The healing properties of spas, saunas, and Turkish baths have been known since the time of the Greeks and the Ancient Romans. In the past, such places were physical and spiritual sanctuaries available only for the richest. Today, they are very affordable, and almost every household can have one. Although at this time we are spending more time at our homes than we thought we would, we can use this situation to do something creative and positive. Turn things to your advantage and make your home look and feel like a relaxing resort with these easy tips.
The right start – decluttering first
One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they turn their bathrooms into storages: mountains of towels, piles of facial care products, dozens of shampoo bottles, tons of makeup ... There are usually shelves, boxes, dirty laundry baskets, cat litter, cleaning supplies, you name it. You will hardly be able to relax in your bathroom when surrounded by all these things. Try to remove everything you don’t use on a daily basis and take some time to rearrange everything. Start by storing your toiletries in decorative baskets and putting them in cabinets, or find a creative way to store your towels – something like hanging baskets or even buckets. This way, there will be less clutter and more room for you to relax.
Try out different bath bombs
You might not have a sauna or a jacuzzi in your bathroom, but you can still have that spa experience with a pinch of creativity. Your old bath can be as good as new when you clean it thoroughly, fill it with water, and throw in a nice bath bomb. There are so many different bath bombs on the market that you can easily play with them and improvise until you find the one you absolutely love. There are rainbow ones, black ones, the ones with glitter and dried flowers – something for everybody out there. Light a candle in the bathroom, close your eyes and meditate a bit. You can try out breathing meditations to help you relax, or you can just let your mind wander and daydream like when you were young.
Set the atmosphere
One of the reasons we so gladly go back to spas is because the very atmosphere is relaxing. They achieve this by playing soft, beautiful music – and this is something you can easily do at home. Make your own playlist or find the one you like online and let it quietly play in the background while you’re lighting some candles. You can use simple tea lights, which you can place in mason jars filled with flower petals and water. If you don’t want to cover every inch of your home with candles, you can always just draw the curtains and dim the lights. This doesn’t take too long, but the result is astonishing because you will feel like your living room has turned into a real spa.
Get a massage
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were able to get a professional masseuse to get to our home and give us a nice, relaxing, full-body massage? Sadly, with this pandemic, we are forced to wait for things to go back to normal, or to try out something different. There are so many wonderful massagers you can try that will help you feel relaxed and pampered. You can get a nice foot and leg massager that you can actually carry around from one room to another and use it whenever you feel like it. Another great thing about these portable massagers is that you can use them while watching TV, reading a book, or even while writing emails to your boss – it’s your little secret.
Follow the rules
Just like in real spa centers and resorts, you shouldn’t be using your phone when you’re relaxing. Your spa day is all about you pampering yourself and restoring your inner peace and balance, and endlessly scrolling through social media and checking your email won’t help you get there. This is why you shouldn’t be using your phone when relaxing – put it on silent or ‘do not disturb’ mode for a day (or a few hours at least). If you’re planning on having a spa day with your friends, it’s all the more important not to use your phones. Instead of being distracted, you’ll focus on feeling good.
Scents to relieve the stress
Another thing that spa centers do is using certain scents to help you calm down and relax, and you can use this trick in your home. Aromatherapy is proven to have health benefits that include improved quality of life, especially for people who suffer from chronic health conditions, relief from anxiety and depression, as well as improved sleep The most popular scents for therapy are lavender, peppermint, lemon, Ylang-ylang, Frankincense, Neroli, and Bergamot. However, try not to overdo it – a different scent in each room can be overwhelming instead of soothing, so you might want to pick one or two scents for your entire house.
Choose colors wisely
Another trick you can use to make your home not only look, but also really feel like an actual real spa is carefully picking the color scheme. You will probably want to fill your home with details in your favorite color, but we would advise you to choose the ones that evoke the memory of nature. You will get the best results when you implement more earthy and natural tones such as beige, brown, mint green, and light blue. You can get curtains, cushions, towels, tablecloths, and other little accessories for your home in these shades since this will make you feel like you are in a real resort even when you’re just in your bathroom or bedroom.
Get more plants
Taking care of plants is a great way to relax and lower your blood pressure. A lot of people hesitate to put plants into their bathrooms because they are worried about the amount of light, air, and humidity, and rightly so. Bathroom conditions are far from perfect for some plants (for example, hibiscus, certain types of cacti and succulents), but there are also plants that will thrive if you place them there. Bathrooms are like heaven for certain plants – aloe vera, bamboo, fern, and begonia are just some of the plants that will love humidity and dark. Still, no matter how much you love plants, you don’t want your bathroom to turn into a greenhouse, so keep it simple, tidy, and organized.
Just because you can’t leave your home because of the pandemic doesn’t mean that you can’t get a quality spa treatment. We are all feeling stressed and anxious, so a little bit of self-care and pampering will help you feel like your old self. These are just some of the things you can to do at home to create a soothing spa-like atmosphere because going to a spa doesn’t have to be expensive or over-the-top. If you manage to transform your home (or at least parts of it) into your own little recluse, you will easily get that spa experience right in your bedroom or bathroom.
