1 To Zen - 10 Easy Steps To Creating A Zen Home Interior

Why you should have a Zen room at home:

Nowadays, more than ever, it's crucial to have a space in your home where you can feel safe to fully relax, feel at peace and forget about any stresses in your day-to-day life.

With many more of us now working from home, bringing our entire work and personal life under the same roof, it's more important than ever for us all to be able to create a separation between 'on' and 'off' time.

Creating a designated Zen space at home - or even designing your entire home interior around a Zen minimalist style is booming in popularity as the overall desire to unwind and de-stress becomes more of a priority to contrast our ever busier lives.

What makes a room feel Zen?

There's no strict rule book on Zen-style interiors but most Zen-feeling spaces usually have three things in common: Visual continuity, simplicity and balance.

Don't worry, we'll break down each of these characteristics, give you recommendations for everything from the paint colours to the lighting and even pointers for what Zen-inspired furniture and decor to look out for.

The goal is to create a sort of bubble-environment within your home that you can step into and unwind.

So without further chit-chat, here are 10 easy steps to creating a zen-style space in your home, whether it's for one room or your entire home. 

 

1: Use Earthy Colours.

A Zen home interior is all about subtle, natural colours, so you'll want to use colour tones like white, grey, beige or pastel peach. These types of colours evoke relaxation and serenity.

It’s also important to use chromatic harmony (matching or complementary colours) throughout the different elements in the room. 

Here's what separates Zen-style interiors from a lot of other styles: for Zen, you are trying to create a space where no single element stands out more than another. 

2: Use Visual Continuity.

This is all about the flow of every element working together in a room or space, visually speaking.

If you want a Zen space, you'll need to think about the visual synergy or continuity between everything from the walls to the furniture, flooring and decor.

Key Tip: Take a step back and look at the various lines in the entire space. Try to align certain objects and elements (eg the window + the couch) with others, or have them running parallel to one another.

You can even follow the existing shape of the room for guidance.

Larger rooms or empty-feeling spaces: Try placing a larger item (maybe shelving, a large plant or a vanity unit) perpendicular to the main directional flow of the room to create a division and two separate spaces. This is only recommended for larger rooms that will not end up feeling cramped as a result of being divided.

If you're not sure if the room is big enough to be divided and still feel Zen, it's best to just try it out yourself and see what works for the space.

If it makes you feel more relaxed and at peace, that's what ultimately matters.

3: Use Softness, Especially at Points of Contact.

Use soft materials on some of the surfaces that you physically touch - like a soft rug underneath your feet, or a fluffy throw over an armrest.

Softness doesn't need to be kept only for physical touch, you can create more softness in terms of visual softness, Eg: you could use a light-toned wood (such as ash or silver birch) for the flooring to create visual softness.

4: Use Plenty of Natural Light & Light Materials.

You might think that the more natural sunlight that can spill into your space, the more  Zen it is going to feel. But, that’s not actually the case. Too much natural light spilling into a room can have the potential to make it difficult for you to relax and wind down after a stressful day.

It’s usually best to use curtains to frame any windows in this space (even if they end up blocking out a small portion of the natural light).

Remember to stick to the rule of light when choosing any textile or materials for this room - ie. try to go for materials without heavy patterns, vibrant colours or a dense texture. 

5: Use Soft Lighting From Several Sources.

Lighting is such a crucial part of setting the mood - and actually dictating how you feel in a room.

In addition to the natural light coming in from the window, you should use candles, small lamps and other indirect lighting like fairy lights and other accent lighting to tie the entire space together. 

Again, it's important to pay attention to the colours you choose when getting any lights, candles or bulbs.

Note: Remember that warmer tones such as yellows, oranges and even small accents of red are far better to use, rather than tones of blues, greens and purples when creating a zen interior. 

6: Keep Furniture Simple & Natural.

Zen-style furniture is all about simple clean lines. Furniture and decor for a Zen interior should be high quality and preferably made of natural materials. The more natural elements in the room, the more relaxing and peaceful it will feel overall.

Look for furniture that is visually simple and elegant, without any frills or fancy details that will distract your eyes and busy your mind.

It's best to avoid pieces that are very detailed or complicated, rememeber the aim is to not have any one element in the room be too distracting or imposing.

That is the key to visual balance for interior design, which will greet you with a sense of wellbeing and relaxation when you enter the room.

7: Keep Accent Pieces, Small Decor & Clutter to a Minimum.

Ok, it's time to talk about adding smaller touches to a Zen-style interior, here's what you need to know: Less really is more in terms of what you should use for decoration.

Any accent pieces or ‘everyday-clutter’ should be kept within the same taste as the remainder of the room and follow the characteristics listed above. 

Keep decor pieces simple and make sure that they contribute to the visual-smoothness of the room overall.

Try to resist adding any brightly coloured hangings, paintings, or pictures (even if they're nature photos) as they will stand out and create a 'bump in the road' for the entire Zen experience that you are creating here.

8: Remove Any Electronic Distractions.

I don't need to tell you that it’s probably not the best idea to keep your Wifi router in the same room where you’re planning your Zen space, the same goes for any screens, smart-home devices or any tech at all, (besides lighting) if possible.

PS: If you find it relaxing when your smart home assistant plays you whale songs, then by all means, ignore this step. 

Another great option for anyone who still wants some visual stimulation in this room is to consider adding a small aquascaped aquarium.

Fishkeeping - and Aquascaping in particular - is a highly relaxing and rewarding hobby. If you're using a filter in the aquarium, it also doubles as a hypnotic water feature as far as your ears are concerned. 😉

9: Bring Some Nature Indoors.

This goes back to the whole natural elements theme running throughout these steps, what better natural element than a living piece of nature itself -  Some potted plants, DIY Jar Terrarium or an indoor vertical garden can bring a room right back to Earth.

We'll do a full breakdown and guide to creating a vertical garden / green wall at home in one of our upcoming posts, so be sure to check back for that when it's published! In the meantime, there are some inspiring videos for vertical gardens that can be found on Youtube, such as this one.

10 (Zen): Fill The Room With Natural Scents.

For the final piece of the zen interior puzzle, it's time to tap in to the ol' olfactory system. (See what I did there?)

Smell is by far one of the more powerful factors in evoking feelings or senses. Your sense of smell is very good at bridging the gap between a sensory experience and our overall bodily experience.

Which scents & smells make a room feel relaxing?

Our sense of smell is a key part in truly immersing yourself in an experience. To make a room feel calming with a sense of harmony and zen, you can use lavender, incense, fragrant flowers (such as lilies), beeswax candles, rose-water diffusers, or any other scent that brings you peace and serenity!

You can even make these yourself by using flowers or ingredients that you happen to like best - cinnamon and elderflower are personal favourites of mine, one for the cooler months, one for the warmer months. :) 

One last parting tip for your Zen room...

Now that you have the 10 steps to creating a zen-style space at home, here comes the really fun part: It's time to take what you've learned and put it into practice.

Start out with choosing which room or even which part of a certain room you are going to designate as your Zen space, then decide which elements, textures and tones you want to add first, and follow the rest of this list in order. 

As you're feeling inspired, have a look through our entire collection of Zen-inspired wooden homeware, tableware, lighting and other wooden accent pieces for your home.