Wellness by Design: A Room-by-Room Guide to Optimizing Your Home for Health, Fitness, and Happiness

Kitchen and bathroom designer Gold (New Kitchen Ideas That Work) focuses this helpful, if perhaps too narrowly targeted, guide on how homeowners can adjust their living spaces to improve quality of life. In recent years, she observes, “wellness design” has gained traction with architects and designers; beyond health-specific features like “better air quality from non-toxic building materials,” “high-performance ventilation,” and workout rooms, it also emphasizes how “mood lifters,” such as family photos and plants, improve overall well-being. The book highlights ways to apply this concept room-by-room, whether with an accessible and attractive front entrance or a welcoming and well-organized kitchen. Dubbing the latter space “the heart or the hub of the home,” Gold divides it into zones (areas for food storage, prep, and clean-up), with directives on decluttering. There is also advice on the reordering of the home office, the fitness room, bedrooms, bathrooms, the laundry room, and so on. While thorough, the book assumes a robust budget; renters or financially strapped owners may, at most, glean some useful tips for organizing. But for those with cash to splash, this will serve as a capable guide. (June)