Creating healthy interiors for home & office

Healthy interior design - the basics

Our approach here focuses on creating natural, healthy and sustainable spaces via eight different applications: plants, light, colours, sound, scent, materials, air quality and decor.

Natural light

Fill your space with natural light whenever possible but when the sun’s rays aren’t available, find a lighting system that uses blue-white tones in the middle of the day, and amber tones both early and late in the day as a way to replicate the body’s natural circadian rhythm. The Philips HUE system does a decent job of this.

Neutral colours

When choosing a colour palette, notice that bright tones can energise while tonal neutrals will create a more calming, grounded interior. Try opting for colors that you might see in the wilderness, like browns, beiges, and greens. Still looking for a pop of bright color? Try a dash of sunshine yellow or a bright sky blue. There will be plenty of green anyway from all the plants!

See our blog post here for more on smart circadian lighting.

Curated acoustics

Nature can provide us with soothing sounds to help us drift off to sleep as well as invigorating scents to help us wake-up or concentrate. Try exploring some acoustic, world music and have a nature playlist or two lined up for your morning alarm. have used birdsong in our wellness rooms to great effect.

Aromatherapy

High quality, organic essential oils such as frankincense, cedar or lavender, preferably diffused into the air for around 60 mins at a time can be especially beneficial while taking a relaxing bath for example. Go for zesty lemon, bergamot, pine or rosemary during the day for a subtle energy boost. Read more on this topic here.

Non-toxic materials

Opting for materials that are natural and sustainable will help ensure that a room’s users stay healthy by avoiding harmful Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Good materials to consider include FSC wood, bamboo, linen, cork, and ceramic. Do away with plastic wherever possible.

Indoor Air Quality

While plants and purifiers are a great method to filter the pollutants that get in, going organic is a preventative measure that will help ensure their presence is minimal from the get-go. Rather like taking your shoes off before entering a home so as not to bring in the dirt from outside. Joined-up thinking is the way to win this battle, see this blog post for more details.

Generally though, aim to keep lungs happy and healthy indoors by investing in an air purifier—preferably one with a HEPA filter. This helps restore air to its natural state by removing pollutants that off gas from furniture or, more likely, drift in from the streets outside. 

Nature-inspired decor

Natural wall murals showing scenes of prospect and refuge are known to have stress-reducing properties; they are especially useful for small enclosed spaces such as spare bedrooms.

Healthy interiors

When attempting to roll-out a truly conscious approach to crafting your home, office or even designing a hotel room it can initially be a little overwhelming as you realise just how much plastic manages to find its way inside, or the polluted air entering via the windows and so on. 

Focus on making that first, all important step, no matter how small a change. The benefits of biophilia seem to be cumulative, the more you layer in natural touches, the better the space starts to feel!

Biophilia in the bedroom

There are an array of different ways to layer biophilia into a biophilic bedroom interior without necessarily filling it up with plants. 

Consider what is known as ‘indirect biophilia’ instead - low-maintenance preserved moss panels on the wall for example, botanical wallpapers or natural landscape photography, a coconut fibre mattress and organic linen sheets, a smart circadian lighting system and a birdsong alarm to wake you up each morning, even a bedside aromatherapy diffuser with lavender or cedar wood oil. Have fun with it! 

Plants, plants and more plants

Research has shown that between 6-8 such plants are needed per person per 25sqm room to have any meaningful impact on air quality… so don’t hold back! In any case, plants look and perform best when carefully clustered in groups, like mini forests or jungles, so this is a win-win. For more details on plants see this previous blog post.

for details of how to integrate ergonomic furniture into a healthy office design see our separate blog post here.