Did you know your well-being goes far beyond daily practices? It reaches interior design and architecture too. A well-designed space undoubtedly leads to a healthier lifestyle and happier life. The great news is you can boost the health of your home with guiding wellness design ideas! Here are our favorites that invigorate life!
What is wellness-focused interior design?
Funnily enough, wellness interior design blossomed in offices before catching on in residential. That said, wellness architecture has been around for quite a while. Fortunately for us all, it’s growing in popularity daily. And thanks to its growth spurt, many avenues, like lighting interior design, are booming too.
In short, wellness design focuses on improving the health and well-being of those who dwell within a building. Whether it is residential or commercial, wellness architecture makes life better. There’s also a scale based on core eco-principles that rates the health of a building. The principles revolve around eleven aspects. They range from air to nourishment, community, and more.
Want help incorporating wellness-focused design into your home? Then, schedule your Free Interior Design Consultation to get started with an expert today!
Trending Wellness Design Ideas
Our top design ideas for health and well-being are based on more than what’s trending. As a matter of fact, we’ve put together inspiration according to the International Well Building Standard. According to WELL, “everyone deserves to live their best, healthiest life”. We couldn’t agree more – here are the best ways to improve your home and life with design!
Top Tip: When you combine wellness design with interior design color psychology, you can increase the health of your home even more!
1. Improve Ventilation (Air)
One of the aims of wellness architecture is ensuring healthy airflow and eliminating toxins. And a sound way to guarantee fresh air is to let the room breathe. Good airflow is vital to any space’s well-being. Large windows, high ceilings, and vents improve the air quality in an interior. Plants can help as well. Greenery is a must in its own right, but they’re also great for cleaning the atmosphere.
2. Smarten Water Use (Water)
Design for health and well-being has a lot to do with what we consume. On the one hand, it looks to better what our bodies take in. And on the other hand, it wants to reduce our footprint by lessening our consumption of natural and finite resources. Water is part of both consumption categories. So, add cleansing filters and water-wise faucets to ensure clean water and minimize your water usage.
3. Choose a Healthier Way to Dine (Nourishment)
Mindful eating is effortless when the environment is just right. Start by improving the preparation area and ensuring where you eat is tranquil and calm. The first makes preparing nutritious meals easier while a calming dining area sets the tone for appreciating the meal.
Improve your home’s well-being by clearing away clutter and opting for minimalist furniture design in the dining room. You can decorate with organic elements, some artwork, and blooms.
4. Ensure Visual Comfort (Light)
Wellness-focused interior design ensures comfort so that you can function optimally. Light is one of the core areas that can make a huge difference in your life. The reason is its profound impact on our functionality as light regulates our wakefulness and sleep cycles. This is owing to the circadian rhythm, our self-regulatory system. Harsh light keeps us up and disturbs the circadian rhythm when it is time for sleep, while low light can make us feel tired.
Maximize daylight and opt for warm-colored lightbulbs at night for a healthy circadian rhythm. If you can’t make the most of sunlight or live in a cloudy climate, try cool-colored lightbulbs with a short wavelength during the day. Alternatively, you can use tunable LED lights that are adjustable via a smartphone.
5. Motivate Activity with Wellness Design (Movement)
Wellness interior design is honed to motivate us to live our best, healthy lives. And life would certainly be half the fun without some movement. There are a few ways to encourage more activity at home. The first is creating an inviting gym, which isn’t always the most effective motivation. The second and third involve architecture and landscape design.
On the one hand, you can opt for levels, like stairs to different floors or various elevations in one room. Or you can structure your home in such a way that it focuses on being outdoors.
6. Balance Temperature (Thermal Comfort)
Design for health and well-being often includes small touches disguised as décor. In fact, you can maximize thermal comfort by using beloved decorating practices. A fluffy rug, thick insulating curtains, wood paneling, and operable windows can lower your electricity bill. Plus, you’ll also use fewer resources to balance your home’s temperate.
7. Perfect Acoustics (Sound)
Different rooms may have different acoustic needs. Still, it’s best to have barriers insulating sound per room. In addition, sound-reducing surfaces eliminate echoes to create a pleasant auditory environment.
Timber is one element that can help. Wood not only works as an insulator but can also assist in reducing sound. Wellness architecture often turns to materials like Thermowood for flooring and ceilings. Their density helps to even the soundscape indoors and outdoors. If big changes are not possible, consider installing wood slats or bookshelves and thick rugs to soften sound.
8. Pick Environmentally Friendly Products (Materials)
Sustainable organic materials are vital to wellness-focused interior design. But eco-materials go beyond their source transparency, waste-reduction, renewability, and energy efficiency. They should also be non-toxic. Often it goes unnoticed that treated materials leak harmful compounds into the atmosphere. Among the culprits are chemically stained wood and chemically sealed tiles. Flooring containing formaldehyde and fire-retardant fabrics are also to blame.
Instead, choose green products free of VOCs and chemicals of concern. Some best for optimizing a healthy environment are wool, stone, bamboo, cork, hempcrete, clay, and other bio-based products. Recycled steel and plastic are also great sources for architecture as well as furniture design. Of course, buying secondhand is the best way to reduce your footprint.
9. Create a Place for Restoration (Mind)
Upgrading your interior design and well-being wouldn’t be complete without a sanctuary of some sort. This space should be restorative and have access to nature. Be inspired by the tranquillity of spas, luxury bathhouses, and meditation rooms.
You don’t need an entire room – a nook can do but be sure to choose a quiet spot in the house. Add a comfy seat or floor cushion, a mat to zone off the area, and plants. Also, include things that make you feel calm. It can be decor, books, or spiritual trinkets – anything that helps quieten your mind for you to slow down and relax. When done right, your room can have a transformative feeling, instantly easing your mind.
10. Embrace Integration (Community)
A healthy community is part of a healthy lifestyle. Now, inviting the neighbors for dinner might not always be an option, but you can encourage social interactions at home. For instance, a large informal dining space, like a breakfast bar, and a patio with inviting seating can lead to more positive connections.
Wellness interior design also includes nudge architecture. Through design, you can cue certain activities that encourage healthy behavior. Mindful and communal eating is one example, and another is creating social spaces even in unlikely places, like next to a staircase.
11. Support Sustainable Wellness Design Practices (Innovation)
Rather than knocking down an existing structure and building a brand new one, restore worn items and enhance the old. Not only could it save funds and resources, but it will also give your home a stunning, one-of-a-kind contemporary twist. You can use the same approach to furniture and décor.
12. Incorporate Biophilic Design (Bonus)
The more connected we feel to nature, the more uplifted our minds. It’s not only the rejuvenating hue that plays a part in making you feel good, but plants also boost the air quality. Luckily, combining interior design and improved well-being can be as easy as adding more plants to your abode. Though, seeing greenery can be enough to boost your mood.
With this in mind, you can borrow from East Asian landscape design and try shakkei. It refers to incorporating the surrounding natural environment into your garden and framing it. The frame in this case is clever window placement. In this way, your garden can act as a picturesque and serene piece of art.
Interested in wellness design?
If you want a healthy place to call home, why not create it? Find out how Decorilla can assist your design for health and well-being with a Free Interior Design Consultation. You could have your dreamy sanctuary in no time!
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