7 Ways to Design Wellness at Home I

With most of us staying at home over 7 weeks, we more and more realize how important our home is to us, specially a healthy home. By this coming Friday, some businesses in California will be re-open. But we know it will take a while to go back the normal. And  one of the facts of the new normal is that we will  still have to  spend more time at home. That being said, it may be a good idea to think a little bit deeper on how to create a home environment that makes us feel relaxing, soothing, comfortable and healthy.  Rooms that inspire wellness create more comfortable and livable space for our daily routines.  So, a  healthy home is the foundation for a healthy life.

From today, we are going to talk 7ways to design wellness at home

Lighting management and control

Natural Light:

Lighting plays such an important role for a home. We all feel fabulous if we stay a home filled with natural light. So the No. 1 rule for lighting design in your home is to bring in as much natural light as you can. Here are some steps we can do to achieve these goal:

1. Clean windows and doors.
2. Move away large furniture or items near inside and outside of window areas. Don’t  let them block your window view.
3. Replace your outdated heavy window treatments with more modern clean-line  ones.
4. Install skylights wherever you can.
5. Enlarge your windows or doors if it is possible.
6. Install more minimalism windows and doors to allow more nature light in.
7. Have an open- plan layout for your home.

Lighting Design and Control:

1. Install LED skylights to mimic natural light.
2. Have human-centric  circadian lighting design which includes installing dimmers  and tunable control devices to be able to change the lighting scene based on the timing of a day.
3. Have layers of lighting design for different purposes—task lighting, ambient lighting and accent lighting.

Biophilia

Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions. In the last couple of years, biophilia design starts to get its wave in the residential design. Here are some ideas on biophilia design at home.

1. Have indoor-outdoor connection.
2. Bring in natural to indoors.
3. Grow your indoor garden.

You can learn more by reading  our blog on 10 Ideas on Biophilia Design at Home

Air Quality

We spent approximately 90% of our time indoor. With practicing social distancing, quarantine, isolation or shelter-in strategies now during COV-19 pandemic , we even spend more time at home.  Indoor quality plays even more important role for our health since allergies, asthma, lung cancer and heart problems have all been linked to poor air quality. And The EPA has ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental dangers.

Indoor pollution sources that release gases or particles into the air are the primary cause of indoor air quality problems. Inadequate ventilation can increase indoor pollutant levels by not bringing in enough outdoor air to dilute emissions from indoor sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the area. High temperature and humidity levels can also increase concentrations of some pollutants.

Pollutant Sources

There are many sources of indoor air pollution. These can include:

• Fuel-buring combustion appliances
• Tobacco products
• Building materials and furnishings as diverse as:
  • Deteriorated asbestos-containing insulation
  • Newly installed flooring, upholstery or carpet
  • Cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products
• Products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies
• Central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices
• Excess moisture

One of the most effective way to get rid of pollutants is to use air purifier, you can read our blog here and learn Importance of Indoor Air Quality

Another way to reduce toxins materials at home is to choose low VOC materials.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are a large group of chemicals that are found in many products we use to build and maintain our homes. Once these chemicals are in our homes, they are released or “off-gas” into the indoor air we breathe. They may or may not be able to be smelled, and smelling is not a good indicator of health risk.

It is important to remember that VOCs refer to a group of chemicals. Each chemical has its own toxicity and potential for causing different health effects.

Common symptoms of exposure to HIGH levels of VOCs include:

Sources of VOCs

• Some steps to reduce your exposure include:

• Source Control: Remove or reduce the number of products in your home that give off VOCs.
• Ventilation and Climate Control: Increasing the amount of fresh air in your home will help reduce the concentration of VOCs indoors.

You can click here to learn more

Acoustic

To be continued

Happy Wednesday

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