Welcome to Urbaneer.com. My name is Steven Fudge, and I’m a realtor and property consultant in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I’m mostly known for two things. I’m the real estate veteran who’s been guiding prospective purchasers & sellers through their real estate journeys for nearly 36 years. And I’m the guy who began his real estate career that day in 1989 when the Toronto real estate bubble burst.
Welcome to this month’s installment of Dear Urbaneer, where I take on real estate questions from my inquisitive readers. This time, I explore how wellness-driven design is transforming our domiciles.
Dear Urbaneer:
In the years since the pandemic, the topic of health and wellness in home design has been trending. I feel like a lot of what I read about seems luxurious or not overly practical in an average home. I’m interested in exploring other meaningful wellness trends and how they are manifesting in homes today.
Signed,
Looking for Real-Life Wellness Trends
Here is my reply:
Dear Real-Life Wellness:
In the early days of the pandemic, when I wrote ‘How COVID-19 Will Likely Change How We Design Our Homes’, it was obvious that the separation of communal and private spaces and a proper work from home office would become new norms, and how important direct access to private outdoor space would be and that the rise of biophilia would continue.
Today, after surviving extended periods in lockdown, where we became acutely aware of how our built environments affect our mental and physical health, the design by-products of the pandemic and extended time at home have made the importance of health and wellness design a significant driver of home design.
I’ve written a lot about the various aspects of creating a healthy home, featured in my healthy home series, which looks at many different influences, many of them structural or locational, such as asbestos, buried oil tanks, and living near high-tension wires and EMF.
I’ve also written about how our home design can affect our health. For example: ‘Dear Urbaneer: What Is Wellness Lighting Design, And Can It Really Improve Health At Home?’; ‘Dear Urbaneer: What Is Neuro-Inclusive Design And How Will It Improve Our Living Environments?’, and ‘About Universal Design: Applications For Aging In Place & Toronto Real Estate’.
As the topic of health and wellness permeates our domestic design ethos, it translates into more products and services, which can be annoying to those of us who aren’t flush with cash. In fact, the cost of living has risen so much that everyday items I once took for granted are making me pause. This week, I was annoyed that a package of 10 Swiffer Duster Refills cost almost $20 with tax, and as I muttered profanities under my breath, I could hear my mother from beyond telling me to get a damp cloth and spend a few more minutes being meditative while cleaning.
As a result, you may still consider some of these health and wellness ideas to be tres cher, but there’s a more distilled version available. Here is how health and wellness are appearing in homes right now:
Wellness Kitchens
As a task-heavy space, where daily habits are most easily established, it’s sensible to have a kitchen designed for wellness. And a wellness kitchen is a style, with various functional components.
Usually with an open-concept layout and access to natural light, either through large windows, skylights, or skywells.
- Wellness ovens. Many appliances now have wellness features that let you cook and eat healthier. Look for ovens with built-in steam ovens and air fryers, both of which cook more healthfully. Experts say these cooking methods are very effective at reheating dishes and can even replace a microwave.
- Better ventilation. Removing fumes, odours, and smoke generated by cooking is important for health. High-powered hood fans, with charcoal filters, are the way to go.
- Refrigeration tech. Good eating requires fresh ingredients. Fridges are evolving to have multiple zones at various temperatures to reduce food spoilage. Food storage drawers are also getting bigger, just for fresh ingredients, with room to store your haul from the farmer’s market.
- Clutter-free. Keeping counters and walk-through areas free from clutter helps maintain mental calm and maintain clean lines. Concealed storage in the kitchen helps this happen. Along the same lines, where space accommodates, a lot of homeowners are electing to have task-oriented spaces out of sight, but near the kitchen, with a scullery, or butler’s pantry, where you can do the “dirty work” of food prep, and leave the kitchen clean and open for guests or your daily use.
- Anti-bacterial dishwashers will clean your dishes at high temps, to kill germs.
- Natural materials for finishes, and biophilic colour palettes complete the look, and create calm.
Choosing Classic Durable Materials
I applaud the growing preference for sustainable materials (good for the planet and good for you too), because they tend to be durable, quality materials that won’t need to be replaced as often. Renovations are notorious for producing waste that ends up in landfills, so the idea here is to design and decorate for the long haul, reducing the need to update as trends cycle. This is part of the reason that timeless style is hot right now.
Choose a neutral base for items with longevity or hard-to-replace components. Think wood floors, simple cabinetry, and pattern-free counters that won’t date quickly. You can “update” your home over time by swapping out fixtures, hardware, and paint (use low-VOC paint for a healthier choice).
Invest in fewer, but higher-quality classic furniture pieces that offer versatility and will stand the test of time for style and durability.
Saunas and Cold Plunges
In North America, we may think adding a sauna to our home is an unnecessary expense, but this is a function of cultural optics. In contrast, Finland is the undisputed world leader in sauna and cold plunge culture, with over 3 million saunas for a population of 5.5 million. The tradition, called contrast therapy (alternating between extreme heat and cold), is deeply rooted in daily life in Northern Europe, though it is rapidly gaining popularity globally
The health and wellness benefits of saunas include cardiovascular benefits, improved sleep, support for digestion, muscle recovery, immune system boosting, and mental health benefits. It’s becoming a common addition in primary bathrooms, or in basements, particularly if there is a home gym. Similarly, if there is outdoor space, saunas are becoming more popular.
