5 ways interior design boosts your wellbeing at home
There are 60 seconds in a minute and 24 hours in a day. However, while we spend more time at home, it may seem like we have more of it on our hands.
Have you taken a moment to reflect on how this makes you feel?
It’s so important for us all to look after our health and wellbeing.. From planning our daily routine to focusing on the things we enjoy the most, there are many things we can do to help boost our wellbeing. The NHS’ ‘Every Mind Matters’ campaign is there to provide expert tips and practical advice.
We understand how our homes play a pivotal role in our lives, and how much we rely on them for comfort. However, they also have a unique way of keeping us on our toes! From tackling that storage cupboard, to sprucing up the hallway or giving your new pair of gardening gloves a test drive, here’s how we can utilise our homes to boost our wellbeing.
Interior design and mental wellbeing
The link between interior design and mental wellbeing is well documented, but it doesn’t take a lot of research to know that your home is more than just windows and doors. It’s an extension of yourself, where you feel safe, protected, and comforted.
This is why designing for your wellbeing is important - you’re crafting a place that you want to return to time and time again. Some of the key design principles for wellness include:
- Natural elements - such as plants, timber, stone and lighting. Bringing the outdoors in has many benefits, from improving your mood to encouraging that creative spark.
- Colour - we’re visual beings, and colours can impact how we feel. Whether you choose soothing neutrals or vibrant shades for your home, always go with a palette that leaves you feeling at peace.
- Comforting furniture - you spend a lot of time at home over the years, so make sure it’s a place that you can relax in.
- Sound absorption - noisy environments can induce stress, so keep that stress out of your home with sound-absorbing materials that help provide peace and quiet.
Incorporating these elements is key to creating a happy, healthy home.
How to start improving your wellbeing in your home
Boosting your wellbeing at home begins with its design. It’s a balancing act between aesthetics and functionality, ensuring that each room features objects and activities that provide what your mind craves. Keep reading to see how you can prioritise wellbeing within your design.
1. Invite nature in
We’ve had quite a warm year so far, with many months feeling more like summer than spring!
If you have a busy day ahead and/or you just need a moment to yourself, open your windows and take time to feel the warmth of the sun at the start of each day. Research suggests sunshine and fresh air can benefit our minds and our bodies.
Receiving or buying a bouquet of flowers to enjoy in your home is a lovely touch. However, what about the blooming tulips, bluebells or other flowers in your garden? Harvest a few special arrangements and position them throughout your home, so when you walk from room to room, you’ll always see their beauty in the corner of your eye and instantly smile.
Looking to learn more about how infusing your home with nature can improve your wellbeing? Read our full guide to combining your indoor and outdoor spaces through garden rooms, sunrooms and conservatories.
2. Add a splash of colour
If you’ve been meaning to give a certain room a lick of paint, there’s no time like the present! Colour evokes certain emotions, depending on your chosen palette, and so this psychology can do wonders for your wellbeing. Country Life have some refreshing ideas if you’re looking for inspiration.
Painting can be therapeutic and doesn’t need to be completed all at once. If you’re working from home, bring all the family together at lunchtime, or set aside one day a week to do a certain amount each day, You’ll thank yourself for ticking this job off your to-do list, and it’ll fill you with a huge sense of accomplishment.
3. Feel-good factor furniture
So, the walls are now in tip-top condition, but what about the furniture? Certain objects in our home also bring us joy, such as a vintage display case filled with memories or a much-loved chair in the corner. If these objects are looking a little worse for wear, why not try upcycling? Could your trusty bedside draws or wardrobe benefit from a new look?
Upcycling is a popular way of giving your possessions a new lease of life, so you can love them for longer while saving money by utilising what you already own.
Take a look at Church Cottage: an oak frame home from our Cottage range that was Charlie, our MD and his wife Helen’s first self build. Helen was very keen to put her hand to upcycling as part of the interior design of their home, starting with their bedroom furniture.
Helen says, “I had a pine furniture set from when I was younger that I wanted to give a new lease of life. I bought some Annie Sloane paint online and found some new drawer knobs from Sass and Belle. The project was extremely rewarding, and it gives a huge sense of achievement once you have completed it! I am in love with our ‘new’ furniture (and even more so when it cost so little to do)!”
4. Create a completely new space
Have you always wanted to give a particular room a new purpose? Somewhere to pursue a hobby, practise yoga, exercise, swim or simply have an additional living space where you can relax and unwind?
Whatever you wish to achieve, find time to make it happen for you! Consider exactly how you’d like your new room to make you feel. If you’d like a home office, you need to feel motivated as soon as you walk through the door. Alternatively, if you’re creating a social space, you'll want a dining room that is warm and inviting for your guests. How can you spark these emotions? How you can utilise what you already have at home in the first instance, to bring it to life?
We can guide you through this process. We’ll work with you to create a cohesive design that flows from room to room, while making sure that you enter a space and feel exactly how you’d like to feel. Whether you’d like to extend your current home or construct an outbuilding, request a brochure today.
5. Grab your garden by the stems
Alongside many other benefits, enjoying the great outdoors helps to boost our energy levels, enhance creativity and reduce stress.
Your garden doesn’t need to be picture-postcard perfect; let it just be a space where you love spending time - and if you’d like to pull up some pesky weeds or arrange a flower bed while you’re there, then great!
To discover more about the link between your garden and your wellbeing, ‘Your Wellbeing Garden,‘ written by the RHS, is a book that’s bursting with gardening advice to maximise the wellbeing potential of your garden.
Home design for your mental wellbeing
We rely on our homes for many things, from security to memories and respite. Let’s create a space that sparks creativity or tranquillity, one you’ll want to return to time and time again. If you’d like to create a new space or help finalising a design, speak to our team today, or download a brochure for inspiration.
