Make your home feel like a spa, or your favourite meditation retreat with these simple tips!

It seems like the older I get, the more anxious I feel about work, world events, health and relationships. It seems I’m not the only one – in the UK, over 8 million people are experiencing an anxiety disorder at any one time – that’s a lot of people suffering in silence! Typically we can’t control our environment, what people do at work, school, in the news, is out of our control. One environmental factor that we can control, however, is our home. Home is the place where we typically spend the majority of our day, particularly for those of us who have taken to fully or partially working from home, so it’s important that we treat it as our sanctuary.

I’ve tried and tested numerous ‘improvements’ to my living space to induce a feeling of calm and relaxation. A clean and tidy space, comforting textiles, soothing colours, indoor plants and a meditation corner (or relaxation corner, if you prefer) have worked the best for me. Getting a better night’s sleep has also been key, and there are a number of environmental factors you can adjust to make sleep come more easily, such as creating calming lighting and relaxing sounds.

I want my home to feel like a spa, where I can walk in and instantly relax. The simple tips below can help to bring calm, and little moments of mindfulness and gratitude throughout your day. They do this by appealing to your six senses, and as you will see, redesigning your room to enhance peacefulness and relaxation can be as inexpensive as you need it to be.

1. Declutter your space

We have all heard the old adage that a cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind, and for me at least, this is true. When my home is cluttered and dirty I feel my anxiety sky rocket, I don’t enjoy being in the space, I can’t find things and I also feel more irritable for some reason. The annoying thing is, the more anxious or depressed I feel, the less likely I am to find the energy to spend time cleaning things up. This is a common feeling, and can lead us into a downwards spiral as we watch the environment around us getting more chaotic, leading to further feelings of anxiety, chaos and depression. There are a couple of easy ways to ensure you have a clean and tidy space with little effort (and without having to hire a cleaner!)

Donate and recycle

If you know anything about Marie Kondo, you know where I’m going with this! A regular clear out of unnecessary items is an absolute must. Think about it – we are all accumulating more and more things as we go through life, if we do not in turn throw unused items away we will end up with an unmanageable hoard of stuff. In the Marie Kondo method, she encourages people to throw out any items that no longer ‘spark joy’, which is a wonderful way to put it in my opinion! In that vein, I try to go through my wardrobes and cupboards once a year and donate/throw out/recycle anything that I know we have not been making use of, and that we no longer care about.

Storage

Ensuring you have plenty of closed storage is key to keeping a tidy space, even if we try to live the most minimal lives possible, there will always be useful but unsightly items that we want to hide away from view (looking at you, random drawer of cables)! Storage is king, in my world, when purchasing furniture it’s my first requirement. Ensuring beds and benches are ottoman, having coffee tables and tv stands with plenty of drawers, and even adding some attractive baskets and boxes here and there can go a long way in clearing away ‘mess’. Ikea generally have wonderful storage solutions, and if you go to their showrooms you can get inspiration for adding shelves and cupboards to the smallest of space.

Clean with a timer

If you are cleaning averse, or don’t feel like you currently have the mental capacity to keep on top of things, I found a piece of advice online for keeping a clean house that I hadn’t heard of before (but which I think is genius), and that is putting a timer on for 10 minutes per day, and during those 10 minutes, clean! Whether it is doing the dishes and giving your kitchen a wipe down, putting things in their place in your living room and doing a quick dust, or changing the sheets in your bedroom, 10 minutes is nothing (literally less than 1% of your day), but a daily 10 minute clean will make a big difference over a week.

2. Invest in quality textiles

Think soft, fluffy towels, woollen throws, satin pillows and cotton bedsheets. Don’t you feel cosy already, picturing yourself sitting in your fluffy towel on your cotton bedsheets, perhaps scrolling through your phone? Ok no forget the scrolling bit, you are reading a classic piece of literature. Well I feel peaceful thinking about it anyway. These are all luxury (read – expensive) items, that is true, however they truly do pay for themselves over time. Quality bedding is key to a good nights sleep, a fluffy bathrobe will bring you Mary Kondo-esque joy every single time you get out of the bath, and a quality woollen throw will enhance your netflix-and-wine binge immeasurably. Mixing and matching textiles is also key in adding depth and ‘interest’ to interior design, so this is a win-win.

3. Calming colours

I love colour, I think it adds personality to a space, however bright colours are more energizing than calming. I stick to neutral tones in the rooms that I want to meaningfully relax in – my living room and my bathroom. Using neutral, earthy colours helps the mind to slow down, whilst they are also a beautiful aesthetic. I love any colours with earthy, natural names – think moss green, stone, rust and rose, with natural materials such as wood and stone to compliment them. I think it’s also a great colour palette for a modern home, and echoes that which we see at most spa’s and meditation retreats.

4. Add low lighting

Having bright LED lights on does not amount to a soothing space, and has been found to damage sleep. At the spa I go to, the lighting is always low and moody, and it does immediately make me feel relaxed. You can recreate this with strategically placed candles, of course, which is the obvious (and depending on the candle, inexpensive) solution. Candle light is also the best for inducing sleep, which is an obvious plus, however I find it difficult to see anything with just candle light (thank god I wasn’t born in the Victorian era), and as an avid night-time reader I need a little more.

Luckily, you can add low lighting to a room without spending a fortune or having to call an electrician. Rechargeable, or battery powered lights is the key here – you can find great strip lights online that are charged via a usb, which I would place under a shelf, or behind a piece of furniture. Battery powered fairy lights can also be great, and create a cosy feel, however ‘classy’ fairy lights can be difficult to come across. Adjustable lighting is the key to any modern home. Ikea smart home devices provide amazing dimming lights without any re-wiring, that will enable you to have more control over the amount of light in your home. You just charge them, plug them into whatever light socket available, and off you go! No need for an electrician here either.

5. Get your home smelling great

Science says that smell can directly affect your mood, with a 2015 study showing that various fragrances affected cognitive functions and brain activity. Another study found that certain fragrances were proven to lower stress levels and improve mental outlook. Walking into a room and smelling something delicious also adds to that small moment of mindfulness that I spoke about before – enabling you to feel good in the present moment. When choosing a scent for my home I aim for natural smells of plants, flowers or fruit – think basil, lavender or mandarin. if you want to make your home smell nice, you should make sure you’re not using something full of chemicals though, so opt for essential oils over anything else.

6. Lastly – just add plants!

As a former plant serial killer, plants may seem like more stress than they’re worth. However, I have found that (once you get the hang of it) tending to your own plants allows you a quiet moment in the day where you are thinking of something outside of yourself. Even if it’s just a sprinkle of water, or misting it’s leaves, the act of looking after something outside of yourself bring a sense of satisfaction like no other. Once again, science says that plants, too, have a psychological impact. Being around nature is shown to reduce depression, so what better than bringing nature indoors. A 2007 study found that plants can trigger the release of serotonin, lifting your mood and reducing your anxiety. Again, there is no need to go all out financially, you can find some cheap and healthy plants from places such as Ikea, Morrisons, B&M etc, be wary of these online delivery stores charging an arm and a leg for a simple Yukka! They massively overcharge in my opinion. But if you like them then treat yo’self!

Hope these tips helped you as much as they helped me – let me know if you have any tips of your own that could help me and others!