Rest, Built In
By creating spaces for stillness and gentle activity, the home can become a daily partner in recovery.
WORDS Elissa Rose
Rest is often treated like a reward. It might be considered as something we earn at the end of a long day, or something we squeeze in when everything else is finished. However, the truth is that rest is a foundational part of health, recovery and resilience, and it is something the home can either support or disrupt. This is where architecture and design come in as the home shapes whether rest feels possible. A helpful way to rethink rest is to look at it through two complementary lenses – passive rest and active rest. Both matter and both support recovery in different ways. Passive rest lets your body soften without requiring effort. Active rest is the kind of recovery that comes from gentle activity rather than total stillness.
Designing for rest is also a long-term health strategy. When the home helps us downshift more often, we recover better, regulate stress more efficiently and make decisions with more clarity. It also helps us to become more resilient over time. Esther Sternberg, research director at the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, states that “environmental variables are really important. They’re affecting the brain’s stress response and the brain’s relaxation response.”
In practice, this means thinking carefully about how the home signals rest. Clear boundaries between work and recovery help the body understand when it can switch off. Designing for the senses, through softer lighting, calmer materials, and reduced visual noise, makes spaces feel easier to be in. Even small considerations, like where screens live in the home or whether there are inviting alternatives to reach for instead, can influence how readily we move into recovery throughout the day.
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Home designed by Jessie Paris Lamb. Photo courtesy of Nicole Franzen |
Architecture by Model Practice with interior design by Jessie Paris Lamb. Photo courtesy of Nicole Franzen |
Passive Rest
Passive rest is the kind of recovery that happens when the body feels safe enough to let go. It tends to come most easily when nothing is demanding your attention, and when the space around you feels quiet and protected. That is why we often rest best in areas that are slightly tucked away from the center of activity. Architecture can support passive rest by building in places that feel gently separate, even in an open-plan home.
Nooks and Window Seats:
One of the simplest ways to encourage passive rest is to design for smaller moments. A dedicated nook creates a sense of enclosure that helps the body settle. Window seats are a classic example as they offer light, a view and a subtle boundary. This is closely tied to a concept from environmental psychology called prospect-refuge theory, and that we feel more at ease where we can see what is happening (prospect) while also feeling protected (refuge). A nook can be created through furniture placement, lighting and a change in texture.
Bathrooms as Restorative Spaces:
Bathrooms are often overlooked in conversations about rest, but they can be one of the most effective places for passive recovery. They already offer separation and privacy, which are two key ingredients for downshifting. Softer lighting, warm materials and reduced visual noise can change how you experience the room. Even dimmable lights, a warmer bulb temperature or a less reflective surface can help create a calmer mood.
The Bedroom as a Space for Physical Rest:
Beyond nighttime sleep, the bedroom can hold smaller recovery moments, such as napping. A calm sensory environment helps make this possible, using softer lighting, reduced clutter, quieter acoustics and breathable materials that feel comfortable against the skin. When the bedroom feels like a retreat from the rest of the home, even a brief lie down can restore energy and reset the day.
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Bathroom designed by Californian interior designer, Kirsten Blazek. Photo courtesy of Michael Clifford |
Active Rest
Active rest expands the definition of recovery. It recognizes that not all restoration comes from doing less and that actually sometimes it comes from doing something that is soothing, engaging and low-pressure. This could be making a meal, watering plants, working with your hands, playing an instrument or moving your body gently in a way that feels restorative rather than demanding. If sitting quietly feels restless, active rest offers another path back to balance.
Spaces for Making and Hobbies:
A home that supports active rest makes room for creative life. When hobby spaces are packed away or hidden behind clutter, it becomes harder to access them. A well-designed active rest space reduces that friction and makes your favorite pastime easy. In practice, this could look like a basket for knitting, a small easel, a drawer for sketchbooks or a cabinet that holds craft materials.
Music as a Form of Rest:
Music can be one of the most restorative elements in a home, yet it’s often treated as background rather than a recovery tool. If music is already part of your life, it helps when it is woven into the home in a practical way. Instruments feel more inviting when they are within reach and a dedicated chair can turn listening into a small ritual rather than something that happens while multitasking.
Gardens and outdoor transitions:
Gardens, balconies and outdoor corners can be some of the most effective spaces for active rest. This is partly rooted in biophilia, the idea that we are naturally drawn to nature and tend to feel better when we are connected to it. Rachel and Steven Kaplan, pioneering environmental psychologists at the University of Michigan, explain that “we feel most at home in nature because we evolved there.” Comfort matters first, so seating should feel genuinely easy to settle into. A small surface for a drink or a book helps the space feel usable, and shade can make it more inviting during hotter parts of the day.
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Home designed by Jessie Paris Lamb. Photo courtesy of Nicole Franzen |
How Your Home Can Support Your Recovery
Rest becomes harder when the home blurs functions. When work, rest, entertainment and chores happen in the same visual zone, the body receives mixed signals. Clear boundaries help the body understand what each space is for. The home also supports recovery through its sensory environment. Light, sound, materials and color play a role in how settled or stimulated we feel. When these elements are thoughtfully considered, the home asks less of the body and mind, reducing background strain.
If you work from home, one of the clearest boundaries to protect is the one between work mode and recovery. When work spreads through the same spaces where you eat, relax and sleep, the body can stay on alert, even after the laptop is closed. A change in layout or a simple divider can help signal that one area is for work and another for rest. It also helps to remove the visual presence of work wherever you can. When papers are put away or cables are tucked out of sight it’s easier to mentally clock off.
Rest often feels more natural when it comes through small transitions, rather than a sudden stop at the end of a busy stretch. The home can encourage that shift by including gentle moments that slow your pace, like an entryway that invites you to put things down, for example. What makes these transitions so effective is that they are easy to return to. When the same cues happen day after day, the body starts to recognize them as signals to unwind. Reducing visual noise is part of this process as well. Spaces that are visually simpler tend to feel calmer because our eyes do not have to work as hard. Over time, this helps the home function as a supportive backdrop for recovery, setting the stage for the more detailed choices around materials, lighting and objects.
A Note on Screens
Screens are worth a brief mention here, because they rarely help us recover in the way we hope. Even when they feel like an easy way to switch off, the light, movement, and constant stimulation can keep the brain engaged and make it harder to truly find a sense of calm. This is where a simple screen strategy can help, such as a place to put devices away, a living room layout that does not make TV the automatic default and alternative activities that feel easy to reach for instead. As a general rule, keeping screens out of the bedroom is ideal, since it protects that space as one that signals rest rather than alertness.
A Home That Makes Rest Easier
A truly restful home lets you move through the day without feeling constantly braced or overstimulated, making recovery part of everyday life rather than something saved for nighttime. Passive rest helps the body settle through spaces that feel safe and contained, while active rest restores energy through gentle activity. The real shift is treating rest as part of living, with a home that makes it easier to pause, reset, and return to yourself throughout the day, shaping a steadier rhythm over time.
Feature Image: Californian home designed by Sarah Solis. Photo courtesy of Michael Clifford
Photography: Nicole Franzen, Michael Clifford
