Smartphones, streetlights, computer screens, and televisions keep our world in a perpetual state of brightness and this habitual light exposure affects human mental health.
Holidays
Stress Free Thanksgiving: 9 Ways to Get Ahead Before Guests Arrive
By Sabrina Aguilar
Thanksgiving dinner may happen in a single afternoon, but the preparation can stretch across several days. Between coordinating dishes, making grocery runs, preparing the kitchen, and getting the house ready for guests, it's easy to spend so much time managing the details that you barely get to enjoy the gathering.
Healthy Home
What's Really Coming Into Your Home on the Bottom of Your Shoes?
By Lucy Chatman
I've started noticing something more and more when I visit friends' homes: shoes don't always make it past the front door. Instead, there's a little spot to leave them, a bench to sit on, or a collection of slippers waiting for anyone who comes inside.
Why Schools Are Bringing Back Shop Class
How hands-on learning benefits today's students.
By Lucy Chatman
Growing up, I remember hearing stories about the classes my parents took in school. My mom learned to cook and sew. My dad spent time in the woodshop, building projects with his own hands and learning how to use tools that would stay with him long after graduation.
Back-to-School
Healthy Home
Dirty Air Filter Causes: When to Clean Your HVAC Ducts
As a building biologist and home inspector, one maintenance chore comes up with my clients more than almost any other: air duct cleaning.
Architecture
Things to Review Before You Finalize Your House Plans
By Kate Hamblet
Building or renovating a home comes with hundreds of decisions. By the time your floor plan starts to feel finished, it can be tempting to check “design” off the list and move on to choosing finishes and preparing for construction.
Aromatherapy
Things to Review Before You Finalize Your House Plans
By Debbie Pullens
November often arrives with an invitation to give thanks. But when you are grieving, caregiving, under financial strain, or carrying complicated holiday memories, gratitude can feel like another demand. I lost my mother in October, and I’m still moving through real sadness.
