Home design is not just about aesthetics and beauty. For anyone struggling with mental health issues, design and maintenance can be powerful tools for creating a sanctuary for ruminating, depressed, or uneasy minds. How can you apply interior design and home maintenance principles towards promoting mental health? Here are three points to consider:

Dedicate Your Bedroom to Sleep

It’s no secret that restorative sleep is a key ingredient to sound mental health. In order to dedicate your bedroom to truly restorative sleep, start with your mattress. If it’s no longer comfortable, replace it and take advantage of return policies until you find the right one for you. You should also use blackout curtains to keep any and all light out of your bedroom at night. As clinical sleep medicine and neurology specialist Dr. Brandon Peters explains, the human body’s natural circadian rhythm follow dark-light cycles, which is why we’re more active in the day and more inclined to rest at night. Embrace sleeping in the dark and your mind will thank you for it.

Of course, any sleep oasis would be incomplete without personal touches that bring you feelings of comfort and safety. You can see how it is possible to personalise a sleep oasis in our blog post on ‘A Look Around My Home – Bedroom’. Alongside personal effects like a Himalayan salt lamp and the string lights on the vanity mirror, the bedroom has minimum clutter. This is because visual clutter can seep into the mind and prompt mental rumination before bedtime. Go ahead and personalise your space for comfort and safety, but be mindful of keeping the clutter to a minimum.

Turn Your Bathroom Into a Home Spa

Any bathroom can turn into a spa where you can relax and indulge in self-care. James Hale writing for Bustle even argues that the bathroom can become a point of stability for those with mental health issues, adding how the bathroom has become part of his night-time routine. He writes that it de-stresses the mind and lets the body know that it’s time for sleep. To this end, you can add a few touches that can turn it into a more relaxing space, such as warm lighting, lavender-scented candles, indoor plants, and natural wood or stone surfaces. You can even add features like a new and high-tech shower or bathtub that are designed to provide a relaxing experience.

Just remember that such improvements come with technical maintenance concerns. If you’re not so handy when it comes to plumbing and boiler connections, it could be easier on your mental health, and your bank account, if you just let the specialists do the work for you. Just make sure you are financially prepared for all outcomes, especially if something goes wrong. HomeServe details how common gas boiler and heating insurance plans can include other things as well such as plumbing and drainage coverage – all of which are needed to create a spa bathroom. It’s one way to keep your mind off these concerns and make more space for mental health. Which you can then replenish in your spa bathroom once everything is complete.

Create a Separate Home Office That Inspires Productivity

Much like how you’ll sleep better with a dedicated bedroom, having a dedicated home office can help improve your productivity. This means separating your work area at home and doing nothing but work in that particular space. This is why all of the gorgeous home office design ideas on Architectural Digest —big or small— are solely dedicated to the purpose of work productivity. Although the ideal situation would be to assign an entire room in your house for this purpose, a corner of your home or a table will do for smaller flats. What’s important is that it’s a space where you’re as free as you can be from all distractions, and everything you need to do your work is within easy reach. This is true for every profession, from lawyers doing paperwork at home to full-time craftswomen and those who make and sell art for a living.

Home is where you should feel the safest and most comfortable. Keep these design tips in mind if you want to turn your home into a fortress for a healthy and happy mind.