Residential wellness design: Trends leading the way in 2022
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Nowadays, most people are trying to improve their well-being, not only in a physical way but especially in their home environment.
After spending long periods of time at home, many people realized that their homes weren’t as cozy as they could be.
People are slowly discovering how important it is to live in a house that is not just a place where you eat and sleep. Most importantly, it has to be a place where we can relax, have fun and pursue our hobbies. Plus, a lot of people are working remotely, so the importance of our home space has grown.
We are all searching for holistic wellness, for body, mind, and soul, so let’s have a look at these eight inspiring trends of how to incorporate wellness design into your home.
We need more Hygge
The word Hygge is becoming a staple in the vocabulary of anyone talking about comfortable houses. It comes from the Danish language and it refers to a cozy atmosphere and enjoying beautiful things with loved ones.
It doesn’t have a literal translation, but we can find Hygge in candlelight, watching a movie with the person you love under soft blankets, reading a book in front of the fireplace sipping on a hot drink.
Do you see a trend? Hygge requires you to slow down, enjoy the little things with your close people, and take more time for yourself.
Maybe Hygge is the reason why Danish people are among the happiest in the world.
Minimalism and neutral colors
Speaking about northern European culture, it’s a must to mention the Nordic style of interior design. It involves minimalistic furniture and design, using neutral colors, creating clean, functional, and cozy spaces.
This interior design style includes different trends:
- The typical Swedish minimalism
- The Finnish optical and contrasting texture in black&white
- The Danish pastel nuances and romantic textiles
- The modern space-saving furniture
The fabrics, colors, furniture, and accessories are well balanced. They play a fundamental role in creating a cozy and relaxing environment at first glance.
Why choose this style? Surely for its functionality and coziness, but it is also easy to find in shops and suitable for different budgets. Lastly, this style provides brightness to the space but remains relaxing.
Let nature come in
Our love for nature seems to have increased since the pandemic, when we were forced to stay at home for a long period of time, missing our sense of freedom. After the lockdown, people were excited to go back to open public spaces, such as parks, woods, and the countryside.
However, the love for nature in design has always been present, and it’s called biophilia. This includes the presence of plants and flowers in spaces, but also organic forms and natural color schemes.
As shown in research, these features help us lower blood pressure and heart rate, reduce stress, and increase productivity and creativity.
A clever method for introducing nature in your home is using landscape palettes, a combination of colors that invoke a particular landscape to attract you.
In my previous experience as a Wellness Architect, I had the chance to work on a residential building with a view over one of the Vancouver beaches. Our team decided to use the palette of the beach landscape to tie in the outside and the inside.
We also wanted to make as much window space as possible to appreciate the view, as Sunset Beach is known among Vancouver residents for its spectacular sunsets.
Here are the results.
Let’s go sustainable
Due to the climate change emergency, we are witnessing the increasing importance of sustainability also in the design industry.
This is leading to a different approach to buying furniture and design materials, preferring reclaimed, recycled, and organic ones.
A great method to become greener is to search in flea markets for used, upcycled, or antique furniture that you can also modify, adapting it to your personal style.
Old furniture still has a story to tell, and you can bring it back to life with DIY interventions.
The shabby chic interior design style (or industrial chic if you don’t want to compromise with the modern look) is perfect for that. It involves furniture that appears ages – an effect that is easy to achieve with sandpaper and paint.
Speaking about sustainable materials, these are organic or easy to recycle materials. To be truly sustainable, a material shouldn’t be produced using toxic chemicals, so you will need to understand its lifecycle, and choose a material that wasn’t produced in a harmful way.
Some examples are bamboo, cork, wood, hemp, wool, linen, straw, clay, stone, sand, beeswax, and coconut.
Fitness and spa vibes
Quiet spaces for meditation and equipped spaces for fitness are an important wellness design trend.
During lockdowns, all gyms were closed and people needed a place at home where to train and store their sports equipment.
Furthermore, eastern culture is becoming more and more relevant in the western world, and practices such as yoga, meditation, and breathwork exercises need a relaxing and quiet place.
This leads to designating a part of the house to these disciplines, dedicated to holistic wellness.
The third closely-related trend comes from northern Europe and it is having a Finnish sauna at home (let’s say Scandinavian people know how to relax!).
The Finnish sauna brings a lot of benefits to the body: purifies it, cleanses the skin, strengthens the immune system, and improves blood circulation.
In the past, installing a sauna at home was something that only rich people could afford. Today, as design and technology have progressed, indoor saunas are much more affordable and much simpler to install, including with DIY home sauna kits.
Read more: Inspiring home gym setup by architect
Sensory perceptions
Lately, people are paying much more attention to the sensory experiences of their homes. Not only choosing the right color combination and furniture for the sense of sight but also stimulating other senses, such as smell and touch.
A home needs to feel as good as it looks. We can choose different types of textiles that feel nice to the touch, from soft and smooth to fluffy and furry.
The sense of smell can be stimulated using essential oils and candles, infusing specific areas of the house with different scents, depending on which mood we want to create.
Peppermint is perfect for the home office, as it promotes concentration, mental acuity, and clear thinking. For the bedroom, choose scents such as lavender or vanilla, which promote tranquility, calmness, and relaxation. In the kitchen, opt for eucalyptus for optimism or jasmine for harmony and creativity.
In addition, music or natural sounds can help you create a relaxing environment, stimulating the auditory sense.
Home cinema
Going to the cinema doesn’t seem to be as common as it once was, with all the streaming online platforms that we can comfortably use from home.
That’s why the home cinema trend is taking hold so quickly: people want to spend their free time in a cozy environment, with loved ones, watching movies or TV series without leaving their house.
Here technology plays an important role, and you may opt for a big TV or even a projector, with related speakers.
It’s also essential to create the right mood for a cinema experience. Using soft lighting, pillows and blankets can make the space more calming and inviting.
Home office
Working from home is the new go-to way of working, so if you are thinking of how this space should look, let’s go through the essential qualities it needs.
You will need a private and silent space, and this could be a room or a dedicated station in the house. This space should be functional, tidy, and visually relaxing.
It should be a place where indeed you can work well, with sufficient light and away from noise sources.
If you usually accommodate clients and co-workers there, it’s better to choose a space near the entrance so other house inhabitants won’t be disturbed.
A useful tip is to optimize the space using space-saving and modular units of furniture, and if you want to be greener, choose to recycle old furniture, making your station unique and stylish.
Final thoughts
The keywords for 2022 trends are surely coziness, relaxation, and natural.
These eight trends will hopefully provide you with inspiration, and you can choose how to combine them and see which ones suit you better.
Now it’s your turn to bring wellness into your home!
Written by Alice Ibba. January 19, 2022
Alice Ibba has graduated in Architecture and is working as a freelancer, combining her passions for interior design, holistic wellness, sustainability, psychology, and graphic design. She defines herself as a multipotentialite. You can get in touch with her on LinkedIn .
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Call me crazy, but I swear neutral colors are great for keeping things calm if you have hyperactive kids.