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According to a Pinterest Predicts forecast, one of the latest home design and decor trends this 2022 is the so-called emotional escape “relax” room. Yes, folks, you read that right. It might seem odd at first, but when you consider the last two years we’ve been through, it all starts making a lot of sense.
These relaxing rooms are spaces to vibe, rage, and escape from whatever you might need. It is a separate space designed just for that and for no other intention other than that. So, what would these rooms look like? Whatever you picture in your head when thinking about emotional escape is the correct answer for you because it answers only to what you find decompressing. If you’re a big reader, a library might be involved. If you’re into art, maybe art supplies and a space to create are what you need. If you’re a big fan of music, perhaps a stereo system –or a vinyl record player if you’re that person– it is entirely up to your likes and personality.
As much as this idea sounds a bit woo-woo at first, the more you think about it, the more it resembles a physical representation of that happy and peaceful place you go to in your head when things get tough.
Another important aspect is that events like the pandemic have made us reassess our homes entirely, placing a need for separating and compartmentalizing rooms around our houses more than ever. We now know better that we need a house design that provides a space to work separately –at least somewhat– at a reasonable distance from our bedroom, and the same goes for our place to eat, exercise, etc. So, more than ever, it is wise to build our dream homes based on a house design and a floor plan layout that correctly reflects our needs and aspirations efficiently without overbuilding our homes in Squar Footage.
Many of us are spending now more time at home than ever, so it would be ideal to have rooms with separate functions. Otherwise, things might get a little muddled in between affecting our productivity, sleep, and health. As the year 2020 made abundantly clear *shudder*.
So, in this sense, an emotional escape “relaxing” room is just a step up from a home office or gym. Now, do we have the budget and the spare land area to add a new space in our new home dedicated entirely to just escape and relaxation? Is it justified to plan for one in our future new home if we are planning on building one soon? Well, it will depend, on the one hand, on our budget of course, on the other hand, it will depend on how efficiently the floor plan layout of our new dream home is designed.
Nevertheless, if you are not building your dream home any time soon, we think it is an excellent idea to try and think of ways to adapt an emotional escape or relaxing room to your current home.
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When we boil this “emotional escape” concept down, we must understand and make the adjustments needed to adapt the room to some emotional escapism:
First, you must figure out what that means for you. Then, as we mentioned above, think of what activity you consider your escape –playing an instrument, painting, reading, crocheting, heck, even napping –that should give you an idea of what indispensable objects you need. Second, you’d need to decide on a color palette that already goes with your home and is soothing to you. It could be pastels, neutrals, or whatever colors help your mood. Third is figuring out the elements that help create a certain mood in a space: lightning and disposition.
For natural light during day time, you would want to think of a bright space with a large window overlooking the garden and maybe plenty of cozy lighting for the nighttime. This could be achieved through table lamps, floor lamps, dimmers or perhaps some of Tik Toks’ trending items: the sunset lamp and the mushroom lamp –google at your own risk–. As for the disposition, we’d want to think of something that feels open, uncluttered, and organized without forgoing the cozy factor. For more guidance on this, consider googling the disposition of rooms and furniture for feng shui. This will ensure that whatever you bring into a space seamlessly follows the Q&A path of your daily routine.
Now that we have all the separate elements on hand, we can think of how to bring them into your existing rooms. For example, your bedroom is a perfect example of a space that could double as an emotional space room as long as we have coziness, a soothing color palette, good mood lighting, and maybe something like a speaker or a couple of books on your nightstand. It could be even better if the bedroom counts with a deck. Sometimes just making sure you make your bed every day and keep the space tidy is enough to make it feel like a release at the end of the day.
Your home office might not be precisely the best place to relax. But if it counts with a large glass area overlooking the garden, maybe including an armchair, a chaise lounge, or a cozy sofa with a throw blanket and a floor lamp in a corner could perfectly work as a great relaxing room.
Maybe there are other spaces around the house offering the possibility to be adapted and to provide adequate space for those needed relaxation breaks. Maybe the house or place you live in offers an area or room where you can do the activity that makes you happy, such as playing an instrument, an easel, or a sound system. A place where you can decompress whenever you need to. Go through your house and think which area of it can work out for it.
Ultimately, we love this idea because it makes us rethink how we can experience our homes and ourselves as human beings, always having little pockets of calm and relaxation. Of course, this will make our houses more enjoyable and cozier, which should definitely be a priority now that we’ve learned our lessons from 2020 and 2021.