Things to do this weekend ... Grow your own to creating a Spa-throom !
Goodbye Bathroom, Hello Spa-throom
A good soak in a hot bath has been a staple of our self-care rituals for a long time. It’s the best way to melt away a stressful day or give yourself pampering experience at home, and while your current set up is probably fine we think you deserve better. We’ve got some great ideas to turn your everyday bathroom into a stylish spa-throom, and they’re nice and easy too, so you can start enjoying your personal pamper paradise immediately.
Colour yourself calm
Choosing calming colours is a good place to start, but you don’t need a full repaint. Add towels and accessories in muted tones to soften the tone, or go full spa mode with crisp white.
Invest in fluffiness
Spas always have amazingly thick and fluffy towels, so go ahead and treat yourself to a towel upgrade. Getting out of the tub feeling all shiny and new only to dry off with a rough old bit of towelling will ruin the spa-throom illusion, so invest in some premium plushness.
Show or stow?
Swap your plastic bottles and clinical storage for alternatives in natural materials and finishes, like rattan baskets and wooden cupboards. Keeping your spa-throom clean and tidy will make it much more relaxing, but you still need somewhere to stash your cotton buds and lotions, so choosing a tidying option that’s easier on the eye ticks both boxes.
Bath rack ’em up
Perfect for calming candles, your favourite face mask and a glass of cucumber water, a bath rack or side table will keep your pamper essentials in easy reach.
You better be-leaf it
Greenery is good for your air quality and are said to have a soothing effect on the eyes and the mind. Lots of plants will happily live in a moist bathroom environment while needing very little care, which makes them perfect housemates. Low lighting and high humidity isn’t suited to all of our leafy friends, but spider plants, aspidistra, peace lilies and ferns should do fine. Faux plants will also give your room a burst of brightness without the risk of over or under watering, if you’re not so hot on plant care.
From “Garden” To Table: Grow Your Own
For the ultimate in fresh produce and locally sourced ingredients, growing your own fruit and veg is the way to go! It’s a lot easier than you think, and depending on what you want to grow, you don’t even need a garden let alone an allotment. You can get your foot on the fruit and veg growing ladder with something compact and quick growing like herbs on your window sill, or use your window boxes for lettuces!
Starting small
Herbs don’t take up much room, and they’re handy to have on the kitchen window sill when you’re garnishing your meals, however, your micro garden will benefit more from being in direct sunlight for 8 hours or more. You can boost their light exposure with a fluorescent light overhead. They’re not very picky when it comes to planting conditions, so you might want to retrieve some containers from the recycling and give them a second life. Depending on the herbs you choose, they’ll take around 4-6 weeks to be fully formed, and then you can start harvesting their tasty leaves for a very local finishing touch to your meals.
Potted plants
Carrots, peas and beans are staples of cuisine, and can be grown in plant pots inside or outside. Carrots will need a bit of depth for them to grow, but because they all grow as individual plants you can get several over a wider surface. Beans and peas will grow upwards and need a stake to cling to, but their vertical growth make them space-economical.
Quick growing greens
Lettuce is a great all-rounder for salads, sandwiches and sides, and grows quick and easy in a fairly shallow container – you’ll only need about 4 inches of depth.
It’s in the bag
We couldn’t talk versatility and ease without mentioning the humblest of heroes – the potato. These guys will flourish in a simple grow-bag, so you can prop them up in a small space with ease, and far from being an okay stand-in for ‘proper’ ground space, growing potatoes in a bag, burlap sack or even a cardboard box is better for you when it’s time to harvest as you’ll know those ‘taters will be within a fixed area.
When growing indoors, in a greenhouse or in potted planters, your vegetation will be missing out the added nutrients and soil aeration that worms and insects can provide. You might need to boost your soil with plant feed to get that essential extra goodness in there. Don’t forget that you can use a thin layer of old coffee grounds on the top soil as a slow-release fertiliser for your plants as they contain nutritious nitrogen.
Once you’ve harvested your homegrown produce, serve it up in style.
Source: Dunelm