5 Ways To Make Your Bathroom Feel Like a Wellness Spa

Are you dreaming of a luxurious retreat right in your own home? By making the right design moves, you can make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa. After all, this is a space where you get ready to greet the day and wind down before bed at night. It needs to be an oasis of relaxation and rejuvenation.

In this guide, we’ll explore five ways on how to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa. And by the way, this is not a frivolous thing to do.  Focusing on self-care will help improve your overall health and wellness. Time spent relaxing helps reduce stress and lowers cortisol levels in the body. And after all, you deserve a relaxing oasis!

Think About the Most Relaxed You’ve Ever Been

Have you been lucky enough to go to a luxury spa, enjoyed a hotel room with a bathroom you wish you could move into your house or taken a soak with the best eucalyptus scented bath salts you’ve ever experienced? Remember the what experiencing those places felt like right now.

In order to focus on what will help you make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa, engage in a little mind-body connection right now. Get comfortable, take a deep breath, close your eyes and engage all five senses when you envision your calming oasis.

1. Touch: Imagine Everything You’ll Touch With Every Part of Your Body 

Envision

• Are you delighted by heated floor or a heated shower bench on a cold winter’s day?
• Is there something soft underfoot as you get out of the shower?
• Does a plush robe make you feel like you were wrapped in a warm hug?
• Do fuzzy slippers make you feel fancy?
• Does a cold compress soothe an aching head while you bathe?
• What other kinds of textures felt good in a favorite spa-like space? This could be pebble tile, a bamboo mat, smooth cool marble … you get the idea!
• How did the shower feel? Did you enjoy a rain shower head, appreciate body jets, or find that a shaving ledge was a must-have?
• Are you feeling lots of steam on your skin, letting the toxins out?

  

Actions

Depending on how you answered the questions, you may want to talk with your design-build firm about heated floors, a heating vent directly under where you stand at the sink, a heated shower bench or a heated towel warmer.

Find bath mats, area rugs and tile for the bathroom that feel good underfoot. However, be sure to consider slip resistance — smooth large-scale marble tiles without some slip-resistance are not a good idea.

Make sure you have hooks, bars and other places to place your towels or robe close to the bath and shower. And go ahead and splurge on a few extra special, extra soft towels for your remodeled bathroom space. This is a relatively inexpensive thing you can do right now to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa!

You may want to consider a mini-fridge for the bathroom or bathroom-adjacent area for cold compresses, medication, and well, more on that under “taste” below.

Talk to your design-build firm about all the bells and whistles you’d like to enjoy in the shower such as body jets, a handheld wand and/or a rain shower head.

If your penchant for a sauna makes you feel like surely you should have been born in Finland, consider a home sauna or a steam shower. A steam shower is versatile and can provide a lot of the same healthy benefits that a sauna does.

2. Smell: Consider Aromatherapy

Envision

• Is there a certain scent that makes you want to breathe deeper, such as lavender or eucalyptus?
• What’s your favorite scent from flowers, stems, a candle or bath salts?
• What was the best scent that ever came from a shampoo, soap or body wash?

Action

This one is easy and may simply involve a trip to Trader Joe’s or T.J.Maxx to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa. Treat yourself to a fresh batch of eucalyptus or gardenias for your bathroom. Lean down and breathe them in every time you enter.

Subscribe to a favorite scented bath salt or bubble bath to ensure you’ll have them on hand at bath time. If a candle is part of your ritual, keep a few extras in a bathroom drawer.

Now that you’re a fancy person who knows how to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa, go ahead and buy that salon shampoo and conditioner. You’ll get aromatherapy as you shampoo, and it will help with all that nasty build up from the cheap shampoos. Remember, you probably only need to use an amount about the size of a quarter, which will make that pricey bottle last longer!

3. Sight: Find the Colors and Vistas That Calm You

Envision

• What kinds of colors make you relax?
• Do you prefer crisp white or something more colorful?
• Do the colors of nature like sage or driftwood create a sense of calm for you?
• Do certain types of paintings make you feel relaxed, such as a landscape or seascape?
• Do you prefer crisp or curved edges?
• Does symmetry bring you a sense of calm?
• In terms of lighting, do you like diffused light? Natural light? Soft light?
• Is there an opportunity to add a window to enjoy a pretty view?

Action

Figure out if you have a must-have color in the space, such as a coastal blue. Will it come in on a tile, a wall color or simply through your towels. If it’s something like a tile or paint color, it can serve as your jumping-off point, with the rest of the color palette working to complement it. Some suggestions for nature-inspired colors include:

• Green Oasis: Opt for soft green tones on walls, accents or decor to infuse a natural and fresh feel. Greens will help  connect your bathroom to the outdoors.
• Blue Tranquility: Incorporate shades of blue in tiles, textiles or art for a serene atmosphere, reminiscent of clear skies and peaceful waters.
• Neutral Earthiness: Earthy neutrals like tan, sand, terracotta and warm grays (think river stones or concrete) provide a neutral backdrop that complements nature-inspired elements. Use these colors for walls, flooring or cabinetry to create a relaxing environment.
• Warm Wood Tones: Incorporate warm wood tones through cabinetry, shelving or accent pieces to add warmth and a natural material. The textures and colors of wood can bring a sense of organic beauty to a bathroom.

