October 10, 2024, 10:55 am | Read time: 4 minutes
If the bathroom is to be more than just a place for personal hygiene, it is advisable to immerse this room in a special ambiance. A Zen-style bathroom is dedicated to holistic recreation, relaxation, and slowing down.
In addition to the Scandinavian style, the Far Eastern art of furnishing often triggers great enthusiasm in this country. After all, it stands for relaxation, harmony, and well-being. So why not take inspiration from the Zen style when decorating your bathroom? myHOMEBOOK author and interior designer Odett Schumann explains how.
What is the Zen style?
Zen Buddhism, or Zen for short, is a movement that emerged in China as early as the 5th century and later spread to Japan. It is still mainly associated with this region today. The movement focuses primarily on meditation. Zen philosophy is primarily about the mind coming to rest and ultimately only enjoying minimalist things such as silence and nothingness.
As far as furnishing is concerned, this means removing the superfluous and only owning consciously selected objects that you really enjoy. This creates a visual order that becomes the foundation for inner peace.
From bathroom to Zen oasis
To furnish the bathroom in Zen style and thus create a place of relaxation, it is important to follow a few pillars of this type of furnishing. It is primarily about simplicity and clarity, naturalness and elegance, soft lines and special materials. When everything is brought into harmony, the result is an atmospheric, aesthetic ambiance that you can literally feel with every fiber of your body.
More minimalism
Basically, it’s quite simple: where there is little distraction on the outside, there is more peace and quiet on the inside. And because the Zen style is based on holistic relaxation, the bathroom should also be characterized by order and minimalism. What does that mean in concrete terms? There should only be things in the bathroom that are actually needed. Anything that is superfluous should be removed. This leaves more room for peace and serenity in line with the Zen credo. The charm of simplicity can be very convincing …
Natural colors and materials
It is primarily natural colors, materials, and surfaces that make up the Far Eastern furnishing style. When furniture and floors made of wood, marble, or natural stone, as well as bath towels made of organic cotton and baskets made of seagrass or rattan, are carefully combined, a particularly sensual ambiance is created according to the Zen philosophy. In terms of color, the bathroom should, therefore, tend towards calming white, cream, green, brown, and other earthy tones.
Soft lines and shapes
Everything is in a state of flux when it comes to the Far Eastern art of furnishing. So it is hardly surprising that elegant, soft, and delicate lines characterize the Zen-style bathroom. Round, oval, or curved shapes contribute significantly to a flowing spatial effect and, therefore, to greater relaxation. This is why you often see rounded bowls as washbasins or free-standing, cornerless bathtubs in the bathroom.
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It’s all about the details
In order to create a space that ensures peace, deceleration, and relaxation, special attention is paid to the details in a Zen-style bathroom. Ideally, these should appeal to all the senses for a fully positive effect on the body, mind, and soul. Accordingly, the Far Eastern furnishing philosophy calls for the room to be furnished with scented candles, subdued light sources, and a few green plants. If you like, you can also add the typical round river stones of a Zen garden or bamboo canes as decorations, plants, or pieces of furniture.