Your home is your safe space, your sanctuary, and it’s so important to make it look and feel exactly how you want it to – that’s going to make it even more special, and it’ll be the ideal spot to relax and unwind no matter what the outside world has thrown at you – which can be a lot sometimes. 

Although there are lots of things you can do to and in your home, there should always be one thought in your mind – relaxation. That’s the key to pretty much everything because when you’re relaxed, you’ll feel happy, healthy, more confident, more motivated, and generally your overall wellbeing will improve. With that in mind, here are some tips on how to create a relaxing home environment to ensure you can enjoy all those benefits, and plenty more besides. 

Declutter

Although there aren’t any real rules when it comes to making your home more relaxing (rules tend to be stressful, so that’s probably for the best!), there is one thing that you should do first if you can because once it’s done, you’ll feel a lot better, but it also makes a lot of the other things on this list easier too – we’re talking about decluttering. 

The fact is that a cluttered space can lead to a cluttered mind, or, in other words, the more ‘stuff’ you’ve got all around your home, taking up space and sometimes literally getting in the way, the more stressed you’ll feel. Now that stress might not be something you even realize is happening, but it will be there, and that’s not going to help you relax; far from it, in fact. 

When you’re decluttering, start small and begin with just one room or even just a part of one room – trying to sort through everything at once can be overwhelming and you might stop before you get started, or get more stressed as a result of trying to do something to destress you! Go through your belongings and decide what to keep, donate, or throw out, and you’ll be on the right track. 

Choose A Calming Color Palette 

Studies have shown (and you might even have noticed it yourself during your life) that colors have a significant impact on our emotions, and they can really influence the atmosphere of a room. So, if you want to make your home a relaxing place to be, opt for a calming color palette. 

That sounds easy enough, until you realize you’re not sure what calming colors actually are, of course, which is why we’re here to help. Neutral tones are a great place to start, so having shades of white, beige, gray, cream, and similar tones can be a great place to start – they’ll give you a great backdrop to add some splashes of color to if you want to, and they’ll make your home a more serene space to be in. 

You might think these colors are a bit dull and not quite what you’re looking for, and that could lead you to picking other colors that are too bright and bold to be relaxing. The good news is there’s a good balance you can strike because soft blues and greens, for example, are known to be calming, and they’re a little more interesting than cream or white (although that’s going to be a subjective thought). Or what about using pastel shades? Once again, you’ll have a little color, but not so much that it becomes distracting and uncomfortable. 

Incorporate Nature

Another great way to create a relaxing home environment is to incorporate nature in some way – and there are lots of different ways it can be done. Houseplants are perhaps the most obvious and potentially the easiest way to do it, and they can be a fantastic addition to your home because they’ll look good, make you feel calmer, and, as a bonus, they’ll purify the air so your home will be healthier as a result. It’s surprising how much houseplants can do, and even more surprising that more people don’t have them dotted around their homes. If you’re worried about keeping them alive, choose some low-maintenance options like peace lilies or succulents, and you’ll quickly get the hang of taking care of them. 

Plants aren’t the only way to bring more nature into your home; natural light is also important, and since it’s not something you have to keep alive, it might even be the first option a lot of people go for! Try to maximize the amount of natural light that comes into your home by keeping your windows clear and unobstructed (inside and out) and using light, airy curtains or perhaps blinds that can tuck neatly away and give you more of the window to enjoy when they’re open. Natural light boosts your mood and gives you more energy, so having more of it in your home is going to help you feel relaxed and happy. 

Create Comfortable Spaces

If you want to be relaxed, you need to be comfortable, so it’s wise to ensure your home has at least once, if not more, comfortable spaces where you can go to do exactly that – be comfortable and relaxed. 

How you set this up is going to depend on the size of your home and how many rooms you’ve got. If you’ve got a spare bedroom, for example, or another room that isn’t used for anything (other than storage, perhaps), you can turn that into a comfortable, relaxing space to enjoy. In a smaller home without any spare rooms, you can use the rooms you already have and perhaps make one area of a room specifically for relaxing. However you do it, you’ll need cozy seating, the right lighting, and it should be a quiet space as well without any distractions like a TV or, in fact, other people. 

Some specific things you can do include creating a reading nook with a comfortable chair, decent lighting so you don’t strain your eyes, a side table for a drink and snack, and bookshelves or a small bookcase. Or what about making your bedroom completely restful and the ideal place to retreat to when you need to relax? Choose a high-quality mattress and pillows, use soft bedding, and keep the room nice and cool to really make the most of it when you go there.