Home Spa: Health and Wellness Bathrooms in 2024

Are you looking for a space in your home where you can relax and unwind? One of the best spaces in your home where you can add features for your health and wellness is the bathroom! Here you can add design features to improve your physical health and mental well being. If you’re looking for ways to rejuvenate your bathroom with healthful benefits plus spa-like luxury, look no further than Kowalske Kitchen & Bath.

Let’s create, capture and enjoy spa-like moments in our own homes. We’ve got a list of stunning, soothing, and doable ideas that’ll leave you feeling relaxed, and refreshed.

1. Natural Elements: Wood, Sunlight & Outdoor Elements

The “great outdoors” are great for a reason. The sun’s warmth … nature’s peaceful sounds … Mother Nature’s vibrant hues — they all help improve our moods, boost our sense of well-being, and rejuvenate our souls.

Now bring these healthful perks into your home with a stress-free escape in your bathroom or ensuite. Whether it’s big changes like adding a soaking tub, a wood vanity, heated floors, new lighting full of therapeutic benefits... or simple updates to simulate a spa experience at home, Kowalske Kitchen & Bath can help you achieve your desires. Give us a call when you’re ready, but in the meantime, try a few simple things yourself to bring those “great outdoors” in:

• Replace heavy window treatments with lighter ones to let the sun’s mood-enhancing rays shine through
• Add fresh plants. They not only look good, they also increase humidity and lower stress levels
• Refresh paint with soothing tones that capture the natural world — blues and greens for a relaxing beach vibe… tans, beiges and browns for a tranquil woodsy escape
• Accessorize with natural materials like shells, stones or sand, along with natural fibers like wicker or rattan

2. Steam Shower or Sauna for Your Health

Adding a steam shower or sauna to your bath is like adding a spa-full of healthful relief to your daily life. It’s up to you to decide if you prefer to melt your stress away with moist heat and high humidity (steam shower), or dry heat with low humidity levels (sauna). Or, if you’re like more than a few Wisconsinites I know, both, depending on the time of the year.

Steam showers heat up your body from the outside. This helps open nasal passages for better breathing, open pores for exfoliating skin, and offers a great way to wind down after exercise. Saunas cause your body to heat up from within giving you increased flexibility and mobility.

The truth though is you can’t go wrong with either choice. Both are highly recognized — and desired — for their healing properties including loosening stiff joints, improving circulation, and boosting cardiovascular health by lowering blood pressure and reducing stress levels.

3. Elegant Details: Hardware, Lighting & Plumbing Fixtures

When it comes to your bathroom’s finishing touches, selecting the right hardware, lighting and plumbing fixtures serves both functionality and style, turning taken-for-granted details into the grandest of details!

For example, towel bars, hooks, holders, rings, grab bars, paper holders and other hardware. You want each element to create a cohesive look, but also be in the right spot for accessibility and comfort. Similarly, the right plumbing fixtures also improve visual appeal, utility and durability. And while the finish is important — from shiny and polished to matte and brushed — other aspects to consider are their energy- and water-efficiency which can help lower utility bills.

For lighting, a general rule is to layer your look with a mixture of sconces, recessed lighting, pendant lights, even dimmer switches. Start with ambient lighting (your main source of light), then add task lighting (such as vanity lights), and finally accent lighting (to create ambience).

4. Two Vanities

Most of the time, we use a bathroom by ourselves. But on those busy mornings when you’re fighting and jockeying with others to get in front of the mirror, you might start thinking about adding another bathroom to your home. If that’s not a viable, nor affordable, solution, there IS an easier way to save your sanity by adding a second or double vanity!

A second bathroom sink means there’s more shared space. Two people each get their own workspace to spread out and get things done faster and more done in less time.

Double vanities come in all shapes and sizes to fit almost any budget and decorative style. They also come with one more important benefit — EXTRA STORAGE! Underneath, plus extra countertop space, help keep your bath organized and tidy. You also get a more luxurious look that almost always adds guaranteed profit for resale value.

