7 Soothing Zen Bathroom Design Ideas To Achieve Relaxation And Tranquility

When stress takes up the majority of our days outside of the house, the need to create our own little piece of heaven becomes very important. But what better place to create a Zen space than in your bathroom? You can enjoy peace and quiet there while you relax in a warm and bubbly bath or play soothing music to take you on a journey. In interior design, Zen means harmony, balance, relaxation.

And even though it is not considered a style, there are some tips on how you can make your space more Zen. Keep on reading to learn how you can achieve relaxation and tranquillity – in your own home!

SEE ALSO: 8 Easy Ways To Adopt An Eco-Friendly Mindset

1. Minimize clutter

Clutter is often believed to induce stress. When we walk into a room and see a lot of décor pieces in a small space, that can have the effect opposite of soothing. So, to prevent causing more stress when you get home by minimizing all the clutter. You can get wicker or wooden baskets to hide the products you use, or get a medicine cabinet and put all your hygiene products inside. That way, your vanity won’t have clutter that can easily get out of hand and start annoying you.

If you have a smaller vanity and not enough space to store all of your products on top of it, you can always install shelves on the wall. Pick shelves that can blend easily into the color scheme of your bathroom, and again, use baskets to store all your smaller products.

2. Go for the earthy tones

Zen design is usually inspired by natural colors, soft tones, and shades that represent the earth, such as beige, white, pink, grey. Having loud colors can only be counter-productive in the efforts of achieving tranquillity. This includes black. Although black is considered minimalistic, it can be very loud in a smaller bathroom, where you are trying to achieve a Zen look. So, instead of going black as most homes do, go for something more calming.

Colorful tiles are also a bad choice. But, if you are renting, and can’t change the tiles, you can always cover them up with removable stickers, ship-lap, or an area rug. Place the rug in front of your vanity, and choose one that is white or beige. That way you can give your feet a moment of relaxation while you perform your morning rituals in front of the mirror.

3. Bring in wooden materials

Wooden materials are such a Zen staple. However, you might think that wood should not be in a bathroom, where it is damp and moist for the majority of the time. You would be right, except now there are so many options. One of them is tiles that look like wood. They are getting extremely popular because they offer the possibility to connect the flooring in your entire house so that it matches. Another option is to properly seal your wooden pieces. You can buy sealants made especially for those types of situations for fairly cheap, and make a Zen-inspired bathroom all by yourself!

If you don’t trust yourself to handle projects like these, you can always incorporate wood in other, smaller décor pieces and achieve the same effect.

4. Add sand, stones, and plants

When we talk about Zen, the first thing that comes to mind is large, dark, oblong stones stacked on top of each other. Use this inspiration as a guide to doing something similar. If you can’t find the stones that you like, maybe you can get a picture to hang on the wall for a similar effect. Another typically Zen thing is sand. You can have a Zen sand garden in your bathroom or colored sand in jars. You can even make sand candle holders and simply change out the candles in it.

Another thing you can add to your bathroom to make it more alive and bright is plants. A bamboo plant, a fern, an orchid or a lily are all typical plants for a space inspired by Zen. You can add as many, or as little you’d like, but spaces with plants are considered more calming. If you don’t have a green thumb, opt for succulents – they don’t require much love and devotion, and have the same effect as some of the more demanding plants.

5. Dim the lights

By installing dimming lights, or simply adding dimmer controls to your existing lights, you can make the atmosphere as calming as you’d like. Imagine coming back home and wanting to take a nice, relaxing, long bath, with a nice book, and you have only bright light in your bathroom. That does not sound calming or relaxing at all.

So, investing in the dimmers is not a bad idea after all. Of course, you can always turn all the lights off and light the candles. That might be a good idea for smaller spaces. But for a large, four-piece bathroom, that can be a long and exhausting process. Who needs to come home after a long day at work and a stressful commute, and have to light 20 or more candles just for some light? Doesn’t sound Zen at all.

6. Play with scents

Aromatherapy is not just a fancy word. It is actually a holistic healing treatment that uses scents to improve the overall health of the body, mind, and spirit. It is said to manage pain, improve sleep quality and reduces pain and anxiety. But not every scent has the same effect. Some of the more calming scents are eucalyptus, lemongrass, lavender, peppermint, tea tree, patchouli, and chamomile.

Some of these scents you can mix and match with others, but most of them are strong enough to be used alone. You can use oil diffusers, bathing salts, candles, or sticks to evaporate the scents. Even use potpourri with your preferred scent to get the most out of your bath.

7. Add soothing sounds

Another popular Zen inspiration has to sound. You can pick whatever you like, but the most Zen thing to do is to put on meditation music or ambient sounds. You can find other playlists, such as whale songs, birds chirping, jungle noise, white noise and so on. You can even make your own playlist of your preferred music, but make sure that all the songs have a soothing and calming effect.

If you are an avid listener of rap music, maybe skip on your favorite jams and leave them for when in traffic jams. Zen should be about peace and quiet and feeling calm. And if you have noisy neighbors that like to disrupt your days, invest in some water-resistant headphones to be able to fully enjoy your time in the bathtub, away from all the noise and all the stress. Not quite so Zen, but you can even pour yourself a glass of wine to further relax and unwind after a long day.

Conclusion

Achieving relaxation should not be so difficult in your own space. Even if you do not live alone, ask your partner or housemates to be respectful of the time you need to spend alone, to relax and get rid of the stress. We hope that these tips helped you achieve your goal and that you have the inspiration and will to decorate your space according to Zen.