What makes a well-designed front room? The reply is as subjective because the query. In my eyes, a well-designed front room enhances your life. Like an important novel, it feels prefer it was created only for you. The format presents freedom and luxury. The furnishings hugs you. The sunshine dances. All the pieces works. And as these living room design ideas show, it’s an area that bolsters wellbeing.
The intersection of magnificence and wellness is the place inside designers Sarah Barnard and Lauren Sullivan thrive. Barnard, who’s the founder and principal of Sarah Barnard Design, believes that our properties provide the best potential when our wants are made paramount. “Performance must be the muse of any designed house, with aesthetics working to assist and construct upon the core wants of the inhabitants,” says Barnard. In essence, a well-designed room serves you.
This ethos is shared by Sullivan, the founder and principal of Well x Design. Because the identify of her agency suggests, wellness have to be as important as magnificence. “I all the time start with ‘the how,’” says Sullivan. “How my purchasers will use the house and the way we wish the house to really feel.”
Barnard and Sullivan’s approaches circle again to my authentic query. Additionally they encourage a wholesome approach to strategy residence décor: What greatest helps your wellness could be the last word keys to your most well-designed house.
Featured picture by Teal Thomsen.
5 Dwelling Room Design Concepts to Help Your Model and Wellbeing
Tip #1: Contemplate Your Wants
Of all front room design concepts, one of the ignored is to concentrate on what you need the room to supply. “Our properties and rooms must be optimized for ease of use and a joyous expertise,” believes Barnard, who says {that a} well-designed room of any type begins along with your wants.
“Effectivity and performance might initially sound considerably utilitarian or chilly, however it’s about creating an inviting and comfy house.”
Contemplate what you need out of your front room: A spot to entertain visitors? An space to lounge with a book? Maybe you like to look at tv with family members? These questions will inform wellness-focused selections across the furnishings and format you select.
Image by Kate Zimmerman Turpin
Tip #2: Weave in Pure Textiles
Our properties are sometimes lurking with supplies and furnishings that off-gas pollution. Whereas a wonderfully toxic-free home might not be doable, says Sullivan, making small, sensible selections to include pure supplies and textiles will go a good distance. Sullivan recommends choosing pure sustainable supplies like pure cotton, wool, or linen.
Additionally, buy stable wooden furnishings when doable. “Engineered woods like medium-density fiberboard, particleboard, and plywood are handled at increased temperatures, rising the quantity of formaldehyde the furnishings items emit when in comparison with stable wooden,” says Sullivan.
Tip #3: Select Useful Instruments
Earlier than incorporating a brand new merchandise, ask your self: What’s its function and the way will it profit this room and life? This query underscores the drive towards purposeful instruments—i.e., objects that serve a necessity. “For instance, a studying gentle could also be primarily thought-about a purposeful device,” says Barnard. “Having one thing that could be a stunning form or casts a soothing glow harking back to the sunshine solid by fireplace might add a component of magnificence, consolation, and leisure past simply illuminating a favourite guide.”
Tip #4: Lean into Pure Gentle
Whereas purposeful lamps are important, it’s additionally essential to capitalize on what nature has to supply. Sullivan recommends doing this by honoring any views and light-weight that pour by means of home windows. “Research have proven hospital sufferers skilled faster restoration charges when their rooms contained pure gentle and views of nature,” she says. In case your front room lacks home windows, Sullivan says to think about strategically positioned mirrors to bounce gentle and “open up your house.” And all the time incorporate plants!
Tip #5: Go Gradual
The “have it now” mentality—i.e. the necessity to have the newest and biggest residence décor—can hinder design that advantages your wants and wellness, believes Sullivan. “Sourcing high quality new items, or classic finds, can take time,” she provides. As a substitute of buying a settee or desk “to easily fill an area,” take your time to seek out “that particular, high quality merchandise that may probably outlast any poorly made substitute,” says Sullivan. The sluggish strategy additionally means that you can analysis your habits and desires so you may embellish the way it most accurately fits you. “Intention and affect” begets better wellness.