While saunas have been on homeowners’ radars for a while, cold plunges are gaining traction as well, since the benefits of the thermal cycle are well known. Until recently, cold plunges might have required a great deal of room, been rudimentary (i.e., an ice-cold tub), or used a cold lake, river, or stream. However, product design is catching up with consumer demand.
Kitchen and bath company Kohler, well-known for health and wellness, released a cold-plunge tub last year, suitable for indoor/outdoor use, that was named one of the best inventions of 2025 by Time Magazine, highlighting its innovative design.
What is interesting about this cold plunge, beyond its functionality, which includes timers and a moving light to help you breathe through the cold temps, is how this cold tub is fashioned to look like a piece of furniture, which is a comment on how wellness products are becoming more mainstream.
Wellness isn’t an afterthought, and equipment isn’t shoehorned into the design or shoved into a corner; it is central to the design. The same could be said for home saunas, which are now being designed with decorative details that give them a role in home decor.
Questioning the cold plunger? On a budget? Start with a warm shower and end with five minutes of cold. Look, I just saved you thousands of dollars!
Social Spaces
If you look through home improvement search trends over the last year, you’ll see a marked increase in things like “board game rooms”, “billiards rooms”, “games rooms”, “media rooms”, and “play rooms”. That’s because homeowners are focusing on fun zones at home for time spent together as a family, while also giving purpose to certain areas of the home to elevate entertaining.
That’s in part because homeowners are recognizing the mental and practical value of social interaction with household members, as well as the opportunity to host guests easily. It’s about having the option and freedom to connect meaningfully, another lesson learned from pandemic living.
Outdoor spaces and kitchens are getting a makeover as well in the name of social life. Outdoor fireplaces and firepits are trending as easy ways to create a central gathering spot that encourages conversation.
Meanwhile, sociable kitchens are trending, including wet bars, beverage stations/fridges, islands with built-in seating or seating on multiple sides, comfortable stools, or banquets. Kitchens are becoming more zoned, moving away from the traditional kitchen triangle (where stove, sink and fridge are located within steps of each other to make prep easier for the home chef). Zones let you delineate prep from dine and make space for better traffic flow, which is better for gathering in the kitchen.
Cheat sheet. A big kitchen table.
Wellness-Oriented Washrooms
When you design your washroom with health and wellness benefits in mind, it’s like having a spa sanctuary right at home every day. While oversize showers have been popular for years, the soaking tub is making a comeback, too, particularly for its style benefits, but also very much for the mental and physical health benefits of having a long soak (I’ve long loved soaking in a big bathtub, as I shared 16 years ago in Rub A Dub Tub).
Free-standing sculptural tubs make a lovely focal point in a primary bath, but Japanese soaker tubs are trending, too, especially in smaller bathrooms or those with an atypical layout.
Showers are health and wellness central too, with steam showers, aromatherapy, and chromotherapy trending, as are heated floors, for a relaxing daily indulgence.
Clean The Air
While many wellness features at home are either visual or tactile, a major factor in home wellness is invisible: air quality.
One of the best benefits of modern construction and technology is that homes are more energy-efficient than ever, benefiting the planet and homeowners alike. However, this also means they are more tightly sealed, so greater attention needs to be paid to indoor air quality, which can be more contaminated than you might think.
This is where mechanical systems can play a key role in improving the air you breathe. Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs) and Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) offer energy efficiency and exchange stale indoor air for fresh, filtered outdoor air. They can also help regulate excess humidity, which can introduce undesirable particles and contaminants into the air.
Wellness In Condos
Condo owners are deliberately choosing wellness features to enhance their living experiences, with a particular focus on amenities.
Beyond a selection of fitness machines, fully equipped gyms that might include recovery spaces, meditation rooms, and mobility training offer support for different types of fitness activities and can also help prevent injury or support recovery.
Saltwater pools can offer skin-healthy benefits and provide a low-impact yet effective way to exercise and socialize, too.
Rooftop gardens, terraces, and walking loops offer outdoor space for fresh air and exercise, for quiet moments alone, or for gathering with friends and family.
At Urbaneer, we are investing in you living your best life in your new home, which might mean embracing health and wellness features. With decades of experience in Toronto real estate and a multi-disciplinary education in housing, I’m delighted to educate on all things housing and join you on your housing journey.
Thank you for reading!
If you enjoyed this, here are some additional posts you may find interesting and helpful:
Dear Urbaneer: What Is Neuroinclusive Design And How Will It Improve Our Living Environments?
Dear Urbaneer: What Is Biophilia And How Can I Use It In Home Design?
About Universal Design: Applications For Aging In Place & Toronto Real Estate
Dear Urbaneer: How Do We Establish Our Interior Design Style?
Design Innovations For A More Affordable Canadian Housing Future
Dear Urbaneer: How Do I Best Equip And Furnish My Home? (+ Design Tips!)
The Benefits Of Living Near Water
Post-Pandemic Housing Trends To Watch For
Since 1989, I’ve steered my career through a real estate market crash and burn; survived a slow painful cross-country recession; completed an M.E.S. graduate degree from York University called ‘Planning Housing Environments’; executed the concept, sales & marketing of multiple new condo and vintage loft conversions; and guided hundreds of clients through the purchase and sale of hundreds of freehold and condominium dwellings across the original City of Toronto. From a gritty port industrial city into a glittering post-industrial global centre, I’ve navigated the ebbs and flows of a property market as a consistent Top Producer. And I remain as passionate about it today as when I started.
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Steven Fudge, Sales Representative
& The Innovative Urbaneer Team
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