Talk to your designer about how important things like symmetry or minimalism are to you. Be open to their expert opinions about how to balance that a bit.

Talk to your designer about the type of light you like and the type of light you need (perhaps for makeup or shaving). Adding dimmers to the lighting can help. In terms of wellness, there are lightboxes, like you’d see in a child’s room, and LED therapy features people are working into their bathrooms at home these days.

Think about the views out the existing windows in your bathroom in terms of which views you enjoy, which views you want to block and where you need privacy for the view of you in your spa-like bathroom. Think about potential views — are you missing out on a tree canopy view because you don’t have a window? If so, talk to your designer and/or contractor about adding one.

Another note: In order to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa, you’ll have to eliminate clutter. Make sure your renovation will provide storage space for everything you need. Also, try to have shower niches or ledges tucked out of view so that you aren’t looking at a bunch of bottles from other spots in the bathroom. Efficient storage solutions enhance the cleanliness and orderliness of your oasis, promoting a relaxing atmosphere where everything is neatly organized.

4. Hearing: Figure Out What You Want To Hear (and What You Don’t)

Envision

• Do you need complete quiet for relaxation time, or do you prefer white noise?
• Would you like speakers to listen to music or something like water lapping the shore or whale sounds?
• Is there something that makes a lot of noise you want to muffle?

Action

If complete quiet is what you need for your health and wellbeing, make soundproofing your bathroom a priority. Talk to your contractor about the appropriate insulation and even window treatments that can help quiet outside noise.

In fact, outdoor noise can influence where you want to place your spa-like bathroom. If the plans are part of an addition or a floor plan alteration, try to place the bathroom away from a busy street or the house where all the neighborhood kids scream in the pool all day.

Consider a serious audio system like built-in speakers or a Sonos system. You can use it to pipe in some spa-like tunes from Enya or Zero 7, birds singing or whale noises. Whatever makes you feel at revved up in the morning and at peace at night is great to add to the bathroom. Of course, a budget-friendly, no-remodeling-required version of this is bringing in a simple Bluetooth speaker (choose a waterproof one to be on the safe side).

Finally, sometimes luxury spa features can be noisy. In the case of the jetted tub above, said jets made a fair bit of noise. We mitigated this by adding lots of soundproofing insulation inside the quartzite tub surround. Considering sound is very important when you want to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa.

5: Taste: What Will You Be Having?

OK, we’ll just say it. Food and beverage is something that would usually be taboo in the bathroom. Having a separate water closet for the toilet goes a long way in making this more acceptable. If you don’t want something like a coffee or cocktail bar inside the bathroom, it’s something that can be placed bathroom-adjacent, like in a hallway or walk-in closet.

However, we’re all for breaking this barrier. After all, the spa offers chilled cucumber water and a glass of champagne, and that’s who we’re going for here! So without further ado … here’s how to incorporate the sense of taste to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa.

Envision

• What kinds of things do you like to consume when you’re getting ready in the morning or before bed?
• Do you want to have a cup of coffee before you even hit the kitchen in the morning?
• Would you like a cold water at the ready after a steam shower?
• Is a nightcap something you enjoy in the tub?

Action

Tell your designer everything you’d like to be able to prepare and keep cool in your bathroom or close to it. This will help them set you up. It may be a complete coffee bar with space for mugs, an espresso machine, a prep countertop and a fridge for milk and cream. Pop your face rollers and eye masks in there to, which will really make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa.

Perhaps you’d like a small beverage fridge in or near the bathroom. Some medications and creams need to be chilled. Some people like to take their morning powder with a very cold water. Others may like to keep rolled up wet washcloths in the fridge for after a steam, or a headache cap for when it’s needed.

Whether you like to finish the night with a glass of wine in the tub or in the sitting area of your bedroom, the bathroom can be a great place to hide a beverage fridge. A panel-front will blend right in with the other cabinetry.

Learn More

We hope these ideas will help you make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa. But if you’re stumped, don’t fret. Our team will ask all the right questions to make sure we design your home to match your lifestyle.

If you’re ready to start the process of maximizing your metro Atlanta-area home, contact us for a consultation. Let’s talk through your project!

Get in touch with us today

If you liked getting ideas for how to make your bathroom feel like a wellness spa, here are a few more links we think you’ll enjoy:

Soft and Elegant Bathroom Renovation

10 Smart Bathroom Storage Solutions

Before and After: A Serene Primary Bathroom Oasis

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