How to Design a Home with Wellness in Mind
When thinking about quality furnishing and fluffy down throw pillows, it’s obvious how design can play a role in your physical comfort, but it’s fascinating to think how your home can contribute to your overall health and well-being. Yep, that’s right! When designing our homes, we can make choices that actually improve our health by lowering blood pressure and decreasing stress levels.
One way we can achieve this is by creating spaces that encourage relaxation and rejuvenation. Maybe it’s a reading nook with a comfortable chair, a textured blanket, and a soft throw pillow. Incorporating a floor lamp for ambient lighting or a table to place your coffee mug and favorite book, is not only functional but also lends itself to feelings of comfort and contentment.
Displaying meaningful objects is a perfect way to add a sense of belonging and personality to your home. The objects we fill our homes with have the ability to ease our anxieties. You may choose to display a vintage family heirloom, a piece of art collected from your travels, or a photo that reminds you of a happy time in your life.
At Design to Elevate, we always consider how you want your home to make you feel. Today, I’m sharing 3 ways to design a home with wellness in mind…
1. Form Connections to Nature
There are many fun and exciting ways we can design our homes to improve our moods and elevate our everyday lives! One of the most impactful ways to do this is by creating connections to nature.
Studies show that many of us spend almost 90% of our time indoors. This is shocking because there are even more studies showing the benefits spending time outdoors can have on mind and body. I think we can all agree that taking a hike in the mountains or paddle boarding on a pristine lake is incredibly invigorating. Of course, we should find ways to get outside and experience nature as much as we possibly can. But, during the cold rainy months when it gets dark before we even finish our long workday (especially here in the Pacific Northwest!), we aren’t always able to experience nature first-hand. And in reality, our time outdoors is limited for 9 months out of the year.
There is no denying that nature can have a positive impact on our health and wellness. Integrating natural elements into our homes can reconnect us with nature. Choosing natural materials and soothing colors, organic shapes and patterns, nature-inspired artwork and live greenery can all contribute to creating a healthy home.
Here are 5 simple ways you can bring the outdoors into your interior environment.
Accessorize with natural objects— wood bowls, clay beads, stone sculptures, hand-made pottery
Fill your pots and vases with live plants and fresh flowers or greenery— try filling your favorite vase with freshly cut branches from a tree in your garden, for a dramatic nature-infused look! (Even faux greenery can enhance your mood, in those spaces that don’t get natural light)
Display nature-inspired artwork— create a gallery wall with a series of framed black and white nature photographs
Choose natural colors and textures— think of earth-tones, the soothing colors and textures found in natural landscapes
Emphasize natural and ambient light— open your shades and let that Vitamin D in! Better yet, install more windows or expand your existing windows from floor to ceiling. Use a variety of light sources (dimmable wall sconces, table lamps, floor lamps, display lighting, suspended fixtures) to create a calming vibe in your home.
2. Focus on Functional Design Elements
It doesn’t matter how beautiful your home looks if it doesn’t support the way you and your family live. An efficient, thoughtful layout that creates good flow between spaces and selecting the appropriate furnishings for the function of each space is crucial to creating a healthy home. Incorporating elements such as built-in storage to keep things organized and contain the clutter behind closed doors is so important to help calm the chaos in our busy lives. This is a constant battle in my house, but I can’t tell you how much better I feel when my home is organized and functional!
Hiring a professional interior designer can help you achieve function and comfort, as well as style in your home (we offer a variety of services to fit your needs)!
3. Create a Sensory Experience
We cannot design a home with wellness in mind without acknowledging that we are providing a sensory experience. Consider how your senses can be stimulated in positive ways, and try incorporating some of these aspects in your home. Add sensory elements such as music, the smell of a savory meal or a scented candle, a burning fire, or the feeling of a soft textured rug on your feet. By paying close attention to our senses when designing our homes, we create a mood that impacts both our body and mind.
There is so much more to explore when it comes to wellness-inspired design. We'd love to work with you to improve the health of your home!
If you're ready to create a wellness-inspired home that encourages relaxation, reach out to us. We can't wait to hear about your project.
See you soon,
Reanna
