TV's Amazing Spaces' George Clarke on how to create a special relaxing retreat in your home
| Published date | 05 April 2021 |
Since the pandemic struck in early 2020 and the first lockdown descended in March, our homes have had to adapt to the growing needs of our changing lives.
They are now home offices, gyms, restaurants, and even classrooms.
What is a recharge retreat
So where at home is your quiet place, where you retreat to recharge
Popular property programme presenter, talented architect and creator of many amazing spaces with his best mate Will Hardy, George Clarke is championing the idea that every home needs somewhere to truly relax and recharge.
An amazing space with no screens, no phones, and maybe even no other people.
Why is a recharge retreat important
Teaming up with Belvita and leading neuroscientist Dr Jack Lewis, George has created a "recharge retreat" to inspire us to think about our spaces at home and how we use them and possibly the option to create your own retreat over the Easter period.
Dr Jack explains why a recharge retreat can be an important addition to our now complicated homes, and can train our brains to instantly unwind.
He says: "The idea is to teach our brain that a certain combination of sights, sounds, smells etc – whatever we decide we want to experience while inside our recharge retreat -is always paired with feelings of winding down and becoming relaxed.
"After a few repeat cycles of using this system, just the ritual of setting up the retreat by itself is enough to kick-start the process of reducing stress levels. And the more often you use it, the more effective it becomes."
How do we make our own recharge retreat
That's us sold on a recharge retreat then, and George has designed his own in a studio to show us how easy it can potentially be.
There's something comforting and cosy about a soft and gentle curved space and George has come up with his usual design genius to create a retreat without having a complicated build -adding a curtain can create a small and detached space that you can all your own, wherever it is and however small it is.
George says: "Creating nook and cranny is kind of what you need to do if you think about it no matter how small your houses or apartment is I can guarantee you I bet there's a tiny tiny little space or a corner somewhere that is either not very good in terms of how it looks that is underused or under designed if you like of its potential.
"I can't think of many houses that I've been in where every single square inch has been used to its maximum potential I really can't.
"I can probably guarantee nearly every house I've gone into thought yes that's good that's good that's good but why isn't that corner working hard enough That space under the stairs that's full of junk that you never go into ever! I can guarantee you there's always somewhere you can find.
And George should know, in so many of his popular property programmes such as Old House, New Home, he is called upon to be creative with under-utilised space and produce a property transformation that is life-changing for the homeowner.
George says: "Because I make old house home everybody think I've got preconceived ideas about what I'm going to design; I don't -I genuinely, genuinely, genuinely don't know about their house because I've never met them before, the family or the individual and you've got to meet them to understand what they need.
"I'm very quickly analysing the space in the house to work out how to reconfigure the house based on what I find out about them and when you see where the house isn't working hard enough.
"And sometimes it might be the hardest space that provides the best opportunity. So someone might go 'that's a really tough space I'm not going to bother with that' -but that's part of the challenge!"
What do we do with the space
So if you've found your corner, your landing, your stair cupboard or, if you're lucky, a whole room, what's next
Spending time thinking about the design of the space is key George...
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