Our homes may very well be the biggest financial investment in our lives, but they also are one of the biggest investments in our health and happiness. This special edition newsletter is an overview, a teaser if you will, of how the design of your home can improve your health and well being.
AIR QUALITY
A good air handling system, with good filtration, is a great start to reducing your risk of allergies, asthma, or other airborn illnesses. Yet, material choices, particularly furnishings and finishes, may have an even greater impact since your body is exposed to them most often. Low VOC paints, formaldehyde free cabinetry, and non-toxic fabrics can all make a difference in improving what you breathe in on a daily basis.
ERGONOMICS
Perhaps the best way to keep your joints happy, avoid back pain, and deal with arthritis is by carefully designing furniture, cabinet hardware, and door hardware that fits your body. This also goes for space planning. Doors, windows, hallways, stairways, handrails, and cabinetry can all be dimensioned and detailed to fit who you are.
NUTRITION
Not as obvious at first, but the design of your kitchen, dining room, landscaping, and even garbage or recycling system can promote a healthier diet. If your home can be designed with the cycle of food in mind, it can make cooking, gardening, even composting easy. How food is stored can also be designed to minimize waste and keep food fresh. Little things, like a shallow depth refrigerator, can prevent food from hiding behind other food and spoiling. And, of course, an efficient layout of fixtures, appliances, and storage within the kitchen can all help promote cooking and eating better food, right at home.
HYGIENE
Just as the cycle of food can be designed to promote a better diet, the cycle of water can be designed to promote better health. In principle, the shorter distance water must travel, the cleaner it is. So a compact plumbing layout, coupled with a whole house purifier, will ensure the cleanest water possible. In addition, high efficiency fixtures, non-metallic and non-toxic pipes, and even grey water irrigation systems can help your supply of clean water last for decades.
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Home should be the one place in the world where we can be stress free, a place to unwind, a sanctuary. Yet, too often are homes become stressors instead. A simple thing like creating individual, private space within your home can help. Also, thoughtfully designed storage can reduce stress by eliminating clutter and making the things most important to you the most visible or easy to find. Other stress reducers are a thoughtful connection to a well designed landscape, visual and audible sound control, and soothing color and material palettes.
EQUITY AND DIVERSITY
One of the most critical elements of our personal health is our relationships with other people. Your home can be a place that welcomes everyone, regardless of age or disability, in a way that is barrier free and functionally equitable. Design can also give your home the ability to deal with change easily. Often, our families range in size dramatically over short periods of time. Spaces can be designed to change use as we age, as family members move out or move back in, as we take in friends or family in need of care, all without having to remodel.
CULTURAL IDENTITY
Last, but definitely not least, your home can serve as a way to express yourself, a way to communicate who you are to the world. Of course, we’re talking about what may be called style or aesthetics. We like to simply call it beauty because it is powerful, immeasurable, and invaluable. It’s the thing that gives you joy when you come up the driveway; that calms you when you walk through the door; that feeling of knowing you’re home. A beautiful home may not add years to your life, but it will make the ones we have that much better.If you’d love to discover what design can do for you and your health, give us a call. We’re always around and we promise to be nice.
