Relaxation Room: Creating a Space For Your Mind

With our surroundings affecting everything that we do, feel, see and think, it’s important that we have a space to turn to when we need to wind down and relax. Creating a relaxation room in your house might just be the thing you never knew you needed. 

Lots of the existing rooms in our houses have more than one purpose, which can indirectly confuse our brains with what we should expect from spending time in that space. A relaxation room or area has one purpose only: to wind down and feel calm. 

When you enter this space, you know exactly what to expect, what you need to do and everything in this space needs to reflect relaxation. 

Planning Your Relaxation Room

What Space Can You Use As A Relaxation Room?

If you’ve got a spare room that you don’t know what to do with, or a space in your garden you’ve been wondering what to do with, then this is exactly the answer. 

A spare room can be useful when you need it, but day-to-day how often do you use it? Instead of filling the space with a double bed, think about having a sofa bed instead to keep more floor space for you in your relaxation room. Then when your friends come to stay, you can still offer them somewhere to sleep.

There has also been a massive increase of people making changes in their homes because we’ve been spending more time within them. We must be able to feel happy and content with where we are. 

If you’re back to the workplace instead of working from home, how about throwing out that makeshift office space and dressing it up as your relaxation room?

Your garden might also need a little spruce up as spring approaches, so why not build a space away from the main building to really separate your calm space from the chaotic lives we live?

If you’ve got an old shed that has been used for extra storage space and needs a little bit of love, consider decorating the inside, insulating the space and hooking electricity up to it so that you have everything you need to relax in there. 

More recently, many people have been building outdoor bars or cosy spaces in their gardens for purposes just like this. For affordable prices, explore the modern summer houses you can buy and install in those sunny corners of your garden.

If you’re lucky enough to work in a calm environment, a relaxation room isn’t something that’s necessarily needed in the workplace. However, with a lot of stress within many companies at the moment, you could suggest to your boss a space where employees can go and take a moment to breathe. 

Lighting

Lighting can be a huge influence on how you feel. Soft lighting can be much nicer in the later evening and help us to wind down before bed. Bright natural light is better if we want to use our space to relax and do something like read a book or practice yoga. 

Lighting brings its own mood to the environment so be careful of any artificial and fluorescent lights that you use as this can be very harsh on your eyes and keep us on ‘high alert’ rather than ‘wind down’. 

Sound

It’s very hard to relax if there’s a lot of noise around your relaxation room. If your funds allow it, consider soundproofing the room to make it much easier for you to get peace and quiet.

You however, might enjoy the sound of your surroundings and need some background noise around you rather than silence. I quite like having a window open when I’m doing yoga or reading as I find the sound of birds and the trees rustling in the wind quite relaxing. 

Think about any sound that may affect your time in your relaxation room too. If you know your neighbours are having the builders around then it’s probably best to postpone your quiet time until after they’ve finished for the day. 

If there’s a lot going on in your house and everyone is running around and being loud, your relaxation room might be a nice escape but it may be hard to concentrate on your mind and body when there are loud bangs and chatter echoing through the walls. 

It also might be a good idea to find some soothing tapes you like to play that calm you. Search through the playlists available to download for free on Spotify and find the right sounds for you. You might prefer the sounds of waves over rain or of the wind instead of the rainforest. Explore and find the right sound for you in your relaxation room.

View

You might be one of those lucky people who have a gorgeous view as you look out your window. More often than not, when you have a nice view to look at every day, you take it for granted and aren’t mindfully aware of it day to day. 

If you can, accentuate that view from your relaxation room. Take notice of it, take time to appreciate it and let it calm you. 

If you have large windows displaying your lovely view, let the light flood in or soften it with some beautiful sheer curtains to get that delightful atmosphere in your room. 

 

Designing Your Relaxation Room

Knowing what you need your relaxation room for will help you when it comes to designing your room. You may want things as plain as possible to keep the space clear from any clutter, helping when you want to clear your mind from clutter too. Or you want everything you may possibly need while you’re taking a breather to be within reaching distance. Either way you should think about the things below:

Colour Scheme

Creating a colour scheme is key to making sure everything in your room flows really well together. Too many chaotic colours that create too much contrast will stimulate our minds, which is not what we’re looking for in a relaxation room. 

Blue is the classic colour to use because of its calming effect on the brain. It soothes your busy mind and pairs perfectly with neutral colours to create a soft aesthetic. 

Green is a lovely comforting colour that we associate with nature. If we want to feel more grounded in our surroundings, a variety of pastel greens paired with deep emeralds can remind us of a quiet forest and the calming influence of pure nature. 

Grey is always a good neutral colour to use to match with any other tones you have in your room. There’s not really a shade of grey that won’t help to calm you. 

Warm colours like beige, pale yellows and oranges work well as these match with candlelight. Warm tones and bases create subtle shades that still reflect happiness but without the dullness that grey can sometimes bring. Keep these colours toned down as the brighter you go the more risk you run of stressing your mind out.

Textures

The purpose of this room is to relax, so there must be the right textures for you. Think about buying some large blankets to curl up in when you’re reading and some supportive cushions that match your decor. 

If you’re a person who responds well to textures, think about decorating a wall with bumpy wallpaper to run your fingers over when you’re feeling stressed. 

Will you have carpet in your room to dig your toes into and keep the room cosy or would you prefer a wood floor that feels cool and grounds your feet beneath you?

