In my house, the most effective steps towards calm that we have taken is creating calming corners. We inadvertently created one for my son when we piled his plethora of stuffed dogs in a corner on the far side of his bedroom. I noticed he would go there when he was upset and just lay amongst them, sometimes talking to them. It seemed to help him and he started to calm down much quicker. So I gave it a try; creating my own calming corner. It was nice to have my own little sanctuary to get away from not just the physical but mental noise of the day.