It’s no secret that your new home should be your safe haven: a place to rejuvenate, relax, and re-energize. Yet, designing a home that helps protect your peace, preserves your mental health, and makes you feel safe and balanced isn’t always an easy task. Piles of papers mysteriously grow out of nowhere, certain furniture can end up feeling clunky rather than welcoming, and some rooms unintentionally turn into “catch-alls” for miscellaneous, often clashing decor.
It happens to every one of us, but with some intention, your new home can indeed be a sanctuary for your mental wellness. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re pulling inspiration from our esteemed home design partner, Bobby Berk, and his incredible new book, “Right at Home: How Good Design Is Good for the Mind.”
Bobby shares in his book, “Good home design is always good for your mind,” and we couldn’t agree more. Mindful home design elements can improve everything about how you feel and operate in your world, which is why we encourage our customers to think through each room of their new home and focus on ways to make each space feel balanced and peaceful.
Here’s five considerations to keep in mind when designing your new home that can help preserve and boost your mental health.
1. Let your new home reflect what brings you joy.
Bobby says in his book, “Your emotional health matters,” which is why it is so vital that your home — the space where you spend the most time — should be your zen space. If you were to come up with a list of things that bring you joy and make you feel the most grounded, what would that list entail? And, how can you incorporate those into your home? Maybe it’s natural light, or fresh air, or minimal clutter, or dimensional shapes, or a gallery of art and photos! Whatever elements bring you the most joy, let those guide your design choices.
For inspiration, check out our Zen Sanctuary collection, which Bobby designed with calm, peace, and presence in mind. You can even visit the homes with these designs in person at Waterston Central in Arizona!
2. Be intentional with your color choices.
It can be easy to get wrapped up in color trends and end up picking what’s “in style.” But, as Bobby puts it in his book, “Color = mood.” The colors in your home can have an impact on your energy levels and emotions every day, so choose them wisely (and not based on ever-changing trends)! Warm shades like oranges, yellows, creams, and browns tend to be more energizing, while cool tones such as greens, blues, and grays are more calming and grounding. Paint selections, finishes, and decor choices can help guide the design direction and energy level in different parts of your home when you take color into consideration.
If you’re drawn to blues, take a look at the touches of blue tones in our Serene Scandinavian home collection. Really, all 10 of our Bobby Berk designed collections provide excellent examples of how color can affect the mood of a home — find what colors and design styles you’re drawn to the most by taking our fun interactive quiz!
3. Your bedroom design matters endlessly.
The bedroom can arguably be the most important room design-wise when it comes to your mental health. So much of our mental wellness is impacted by our sleep hygiene, or in other words, the amount and quality of sleep we’re getting. If you feel unsettled in your bedroom, you may not sleep as well, which then plays out into every other aspect of your life, from mood and productivity to energy levels and emotional bandwidth. Even your physical health can be impacted by your sleep! Create a bedroom in your new home that feels soothing, serene, and mentally restful by incorporating calming colors, uncluttered design choices, and decor that settles the mind rather than ramping it up.
4. Prioritize greenery and green space.
Bobby also talks about creating a space that he calls “calmergizing” — which essentially means a space that’s functional yet visually interesting, beautiful, and well-designed. One way to “calmergize” your home is by focusing on green spaces — including infusing plant life indoors and creating calming outside living spaces, as well. Plants bring both design intrigue and color to a space, and they simply add life, fun, and beauty to a room!
Our LivingSmart® home features can help you live better, healthier, and “greener” lives through energy-saving elements, smart technology, and even cleaner air!
5. Make design choices that make you happy.
Ultimately, your new home should make you feel happy. Just like Bobby, we recommend approaching design with ultimate thoughtfulness and intention, and you can even find a Happiness Gut Checklist in his book to discover how you can incorporate this into your new home design, including: something that reminds you of someone you love, something that reminds you of the last time you felt safe, something that motivates or energizes you, something that engages your senses, and several more.
Using these types of ideas as a guideline for your design choices will help you to pick items that feel true to you and make you feel mentally balanced in your home. Our Design Studio can also work with you one-on-one to personalize your new home with features and finishes that make you feel happy and your best self.
Our experts are here to help you as you design your new home with your mental wellness in mind, and we prioritize design features that can make you feel ultimate peace in your space, to make your home feel like an idyllic refuge.
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