Patterns

Patterns can often be very distracting and direct your attention towards them. Having vibrant complicated patterns on your walls or as part of your decor can take away the focus on yourself. 

If you’re not a fan of plain and simple interiors and you’d like to have some movement in your room, then try choosing a pattern like these below. 

Different shapes can influence the way that we feel so be careful with what sort of pattern you choose. Squares and rectangles give you a sense of stability and strength while circles and swirls represent the continuous movement. This can be good for when we are in deep thought but when we’re trying to calm ourselves, they may be too thought-provoking.

Storage

Try to keep the clutter out of the way, even if you want to fill your room with all your relaxation products. Smart storage will help you to hide any distracting objects that could make your mind drift from your purpose. 

If you’re planning on including furniture in your relaxation room, get some that include built in storage to keep your space clear. 

Furniture

Choosing your furniture will be one of your key components of your relaxation room. Too bulky and it’ll feel closed in and cluttered rather than freeing and spacious. Consider having just a few statement pieces that you will actually make use of. 

Have a meditation area with a seat and pillows surrounding the space. 

Fit a swinging or floating chair where you can sit back and gather your thoughts. 

Decorating Your Relaxation Room

Designing your relaxation room depends on what specifically you are going to be using it for. We all have different methods to calm ourselves and de-stressing after a long day so our needs in a relaxation room are all very different. But here are some that I thought were good to include:

Aromatherapy 

Choosing a scent for your room is so important. Smell is one of our most powerful senses that we associate from. 

Filling your room with your favourite scents will help you feel more at ease when you walk in. 

The act of burning incense can be very calming and helps you to prepare before meditating. 

Having an essential oil diffuser can also bring this calmness to your relaxation room. The steady cool steam releasing itself into the air slowly and quietly strangely makes you feel calmer instantly. You can also choose a combination of different oils to discover the right scent for you. Some of my favourites are peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender and chamomile. 

Candles

Candles can be more than just to fill your room with a lovely aroma. They can bring great ambiance to your room with the flickering warm light reflecting around you. 

Plants

I would highly recommend having some house plants dotted around your relaxation room as it’s proven that bringing nature inside your house can make you feel calmer and improve your mental wellbeing. 

Many house plants have their own purifying properties that help to clean the air in your space which can be especially helpful if you want to use your room for some breathing exercises. 

Placing fresh fragrant flowers in your room may also help to stimulate your mind, bring some colour into your space and improve the scent in your room. 

Dried flowers have also become more popular as they need next to no care. They look very pretty and you can choose more subtle colours and a variety of sizes. 

Beauty Products

It may be that you’re wanting to use your relaxation room to pamper yourself. Move some of your beauty products into the room and set up a spa-like area for yourself to relax and pamper yourself in.

Try purchasing some new products to deepen your spa ritual like heated eye masks, LED masks, a foot spa, collagen pads, liquid chlorophyll, acupressure mats and massage tools. Have a look on your favourite beauty site to explore more.

Crystals 

Crystals and their healing properties have risen in popularity recently and it’s no surprise why. A lot of people look for deeper and more natural ways of healing and calming themselves. Crystal healing is an ancient practice that has many benefits to our mood and surroundings. Different crystals have their own impact on us so think about researching some and placing them in your relaxation room for the right effect. 

I would suggest amethysts, howlites and celestites for their calming properties. 

Think About Technology

Depending on how you want to use your relaxation room, think about what technology (if any) that you want in your room. If you want to still include technology then make sure they still have a purpose in the room and won’t cause any distractions or are going to gather dust. 

There are plenty of useful wellness gadgets out there at the moment, designed to help you in a variety of ways. There are breathing exercise tools, massage machines, diffusers and many other pieces of technology that may be of use to you.

 

Using Your Relaxation Room

The most important thing about your relaxation room is that you use it for its purpose, and its purpose only. 

Be Strict With What You Use It For

You’ve gone through all of this effect, designing and decorating it in the right way for you to use it. So don’t contaminate it by making use of it in other ways. 

If you let the little things creep in, before you know it, it’ll become your spare room or as a storage space again rather than a sacred place.

As I’ve spoken about before, we learn to associate things with our surroundings. If you end up sleeping in your relaxation room, exercising or making it into a games room, then when you come to use it for its true purpose, it won’t have the same effect as you intended. So be strict with what you use your space for. 

Have Your Own Ritual Before Entering

If you find it hard to use your space in the correct way, it might be useful to prepare yourself before going into your relaxation room. 

To show yourself and your space respect, follow your ritual every time and consider doing a few things like:

• Being barefoot
• Remove jewellery
• Tie your hair up
• Wash your hands
• Turn the diffuser on to spread it’s scent
• Closing or opening the curtains
• Or anything else that you feel necessary to prepare yourself to wind down.

Use Your Relaxation Room For Hobbies That Calm You

It’s a great idea to have a room that will give you space to do some of your hobbies that calm you. Remember not to bring in anything that will stress you out or activate your mind too much. 

Try using your relaxation room for some of these:

• Reading
• Painting
• Meditating
• Breathing
• Stretching
• Crafting
• Writing 
• Pampering 

 

Anything else that you use your relaxation room for or any tweaks you choose to make along the way, ask yourself one question before you do:

Will changing this make me feel calm?