How to create playful spaces for mental wellbeing

By Sarah Bagner

Thinking about our children’s interior spaces in the home can feel overwhelming especially as their needs change so regularly and getting your child and the whole family on board with ideas can seem daunting. I want to offer you a few simple ideas and exercise that will help create a harmony to your spaces through a mindful design process, resulting in a more relaxing setting for your child whilst still being inspirational and playful.

My aim is to bring a sense of calm into the whole home by creating a consistent look and feel through-out the home so our children’s spaces don’t feel out of sync with the whole home. I want to bring that sense of play into all the interior spaces of your home for example reading corners may be a quiet snook in the kitchen or playing with toys may be in the living room without it feeling like clutter.

I aim to create spaces that make people feel calm yet inspired. My parents are Swedish but I was born and brought up in London, so I have a love for Scandinavian practicality yet my British eccentricity always seeps in. I think a balance of both is where I strive. I have written two Interior Design books about homes around the world. I met owners and renters, families and flatmates. I heard from people who had undertaken extensive DIY projects with remarkable results and those who have worked with world renowned architects. But what united them all was that they all thought passionately about what home actually means to them. Making your home special is not to do with how much you spend or following a certain trend, but in finding an energy that matches your lifestyle and bringing that to life.

I hope this article inspires you to look at your own home with a fresh eye, and a creative spirit.

Create a ME board

When I start a project I always start with creating a brief, even if the client is my own family. I feel without a brief it’s hard to get to the answer, as the goal posts can change.

Think about what is working in your home and what you want to do more of? What’s not working? Think about the big picture – what is your visual story? Your heritage and legacy that you want your children to be part of? Is there a painting or a rug that is special to you that you want to highlight and keep. Is there a value or belief that you feel is important to somehow showcase in your home?

For me homes go much deeper than simply styling and I want to create depth within a home that can ground and calm us and our children. Think about the details, what colours make you sizzle and remind you of perhaps your childhood history? I love the idea of bringing nature in, so for me I put together these images of sunshine on water, raspberries bursting with colour, lush, cool forests, moss and lichen, the minty colours for me bring me serenity.

All of these ideas I have on my ‘ME board’ as these are feelings, colours, textures that I want to bring into my home. After a day at nursery or work, I want to come home and feel reminded of these warm, safe and calm sensations.

Use of colour

Colour is one of the ways we can bring the outside in and creating a colour palette in a number of harmonious colours is the best way to follow that through into your home. Bear in mind you don’t need to use all the colours on your walls. You may chose just two or three and then you can add to the palette with furniture or soft furnishings.

Research by King’s college London found that being able to see the sky helps our mental health, and for me the colours of the sky always soothes me. The many colours of a sunset or the deep blues creates a mindfulness that always sets me in the right path.

This colour palette is an example of natural tones, muted colours which remind me of wood and lichen. Mustard tones, Setting Plaster, and Minty Breakfast Room Green and Calke Green Farrow and Ball are all glorious. I also love Little Green’s Salix which is a very light minty green colour.

Little Greene’s Intelligent Finishes are certified “child safe” (also known as the Toy Paint Regulations). This means they are completely safe to use in all areas of the home as they don’t contain any dangerous ingredients. The Intelligent Matt Emulsion is a tough and washable wall paint.

Paint or commission murals

I love murals as I think they add handmade beauty and uniqueness to a home. A story is told on your walls. I have worked with Artist and Architect Rhea Mccarthy creating bespoke children’s spaces and one of the pieces of work that I love the most is her mural she made for me in my very own garden.

My garden has a wall at the end so I wanted to create a forest landscape to give it more depth. Inspired by Hilma Af Klimt and using the existing muted colours of our home the mural really tells our story of our love for summers in the forest and lakes of the Swedish Archipelago and the colours and freshness of the streets of Stockholm.

I think murals in children’s nurseries or bedrooms are beautiful and so inspirational. Little Hands Wallpapers offer an alternative to hand-painted murals which is also interesting so do check them out.

Children’s art and stories

Living with art is a beautiful endeavour. How do we curate art in the home especially in children’s spaces? Creating arrangements that are splendid but also peaceful is about finding a sense of balance and working with negative space, so items have room to breathe and talk to each other. In very much the same way you would design a page or a canvas, think about balance. It’s about creating energy, not clutter.

Wall hangings and tapestries bring warmth and softness to a room. Framing items or children’s drawings beautifully is a great way to highlight your child’s strengths and bring them a feeling of confidence. Box-framing items and images is a beautiful way to tell a story. When we moved into our home we had with us our son’s leg cast, from when he broke his leg. Instead of throwing it away, we decided to beautifully box frame it and it now hangs splendidly in our bathroom.

Creating reading corners and snooks

Reading corners, dens and snooks are a great way to bring a sensory and calming feel to areas in your home. They can exist in the child’s bedroom but also perhaps somewhere in the kitchen or living room. Bean bags and canopies, soft blankets and baskets, help your child feel safe and able to escape into a world which is warm, quiet and calm.

Positive time outs are spaces where they can regulate their emotions. A basket of fidget toys, massage tools and soft shaggy floor rugs can help them feel regulated here.

Finding storage solutions

Try to make sure that you don’t have too much on display. Sometimes too many visible toys and objects can seem overwhelming to a child and so, see if you can revolve toys. Bringing certain toys out of storage can make them seem novel and exciting to a child, and means you don’t have to spend a fortune on new toys!

For more content from Sarah, check out:

@supermarket_sarah
www.supermarketsarahstyling.com