Home & Garden

How to Create the Perfect Outdoor Sanctuary

It has been a tough year or so, hasn’t it? From pandemic to a recession, we are facing some of the toughest times that anyone has seen in the last half a century.

Of course, these times are not as bad as being ravaged by war or starvation, but for many of us, the constant low-level stress of always worrying where the next paycheck will come from is beginning to play on our psyche and affect our bodies in ways that we were not expecting.

Stress on The Body

The stress of every day can wreak havoc on your body, from retaining weight to making you crave sugar and fat; stress is sometimes known as the silent killer because you’re unlikely to appreciate how stressed you are until it has crippled every part of you.

Getting past stress can be tough too, it is not just as easy as taking yourself out of the stressful situation, especially if the stressful situation is ongoing and not easily fixed, but there are things that you can do to mitigate the effects of stress and try to balance out your life to keep stress in check.

Creating Your Sanctuary Look

One of the most important things you can do to help you relax is to create a space inside or outside of your home that is your sanctuary, your place of peace.

When creating that sanctuary outside, it is important to think about aesthetics. We spend many lives being bombarded with stimuli that can overcloud a brain and make it shut down. Pick materials that evoke a sense of calm, like wood and stone. 

The guys over at arbourlandscapesolutions.co.uk help their customers pick landscaping materials to fit their needs and can even source work of art from skilled craftspeople, too, to give your area that extra sense of calm.

Getting Your Zone Right

Also consider your area; does it need to be covered to keep the rain off? Do you want some lightning, how about speakers for some music, comfy seating?

There are many options, especially for outside spaces, which will be perfect for a calm zone, and everyone has unique wants and needs when it comes to what they consider relaxing.

For most of us, though, comfy seating and soft lighting is a must. Getting some nice outside sofas with deep foam cushions is a great idea, or perhaps an oversized bean bag to lounge on!

These days, you can even get comfy seating that has an area to hold your drink (who does not like a nice drink to relax with?) and even somewhere to put your phone on charge too!

Having some hidden speakers in your sanctuary area might also be a good idea if only to pipe in extra sounds of nature or calming music like panpipes to get you into the mood. If you are clever, you can even use speakers you can cast to and run through a few guided meditations!