How to Make Your New Home a Sanctuary

The majority of us have spent more time at home in the last year than ever before. For some, this is a welcome respite. For others, home isn’t nearly as calming or relaxing as we’d like it to be. Using our homes for all purposes (home, office, entertaining, virtual school, etc.) has many of us struggling to separate work from home and needing some new ways to relax at the end of the day.

With this in mind, we designed our home with a few features and tricks in mind to make home feel like a sanctuary no matter what.

A Soaking Tub to Soak the Stress Away

One of my favorite ways to relax and have a little me-time is soaking in a bath. In our normally hectic life with a packed schedule, it feels like pure indulgence. I wanted to try to carve out more time for myself, but it doesn’t happen on its own—you need to set yourself up for success and plan for it. In order to maximize the spa-at-home feel I was going for, we installed a beautiful oversized soaking tub with a luxurious gold freestanding tub filler.

Gone are the days of cramming my legs into my kids’ tiny bathtub and trying to relax with bath toys all around. This bathtub is what you’d find in a high-end hotel and assume no one ever actually uses it, but now it’s in my bathroom all for me. Include a dimmer on your bathroom lights to set the mood for relaxation, add a few candles and a bath bomb, then soak all the stress away.

A Cozy Fireplace that Rivals a Mountain Lodge

For me, the fireplace is the heart of the home. It instantly adds warmth and coziness. We knew adding a large fireplace would be the focal point for our oversized great room but picking out the fireplace is only the first step. In order to add true comfort, you need to take the entire space into consideration.

Start with the size and scale of the fireplace. The ceilings in our great room are 13' at the lowest and go up to a vaulted ceiling about 20' tall. We needed a fireplace that didn’t feel dwarfed in the space, so we went with the Heat & Glo True. It features a beautiful greige herringbone brick pattern inside the unit, so we didn’t need anything too fancy for the tile surround or an intricately detailed mantel. The fireplace truly shines on its own. We also included a hearth that adds to the traditional look of our home while also doubling as extra seating.

To really amp up the cozy factor, think about the seating around the fireplace. People are naturally drawn into a fire, so placing a comfortable chair or seating area close to the fireplace area is a great way to enjoy the space. Add a luxurious throw blanket for texture and warmth on cold days. If it’s possible to arrange furniture to face an open window with natural light, that will create the perfect ambiance for curling up by the fireplace with a good book while enjoying snow quietly falling on a winter day. Who needs a mountain lodge when you can enjoy this in your own home?

A Walk-out Balcony with Vacation Vibes

Our walk-out balcony off the master bedroom gives all the vacation vibes even on the most mundane of days. I love walking out there in the morning with a cup of coffee before the kids wake up, just soaking in the crisp morning air. It reminds me of vacations my husband and I took when you don’t have a care in the world except planning the day in front of you exploring a new city.

That feeling is exactly what we wanted – our own private gateway to feel as if we are on vacation whenever we step foot out there. It’s quiet, it’s calm, and it instantly lifts my mood to take a few deep breaths of the morning mountain air.

New House = New Linens

There’s something about the feel of brand-new crisp sheets and a big, fluffy towel after a shower. It just feels like you are being pampered. Some of our towels and sheets were embarrassingly old, so I took the opportunity to buy all new linens for the new house. This is one area that I always suggest splurging on because you want your bed to feel as comfortable and relaxing as possible. You spend a lot of time in there, so invest in the best!

One tip is to use scents in your home to add to the sanctuary, spa-like feel. I use lavender quite a bit in the bedrooms for its calming qualities, especially at bedtime. You can spritz a little lavender spray under pillows or add a few drops of lavender essential oils to a diffuser for a peaceful night of sleep.

Choose a Color Palette for Your Home

A cluttered space is the sign of a cluttered mind. We all know that, but I’m not talking about normal clutter right now {because we all know we should de-clutter!}. I’m talking about visual clutter.

One trick to make your home feel instantly more calming and relaxing is to pick a color palette, then stick with it throughout the entire house. Choose a color palette that you love and speaks to your soul, but then use it from room to room. This will make your home feel cohesive and intentional, not jumbled. It also makes decorating easier because everything naturally goes well together. Ideally, you’ll have no more than 3-5 colors in your home color palette.

We chose one neutral paint color for the whole house, then incorporated several coordinating colors through cabinetry, hardware and tile. Because the paint feels neutral and continues seamlessly from one room to the next, there’s a calming feeling that everything flows without being totally matchy.

Learn more about the new home building process and fireplace planning here, or take a look at the traditional and modern fireplaces Heat & Glo has to offer.