5. Soaking Bathtubs Aid in Wellness

Taking a long hot bath is a perfect way to pamper yourself. They’re great… until you have to shift positions to get your shoulders into the water leaving your bent knees exposed. And when you straighten yourself out, well oops, now your shoulders are above water level again.

That’s why more spa-seekers are opting for soaking tubs. They’re deeper than regular tubs so you can immerse your entire body all at once and relax into serenity. Plus, you can choose extra features like a jets, whirlpools, or air jets for a real spa-like experience.

The healthful benefits of a soaking tub also run deep, like lowering your body temperature to help you fall asleep faster… letting the bath’s steam open nasal passages for better breathing… cleaning and exfoliating skin… soothing aching muscles and joints… increasing endorphins to improve your mood… and relaxing blood vessels to boost circulation for a healthier heart. There really is nothing like a good long soak that lasts long after the bath is over.

6. Heated Floors for Health & Wellness

There’s almost nothing worse than stepping onto cold bathroom tiles to start your day. Now you can eliminate at least that chilly step by adding heated floors to your bath. It’s a soothing bit of luxury that also reduces energy costs and brings healthy benefits.

In fact, despite what people think, radiant heat is one of the cleanest heating sources available. It can evenly warm a bathroom in under a half-hour without any cold spots or blowing air. That means no dust floating through the air to irritate sinuses. It also means less moisture, which helps reduce potential mold and mildew growth for cleaner living.

So step-up to that extra bit of healthful luxury with a heated floor in your bathroom.

7. Sensory Features in Your Spa-Like Home Bathroom

Many of the healthful advantages that come with a spa-like bathroom are especially beneficial for people who are highly sensitive, or have any form a dementia. Too much stimulus or confusion can make everyday life disturbing and stressful — and even more so at bath time.

That’s when the dedicated, trained professionals at Kowalske Kitchen & Bath can really help. We offer a myriad of bathroom design ideas, fixtures, fittings and services that are not only look good, but help reduce tension, stress and anxiety. Here are just a few things that can make time in the bathroom more relaxing, calming, and sensory-friendly:

• quiet-closing hardware so there’s no sudden banging of cabinet doors or drawers
• soft, cushioned flooring for a gentler walking surface
• low-level lighting or soft colored lights that help keep emotions steady
• sound-absorbing surfaces, such as no-slip rugs, that are safe and mute excess noise
• aromatherapy diffusers to soothe olfactory senses and relieve anxiety and depression
• smart devices or voice commands offer easy ways to control LED lights, time and intensity
• double shower heads combine comfort, flexibility, and practicality
• grab bars on both sides of a tub or shower provide extra support for standing and bending
• a sensory projector can show relaxing imagery that helps distract those who are anxious
• soothing audio can activate pleasure centers in the brain, releasing dopamine to create feelings of happiness

8. A Shower Bench for Comfort

Have you ever stood in a shower and let the water pour over you? It’s a sensory experience that actually helps release anxiety. Now imagine making it even more soothing by adding a bench and sitting under the cascading water. You can almost feel your muscles relax.

Shower benches provide a secure, stable surface to reduce the risk of slipping to those with balance issues, physical limitations, nursing an injury, or are elderly. Have a sense of security and independence to wash between toes, shave one’s legs, and reach those other tough-to-get-to areas.

If you’re remodeling, consider adding a shower bench to your design for a water-tight seal. For existing showers, we recommend one made of mold- and mildew-resistant material (like plastic or teak) with drain holes to prevent pooling water, and that folds out of the way when not in use.

9. Multiple Shower Heads Enhance the Shower Experience

They say “two heads are better than one” — and that’s especially true when it comes to shower heads! They not only make your bathroom look luxurious, they give a range of flexibility for a true spa-like experience. While a fixed head provides a full body spray, a second, hand-held head can target specific areas of the body with different settings like gentle rainfall, pulsing jets, and soothing massage.

