How To Design Wellness Spaces Into Your Charleston County Home
By Katie Marie
Our surroundings affect both our psychological and physical health. And since your home is your safe place, why not include areas that lend themselves to your well-being? Wellness architecture focuses on creating spaces in your home that make you feel better when you’re in them.
Design for Air Quality
Clean air is essential to good health. Using natural materials in your design, like wood, stone, clay, and metal, is much healthier than those with dangerous chemicals. They’re also easier to clean and sanitize. Furniture, carpet and certain flooring, including vinyl, release those chemicals into the air where you and your family breathe it in.
Another way to keep it clean inside is a fresh air intake system that pulls filtered outdoor air into the house. Typically installed in a foundation vent, the system removes ozone, pollen, mold spores, and more before they enter your home.
Include an entryway in your home design. Add a bench for guests to sit down and remove their footwear as they come in. This keeps whatever’s on the bottom of their shoes out of your home.
And don’t forget plenty of windows you can open when the outdoor air quality is good!
Fitness Areas
What better way to stay healthy than a workout room or home gym? Include space in your design for yoga, aerobics, or weightlifting. How about a large area for a basketball court? Get creative and put in a rock-climbing wall or add ladders. Floor-to-ceiling windows with a great view will keep you coming back to the room each day. High ceilings are a must so you can jump and move freely.
Don’t forget storage space for activities that take you outside. Activities such as paddle-boarding, golf, softball, and hockey require a place to put the equipment when you aren’t using it. Incorporate large, easy access closets in your home design.
Use Natural Light
It’s common, when designing a home, to want as much natural light as possible. Natural light can make you happier, help with better sleep, and keep depression at bay. It boosts your body’s Vitamin D storage, helping prevent heart disease and weight gain. Natural light benefits vision by causing the eye to produce dopamine — the neurotransmitter necessary for healthy eye development in children.
Huge windows and skylights let in natural light and bring energy into your home, with the added bonus of great views of nature. But placement is critical to avoid generating too much heat, glare, and other problems. Chris Rose Architects will work with you to create a design that focuses on natural light, which will look great and be functional.
Create Outdoor Spaces
Creating the right landscape is also good for your well-being. A wellness garden provides an outdoor space for you to meditate, walk, or simply sit and reflect. Include paths, patios, and benches among the foliage. You may desire water features like a fountain or small fish pond. Whatever brings you peace of mind will fit right in.
Feature plants and flowers that are low-maintenance, leaving you more time to de-stress. Although, for some, the act of gardening is a stress reliever in itself. Native plants such as Southern magnolia, are especially good for your wellness garden since they acclimated to the region. Keep your garden natural, without the use of chemicals, and you will also be helping the environment.
Katie Marie is a writer, avid yogi, and outdoor explorer. She spends most of her time practicing meditation and wellness using organic elements within nature.