How to Take At-home Self Care to the Next Level, According to Peloton's Ally Love
For Peloton instructor Ally Love, perfecting her home decor this year became a form of self-care she didn't know she needed.
Teaming up with Lowes Home Improvement, the fitness and lifestyle guru sought out to spruce up her New York City space — a place she'd only use to sleep or "eat dinner certain nights" — and embrace her apartment in a time when staying home became the theme of the last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ironically, Love revealed to Travel + Leisure in a recent interview that she's a routine Pinterest scroller, specifically admiring organized homes as a way to wind down after a long day, but never thought to bring what she saw on the screen to life in her own place.
"I was like, 'Why not create the space that is actually Pinterestable that makes me feel this way in real life?'"
That's where Lowes came in.
The partnership, sparked by the company's campaign to inspire customers to take a "Hometrip" and decorate their homes like their favorite destination, helped bring a taste of the place she was missing most: Miami.
"I'm from Miami and I haven't been able to see my family in over a year," she said, mentioning that her fiancè also lived in the Florida destination for a bit, so the locale-inspo was a perfect match. The couple added wicker accents, white bedding, and greenery throughout their apartment to bring the beach vibes right to New York City.
"When I walk in the room now, there's literally a response that occurs where I'm just like, 'Oh my gosh, this feels so good,'" she said. "This was a place where I was busy, I was transient, I was teaching a Peloton class, or I had meetings, and now it's a home — I've taken a house and I've turned it into a home."
Love's home makeover also includes a chair perfect for her meditation sessions, a practice she's gotten into lately.
"I never used to do it before," she said. "I think in seasons of your life things are needed to take care of yourself and in this season of my life meditation is working."
In addition to meditation, Love's other favorite ways to relax these days are actually quite productive — which comes as no surprise given how her job, not only as a Peloton instructor, but as a host for the Brooklyn Nets, keeps her busy.
Being "mildly obsessed" with listening to books on Audible, the fitness instructor explained that listening to a good read provides her with the ability to multitask around her newly-decorated apartment or run errands around the city. She also regularly takes short naps but strategically uses her time laying down to think about what else is on her to-do list before drifting off to sleep in order to feel recharged 20 minutes later.
"I'm loving myself by taking care of me," she said. "Not just physically by working out but also by having the space that makes me feel grounded."
Christine Burroni is Travel + Leisure's Digital News Editor. Find her keeping up with just about everything on Twitter or see what she's up to in NYC or on her latest trip on Instagram.
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