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It started with converting rooms for new purposes during COVID. Now some designers say that people are looking for «wellness rooms» in their homes.
ADVERTISEMENTDuring the pandemic, homes were sometimes transformed to serve different purposes, with people adding everything from offices and workout areas to creative spaces.
Rooms are also now being transformed into sanctuaries of self-care: welcome to the latest trend, the «wellness room».
«Small sophisticated home gyms, music rooms, meditation rooms, and Zen gardens are some of the wellness spaces we’ve designed recently,» said designer Gonzalo Bueno, who owns the firm Ten Plus Three in Dallas, Texas.
«Spaces for wellness, retreat, and recharging are all really popular right now».
Soundbathing and other holistic tech
«Soundbathing,» where you immerse yourself in soothing instrumental and natural sounds, has become popular at many professional spas. Now, companies are making versions for the home, or you can set one up yourself.
Create a low-tech soundbathing studio with some comfy pillows, yoga mats, essential oil scent, and dimmed lights or candles, and then either play or use recorded sounds of chimes, singing bowls, and gongs.
You can find links to meditation sounds online.
There are full-size beds available that use low-frequency sound and vibrations, or you can find cushioned mats with some of the same features, far less costly.
Traditional saunas use steam, but infrared light saunas are an easier-to-install alternative for indoors.
Several makers offer single, two, or three-person versions made of wood or just an insulated fabric. Fancy ones come equipped with Bluetooth audio and colour-changing lights.
If you really want to splash out on an in-house, multi-sensory, luxury experience, there are shower units integrating tech into customisable water, steam, lighting, and music.
Cocoon-like spaces
Jack Ovadia, whose eponymous design firm is based in New York, created a one-person onsen, the Japanese deep-soak-style tub, for a Phoenix-based client.
The cocoon-like space has a contemplative wall of terrazzo pebbles and a pretty, petal-bedecked chandelier above.
But he also is doing wellness rooms that can multi-serve with a sauna and then an invigorating cold plunge tub. In his own home, he has an area to practice yoga and Pilates.
«Having a private space is essential,» Ovadia says.
ADVERTISEMENT«A wellness room should be a space where the outside world dissolves; no background noise, no movement beyond your own. This is where you go to let go; to drop into something quieter, something deeper».
Setting the mood
Make sure the size of the space suits your activity and you use materials to set the tone.
«Bring in warmth and a sense of calm with things like natural tan oak, cork, bamboo, neutral tones, and organic textures,» Ovadia says.
Small table lights can be set on a timer to play calming nature sounds. Some offer a soft amber glow or an array of soothing day-to-evening hues. Invest in a comfy sectional if you have space, or look for flop-worthy giant beanbags or large chairs.
ADVERTISEMENTIf it’s an energy-filled space you’re after, Bueno has some suggestions for lighting that kicks things up a little, or a lot.
«We did a home gym with red accents, to bring in passion and motivating energy,» he says.
Engaging art can add to that vibe. Bueno mounted a clubby neon work in a large music/family room that says, ‘This Must Be the Place’.
In the red gym hangs a contemporary piece that reads, ‘Keep On Keeping On’.
ADVERTISEMENTAnd for the quiet well room? Dreamy nature photographs, prints, or mural wallpaper would be the chef’s kiss.
If you don’t have room for a wellness room
Nowhere to stake out a wellness room in your own place? You might have something similar in your hometown.
Some public wellness spaces have cropped up around the US, offering traditional spa services and social activities.
«It’s the new nightclub,» Ovadia said.
ADVERTISEMENT«Self-care is evolving into a shared experience, becoming a prominent scene rather than just a side routine».
