Self-Care Awareness Month: Does Your Space Cater to Rest?

We all know the saying; you can’t care for others unless you’re able to take care of yourself first. This month is self-care awareness month, and to help support the cause, we’re spreading the word that your environment can play a big role in helping you rest, relax, recharge, and get back on track with your goals. Rest is a critical component of self-care, does your space cater to rest? If not, then this blog article will help you discover some amazing tips and tricks to help you create the space you need to experience the tranquil environment of your dreams.

Tip #1 – Exposure to Nature to Tip the Scales

Your doctor encourages you to get outside, exercise, and take in the sights as often as possible. Believe it or not there are actually scientific reasons to get outside as often as possible. Individuals who spend more time in nature have lower blood pressure, and higher levels of hormones that help balance mood. What does that mean for interior design and self-care?

Bring the outdoors inside! That’s right, let the light in, design a space so that the nature that is outside flows into the home through a focus point such as a large window or a set of double doors. Other tips and tricks might include interior gardens, herb gardens, garden walls, and aquariums. These items help bring more elements of nature into your space, which help you relax. You can bring nature in even further by incorporating artwork that is nature themed.

Tip #2 – Soothing Colors & Clean Lines – How Visual Stimuli Helps You Relax

Color is a powerful force, it can affect both our bodies and our minds in a way that impacts our experiences, our feelings, and our mood. The lines of our appliances, furniture, and other design elements can be smooth, clean, and uninterrupted, which creates a sleek, minimalist, contemporary design aspect which can be very soothing. When you combine these two factors, it creates a space that promotes relaxation.

When it comes to self-care, you don’t want to be stuck in an environment where you constantly feel like you need to straighten, tidy, and pick-up. Instead, creating a space where you have soft, soothing colors allows you to feel comfortable and incorporating clean lines and a more modern design concept can help you minimize what you are putting into your space. This way your visual stimulation only includes concepts that are calm and comforting and doesn’t include a lot of busy elements that make you feel anxious or overwhelmed.

Another element that you may want to consider while you look at the colors of your walls, artwork, and furniture is the lighting. Increasing the natural lighting in your space can help increase your Vitamin D, and help you stabilize your mood when you’re stressed.

Tip #3 – Reducing Environmental Stressors & Enhancing Air Quality

If you have a lot of noise in your environment, from neighbors or a road that is nearby, the constant interruptions can be disorienting and distracting. There are a lot of ways to reduce these environmental stressors, which include noise absorbing shrubbery outside as well as higher quality windows inside. Something else that helps is white noise machines, or even better, adding natural noises to your environment such as a small tabletop water fountain can be very helpful.

Another environmental stressor can be glare from lights, such as a window that is placed behind a computer screen. Paying close attention to lighting when you are arranging the furniture in your room can significantly reduce this. Environmental stressors such as poor air quality are other factors to consider in your interior design. Adding plants and foliage to your space can significantly enhance air quality without having to resort to heavy perfumes and air deodorizers that can be expensive over time.

At Desired Designs we strive to make strategic and functional design solutions accessible to small businesses and homeowners. Our wide range of design services are customized for each individual that we work with. Our goal is always to help you create a space that is relaxing and representative of your personality and tastes. There is no project that is too big or too small, we can work with a wide range of budgets and scope. It would be our pleasure to help you design your life with a custom touch, contact us today to learn more.