Two shower heads come in handy for:

• Showering when you don’t want to get your hair wet
• Bathing squirming kids and even pets
• Cleaning the shower by targeting water flow
• Disabled or elderly users, allowing them to switch between shower heads and focus on main areas to wash and clean with ease

Here’s one more helpful tip: wall-mounted shower heads let you adjust them for different heights, while hanging one from the ceiling creates a rainfall experience without the expense of adding a full rain shower.

10.  Vanity with Organized Storage

Even the smallest of bathrooms can become more efficient with an organized storage system. And that starts with choosing the right vanity. Vanities with drawers keep the things you use most organized and in easy reach, while those with doors provide more open space underneath for bigger items. Both options, or a combination of drawers and doors, is a first great step to keep your bathroom orderly and clutter-free.

Tower storage is another effective way to organize a smaller bathroom by using the empty walls around a bathroom mirror. It gives you an extra way to stow items without compromising floor space. Some towers stretch from floor to ceiling — and that’s an especially great way to store towels in a decorative way.

Whichever way you choose to customize your bathroom storage space, it helps open up more room to make cleaning the whole room easier. And anything that helps make cleaning easier we call a real win!

11.  Walk-in Shower AND a Bathtub

Want to really create a wow factor? Add a wet room — one beautifully designed space that includes both a walk-in shower and tub. It can actually save space by combining both without all the bulky fittings. That means fewer nooks, crannies, shower runners or creases for dirt and grime to collect. You can even use the shower head to rinse the whole room down to make clean-up a drop in the bucket.

But more than just gorgeous good looks, a wet room brings a whole new level of safety. Being at the same level as the bathroom flooring, its lower threshold makes it easy for people with limited mobility to enter and exit, reducing the risk of falls and injuries. You can even add slip-resistant flooring for extra security.

And with a tub in the same space, you don’t have to worry about water splashing on the floor. Other ideas could be to make it a walk-in tub adding more ease of mobility, or even adding hydrotherapy jets to the tub to help reduce body aches and alleviate arthritic pain.

But the best idea is to call Kowalske Kitchen & Bath. We’ve been adding wet rooms in many Wisconsin homes and can work with you to create the ultimate spa-like experience in your bathroom.

12.  Bidet Toilets for Health and Wellness

Very popular in European and Asian countries, bidet toilets are appearing in more and more homes here in the states. A bidet allows you to forgo using toilet tissue by using a gentle stream of water to rinse your backside for a more hygienic and thorough cleaning. And the less toilet paper used means less chance of clogging, so bathroom pipes last longer.

Bidet toilets are especially helpful for caregivers, or if elderly family members are in the home. A bidet reduces the need to twist or reach which decreases the chance of losing balance or hurting themselves. It’s also gentler on sensitive skin and can be used with or without soap to limit the spread of germs. It lets seniors maintain their dignity, and cleanliness, while using the bathroom.

Bidets come in a variety of styles, with a variety of features like adjustable temperature (because warm water is more relaxing than chilled)… air dry fans (gently dries the skin after cleansing)… heated seats (relaxes the muscles in legs and backside to alleviate stress and strain of common bathroom tasks)… even a nightlight to make a quick trip in the dark easier and safer.

Start Your Health and Wellness Bathroom Project

As you can see, having the spa-like bathroom you always dreamed of — along with all the healthful benefits that come with it — is truly achievable. No matter how big or how small the project, the remodeling experts at Kowalske Kitchen & Bath can make those dreams come true.

Give us a call today to discuss your style, needs and budget to create the right solutions to complement your space and lifestyle. Our experienced team will prepare a 3D design to help you visualize your new bath. Once you give the thumbs up for your room’s new look, Kowalske Kitchen & Bath will manage the material selection and coordinate the entire project. All you have to do is relax!

Contact Kowalske Kitchen & Bath now to schedule a consultation to create your new spa-like bathroom escape.