How to Design a Home That Boosts Wellbeing

Abel Hinchliffe
14/03/2022
How to Design a Home That Boosts Wellbeing

The home is the centre of life. It’s the place you eat, sleep, rest, enjoy leisure time and make memories with loved ones. So it’s not surprising that cramped, dark and cluttered homes can have such a detrimental effect on mental wellbeing.

If your dream is to design a restful home that soothes your mind after a hard day at work, there are some key design tips to follow...

The rules of architectural design for wellbeing

Let in the light

Natural light has a whole host of wellbeing benefits, including regulating our sleep-wake cycle, supporting the absorption of vitamin D, and boosting our mood. Choosing the right size and position of windows is the architectural solution to bringing more natural light into your home.

Large windows bring in lots of mood-boosting light – and beautiful views too. Position them in the rooms you most frequently occupy to receive their benefits all day long.

Bring the outdoors in

Countless studies have shown the benefits of so-called ‘biophilic design’ on productivity and recovery. This type of design centres on the human need to connect with other forms of natural life – from plants to animals.

You can incorporate biophilic design into your home through utilising natural materials, including stone walls, clay plaster and tiles, and slate roofing and siding. Wide patio doors, balconies and roof-gardens can also help bring more of the outdoors to your home.

Keep it open and minimal

Cluttered and cramped spaces can contribute to poor mental health. Research has shown that people in cluttered homes have decreased satisfaction with life, for example. As well as making an effort to keep your home neat and tidy day to day, there are a few design tips that can help you reduce the levels of perceived crowding.

Naturally, large, open-plan spaces will have that effect. Rather than splitting your home into different areas, allow the plan to flow from living space to dining space to kitchen and so on. Interestingly, another feature that has been found to increase the impression of spaciousness is high ceilings. That’s particularly true for bedrooms, which – along with bathrooms and toilets – are one room that won’t benefit from an open plan approach.

Include dedicated wellbeing spaces

One of the many joys of designing a home is that it can be purpose-built to your requirements. In other words, designed for exactly how you want to use it. If you’ve got wellbeing at the front of your mind, you can even include rooms specifically for improving it.

While the conventional home comprises rooms for living, dining, cooking and sleeping (along with bathrooms), you could also add in spaces specifically for relaxation. An obvious choice is a room for mindfulness and meditation, which can significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.

With lots of research suggesting that hobbies can lessen and even prevent depression too, you might also want to give yourself a space to get creative. Let’s not forget the importance of exercise for mental health – making a home gym another good idea for mental and physical wellbeing.

Home design tailored to you

If you want to put wellbeing at the heart of your home, CODA Bespoke is on hand to help. Our team of architects in Sheffield is committed to turning your vision into a reality, whether it’s a luxury new build or bespoke extension.

If you’d like to talk more about your ideas, don’t hesitate to contact our team today. Or take a look at some of our previous projects for an idea what we do.

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Abel Hinchliffe

With a wealth of experience Abel heads up CODA Bespoke, specialising in luxury residential developments both large and small. Recently entrusted with the responsibility of also heading up Studio 4 which is currently delivering numerous office to residential developments. Connect with Abel Hinchliffe on LinkedIn >

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