Features

• The signature feature of spa home decor is healthful surroundings. This style shares much with the eco-design movement's preference for nontoxic and natural materials. Begin with a bamboo floor mat or unfinished wood floors to set the tone. Add lightweight organic cotton textiles that allow natural light to spill inside and move through the space. Keep furniture low and modular to create an airy feeling.
  
  

Function

• A spa decor promotes relaxation. Create spots of tranquility throughout the home to achieve this goal. Try a steam shower, soaking pool or a waterfall shower head in the bathroom. In the bedroom, set up a corner altar with a meditation pillow, or a low ottoman surrounded by floor cushions and a basket full of magazines. Arrange a sitting area that offers a garden view through a picture window and receives filtered sunlight. Reduce clutter so the eye can rest on empty space or on a single focal point, such as a striking flower arrangement in a tall vase.
  
  

Palette

• Spa decor typically features earth tones, but you can give it some color with pale or earthy greens. Natural elements such as stone, marble, earthenware tile, paper and wood can make up finishes, tabletops, folding screens, flooring or an accent wall. Distressed and unfinished wood lends a rustic tone, while glossy surfaces add a contemporary edge.
  
  

Size

• Spa decor works best in open floor plans with abundant sunlight. However, you can transform a small bathroom into a spa-like environment with some simple accessories. Use wrought-iron supports and rustic wood to create a floating shelf that you fill with tea candles for mood lighting. Invest in a vintage medicine cabinet that you stock with apothecary jars holding beauty concoctions. Place baskets of different plant materials and textures on a cabinet and tuck rolled-up washcloths and hand towels in them. Hang plants in the window to bring nature into the room.
  
  

Benefits

• The benefit of a spa decor is that it is a blissful marriage of form and function. An ethnic rug or a sisal mat serves the dual purpose of adding color and texture while also serving as a spot for drinking tea or doing yoga stretches. Natural beauty--such as pots of bamboo or simple sprigs of herbs in mason jars--inspires you to relax while also providing focal points amid this more minimalist look.