Your guide to a healthy, happy home
With more of us spending time indoors, Jessica Doyle offers tips for getting comfy
There’s a good chance we’ll all be spending more time at home in the coming weeks, so now is a good time to consider whether yours is a place you’ll be happy to be in. According to recent findings from the Happiness Research Institute, the way we feel about our homes is more important to our overall happiness than our jobs or what we earn, but one in four of us are not content with our home environment. If the thought of self-isolation brings you out in a cold sweat, here are some ideas for creating a comfortable haven that could also enhance your physical and mental health.
It being World Sleep Day today, the obvious place to start is the bedroom, and the elements that can encourage better rest. The focus right now in the bedding industry is on natural materials, sustainably produced, and their benefits both to the planet and to human health.
British wool bedding specialist Woolroom (thewoolroom.com) has launched a campaign focusing on the advantages of wool mattresses and bedding to promote good sleep. According to Chris Tattersall, its managing director, “Sleep itself isn’t enough; what everyone should be striving for is ‘clean sleep’. Research we commissioned showed that sleeping in wool bedding provides a 25 per cent better night’s sleep than other forms of bedding, due to wool’s incredibly clever ability to regulate skin moisture and temperature levels as we sleep. “This helps to prevent us from waking due to becoming too hot or cold during the crucially regenerative stage 4 REM sleep, the stage of sleep which allows your body to recover and repair.”
He also points out that, despite its reputation for itchiness, wool is hypoallergenic, unlike treated man-made fibres, which can contain hidden toxins that can cause allergies. For those whose skin is irritated by wool, there are toppers covered in organic cotton.
Devon-based Naturalmat (naturalmat.co.uk), which supplies beds to luxury hotels such as Claridge’s and Cliveden, also produces organic, chemical-free bed products. Its mattresses are stuffed with coconut coir, natural latex and lamb’s wool, duvets are filled with wool and goose down, and its new 500-thread-count cotton sheets are made from pesticide-free, unbleached cotton – even the buttons used to fasten the duvet covers are made from nuts, rather than plastic.
Linen is also a good choice, due to its temperature-regulating properties – Secret Linen Store (secretlinenstore. com), Piglet (pigletinbed.com) and Loom & Last (loomandlast.com) offer linen in soothing colours. For a more affordable option, bedding brand Sheridan (sheridanaustralia.co.uk) and
Marks & Spencer (marksandspencer. com) make heat-regulating sheets made from a mixture of cotton and Tencel – a fibre made from wood pulp that helps to increase the strength and longevity of the sheets.
Elsewhere in the house, various design ideas can be employed to boost comfort and well-being. Mason & Fifth (mason-fifth.com) is a new residential development based on the concept of “well living” – fostering a sense of wellness through community (residents rent a private apartment and have access to a shared living space and in-house events programme), as well as design. As Abbi Wolffe, its managing director, explains, the interiors have been created in line with evidencebased research from the Well Building Institute, which rates buildings on how they enhance lives. “As we come to spend more time indoors we need to design environments that actively look after us; ones that create a bias for well-being,” she says. “Beyond air, sound and light quality, we use minimal chemicals with household brands like Method or Ecoegg. We’ve tried to avoid as many VOCS [volatile organic compounds] as we can, using natural and sustainable materials where possible – linen headboards and sofas, cork floors, seagrass wardrobes and graphene [carbon]-free paints. All of these are sustainably sourced or produced and ensure we minimise allergens and regulate temperature while creating a naturally soothing and inviting space. Plants aren’t just for Instagram – as well as being airpurifying, they have been proven in multiple studies to relax us and lower anxiety, even just by looking at them, so our house is full of them.”
Wolffe recommends soothing, earthy colours for walls and floors – an approach adopted by new online decor brand Lick Home (lickhome. com), which launches at the end of this month, offering water-based, lowvoc paints and over-the-phone video colour consultations (handy if you can’t get out to the shops).
“We have created a perfect palette for people who are burntout and stressed, and in need of a calming oasis at home,” says the brand’s colour specialist, Tash Bradley, referring to a particular mix of pink, white, greige and green. “The grey undertone found in all these hues provides an earthy look, making a room feel relaxing and calm.” She suggests combining them with the brand’s Botanical wallpaper, which depicts ferns growing upwards in an uplifting motif: “In some cultures, ferns symbolise new life, new beginnings and family, and the design is intended to hint at the fern as an emblem for positivity.”
Try a real fern to enhance the effect – Boston ferns, spider plants, fiddle-leaf figs and aloe vera are among the plants with healing or air-purifying properties that can be grown in the house. Then layer up your sofa and bed with comfortable cushions and throws, find an uplifting fragrance to scent your home, and prepare to hunker down in style.
‘Plants have been proven to lower anxiety’