These days, jobs are difficult, days are longer and we’re bombarded with work emails flowing into our phones or smart watches, far beyond the end of our working day. You’re possibly plagued with a feeling of dread for the following days work. This is never more apparent than on a Sunday night where anxiety creeps in ahead of busy Monday mornings.
However, there is a room within your home that can be transformed into a space that allows you to practice mindfulness. Which can reduce anxiety and relieve stress. You can create your own Bathroom of Tranquillity. Here are some tips from our bathroom designers on how to achieve this.
Create the ultimate relaxation experience in your bathroom, whether you’re a fan of a long soak in the bath or standing under a rainfall shower. It is about establishing an environment which allows your body and mind to relax. Our bodies are biologically wired to associate a bath or shower with the sensation of swimming underwater; which instantly allows your heart rate to slow down, allowing your body to relax. This is one step towards physical calmness. However, the next and most difficult step is getting your mind to switch off!
Our first tip is to leave your mobile phone or device outside of the bathroom. Or, at the very least, away from your bath. Helping you to resist the temptation of constantly refreshing emails or scrolling aimlessly through social media. Next step in creating a fully relaxing environment; candles, soft lighting and soothing aromas to accentuate the design of your bathroom. So, let’s delve into our tips on achieving this environment.
Design Features
Recesses or recessed shelving, placed at the foot, head, or side of a bath or within the shower area is an excellent home to scented candles, small bathroom plants or soft feature lighting.
Soft Lighting emanating from places where you can’t see the origin, will add a greater softness while accentuating the high-end luxury feel to your bathroom. Adding lighting underneath wall hung basin units, shadow gaps in recesses or even a shadow gap under the bath will achieve this effect.
Textures are a very important factor in creating a restful oasis. Bringing a natural feel into your bathroom with stone or wood effects will help soften the feel of your bathroom space – particularly if you’re after that ‘spa’ look!
Storage will always be a requirement. More so when it comes to creating a relaxing environment. Being able to hide away bathroom paraphernalia such as bottles, toothpaste, kids toys and towels etc, will create an ambient space for you to unwind in.
Colours
In our experience, there isn’t a definitive right or wrong way to achieve a relaxing bathroom. For us, it’s all about innovative design that creates a haven for each individual client while making the most of your space. However, here are three different colour schemes that we turn to when looking to achieve a feeling of ‘calm’.
Fresh
It’s well known that soft blues, aquas and teals can be great anxiety reducers as a colour palette. However, painting a whole room one of these colours probably isn’t going to achieve the overall effect you’re after. A relaxing bathroom is all about balance, aesthetically and functionally. While using blue as a feature colour would work, adding a soft chalky white or a gentle dove grey, will create an elegant and fresh looking bathroom, perfect for a relaxing bath or shower. Combine this with light wood textures, a natural themed wallpaper or a mosaic, to connect with the blue base and your spa haven is starting to shine through.
Sumptuous
If ‘fresh’ isn’t your style, maybe it is too bright? Then you may prefer to turn your bathroom, into a sumptuous enveloping environment, with darker shades and rich textures. Combining these types of styles with soft lighting will accentuate every feature in your new bathroom.
Stone
Last but not least, the Stone look. There is a tremendous rise in the trend of bringing the outdoors indoors (see our previous post for more on this). Experiencing natural finishes and textures, create well-being. Therefore, the demand has grown to implement this look in bathrooms. We see this with wood effects appearing on basin units and tiles. Natural stone works harmoniously with wood effect materials, and mixing these together can create a stunning and luxurious feel.
Don’t forget, there are many, many stylistic choices and colour schemes that can create a relaxing and atmospheric bathroom environment. However, reducing stress and anxiety is very unique to each individual – as are bathroom designs!
Creating a mindful space is about establishing your surroundings as a place you want to spend time in, where you are able to wholly relax and unwind. Not just for your body but for your mind too.
Scents
The final touch to this, can be the soft furnishings and decorations as well as scents. A lovely plush towel, warmed on a well-chosen heated towel radiator, can be the perfect indulgence after a long soak in the bath or cascading shower.
To fully enjoy your bath and shower in a room with the perfect mood lighting (that you incorporated into your design), you need to think about the scent! This will help you to achieve a spa-esque feel. Use either scented candles, bath salts or infusers. But what scents should you be looking for?
One well known aroma for muscle relaxant is eucalyptus. Featured in products such as Epsom bath salts for example. This scent acts as an anti-inflammatory that enters your body to unwind tight muscles which will totally relax your body.
Another favourite among spa-goers is lavender. It occurs quite often in bubble baths and is renown for it’s effects at soothing insomnia, anxiety, stress and even depression. A great scent to not only tackle those physical aches, but to allow your brain to unlock.
Naturally, we’re all different, and being comfortable enough to relax will largely depend on what helps trigger you to unwind at the end of the day. What works for some people, won’t necessarily work for you. You don’t want to be lying in a bath thinking ‘I really dislike those tiles’ or ‘this smell is terrible’ but staying with them just because you heard, it’s meant to be good for stress relief. This won’t help YOU relax. This is where involving a specialist can really enhance your bathroom experience.
The benefits of involving a designer in your bathroom project, is so those little details can be figured out to create a bathroom space that you can truly relax, unwind and escape in. Check out our previous blogs for some tips on bringing the outside in and latest design trends.
