The simple luxury of a good bubble bath is perfect after a long day. In the wintertime, a cozy bath can be just the right respite from the cold, dry air. Fortunately, a luxury bath in your own DIY spa bathroom is easy enough to set up that you’ll want to make a relaxing bath part of your regular self-care ritual! Here are some relaxing bubble bath ideas to create your own mini-spa at home!
The best spa-style bubble bath at home
Creating a DIY bubble bath is about creating a tranquil atmosphere amidst the chaos of a busy home. With the right calming music, spa bathroom decor, and luxury bath products, it’s surprisingly easy to have your own DIY spa day. The comfort and coziness of home can add to the relaxing bath environment. You might actually be more relaxed in your spa bathroom bubble bath than at a real spa!
Start with a clean tub for the best bubble bath
Even if the tub has been cleaned relatively recently, give it a quick wipe to make sure it’s nice and clean. Hair and dust floating around or stuck in the bubbles is probably not going to create the best bubble bath experience. Knowing that the tub is super clean is totally worth the time it takes.
Bubble Bath Tip: Using warm water to give the tub a quick wipe will warm up the surface of the tub. Pre-warming will help prevent the cold surface from cooling off your luxurious warm bath water.
Clear the clutter to create a spa bathroom atmosphere
Take a few moments to clear off the bathroom counter or any other cluttered areas visible from the bathtub. Visible clutter can be a trigger to think about everything that still has to be done. That’s not really a luxury bath! Clearing clutter can be slightly irritating when all you want to do is soak, but it’s worth the few moments it takes once you’re in the bubble bath.
Add indoor plants or flowers for a spa bathroom feel
Indoor plants will elevate your spa bathroom decor to a luxury bubble bath spa atmosphere. A DIY spa bath will be more welcoming and relaxing with some living natural greenery. I love my Tillandsia Xerographica and my new string gardens. The best part is that I can water them all super easily by soaking them in clean water in the tub below.
Bathrooms are a great place for moisture and shade-loving indoor plants. Either make your own kokedama moss ball string gardens with indoor plants or find them online at Etsy.
Bubble Bath Tip: If you’re not into indoor plants, a few sprigs of greenery from the flower shop will create a similar effect.
Set up a bathtub caddy for a relaxing bubble bath
Bathtub caddies or tub trays sit across the top of the bathtub, allowing you to keep your books, snacks, candles, and other little luxuries dry. You can find bath caddies online (especially on Etsy).
Bathtub caddies can even be left on the tub when not in use as part of your spa bathroom decor. Tub trays are the perfect place for some fresh flowers :) They can also store a bath pillow and keep it dry while the bath is being filled or emptied.
Get the good snacks (and drinks) – Your home spa deserves it!
I don’t know about you, but I save up my most indulgent snacks until a time when I can properly appreciate them. Whatever it is that you LOVE to snack on, make sure it’s on hand for your DIY spa bath. A pretty dessert plate or your favorite dish is also a nice touch.
Also, grab your drink of choice as part of your luxury bath (whether it’s herbal tea or white wine). Heck, even a really good coffee can be relaxing until the caffeine hits. I also love a nice wine glass full of sparkling water. More bubbles are fun and really do add to a bubble bath without being too sugary.
Soothing natural scents for a relaxing DIY spa bathroom
One of my favorite ways to enjoy the garden harvest in the wintertime is by making tub tea with my favorite fragrant herbs. Make tub tea with a paper or muslin tea bag filled with whichever herbs and salts you love. Lavender, peppermint, chamomile, rose petals, and bee balm can be harvested from the garden in the warmer months and dried for use in tub tea year round.
This winter, Amber from Element Botanicals showed me how a simple piece of cedar greenery with some plain Epsom salts can make a lovely tub tea (especially with your favorite relaxing essential oils). Here are detailed instructions for making your own tub tea from Stephanie at Garden Therapy.
If that all sounds like too much, just spritz around a bit of your favorite relaxing aromatherapy spray or put your favorite relaxing essential oils in a nearby diffuser.
Calming spa bathroom lighting for relaxation
Relaxing spa bathroom decor isn’t complete without calm lighting. Whether you use dimmable LED lights or prefer natural candlelight, lighting is key. Consider whether you find cool, nordic lighting or warm, cozy lighting to be more relaxing and create the atmosphere that suits you.
I buy candles at the local flower shop and love them. Anthropologie also makes such lovely mercury glass jar candles that smell ahhh-mazing. Their giant mercury glass jar candles are a total classic, but the smaller iridescent jars would also be so nice for a DIY spa day. I’m kind of loving soy and coconut wax candles right now as they seem to last forever (including the scent). They are SO worth it!
Making your own soy wax candles for your DIY Spa Day is totally doable too! Soy wax for making DIY candles can be ordered from Amazon.
Your favorite moody spa bathroom tunes
A DIY spa day definitely needs good tunes! I used to use my Sonos, but honestly, music out of an iPhone is pretty good these days (it’s going to be quiet anyways).
Whether it’s Bon Iver or Adele, having a DIY spa bath playlist on your iPhone is very nice. Make one the next time you’re bored on your phone. Try it out and update it until you’ve got a nice set of calm tracks that set the relaxing bath mood. Having a playlist will mean that you can put your phone over on the counter (where it won’t fall into the water) rather than trying to change the song with prune-y hands.
The best bubble bath liquids: Natural bubbles for a luxury bath
Finding safer alternatives to conventional bubble bath can be a bit tricky. Many conventional bubble bath products include 2-4 synthetic chemical surfactants which I’d rather avoid on my skin. Fortunately, a relaxing bubble bath can take different forms. Maybe you love tons of bubbles! Maybe fewer bubbles are your jam as long as the scent is amazing.
Burt’s Bee’s Baby Bee Bubble Bath does bubble up quite a bit, and the bubbles stick around. It gets a not-too-shabby 3 on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database (where 0 is the cleanest possible rating). Honest Company also makes a cleaner bubble bath (Honest Company generally scores pretty clean as well).
Milk baths are pretty trendy right now (and SO gorgeous!). Unfortunately, a milk bath without bubbles does not keep heat in the water the same way that bubbles do. A nice consistent layer of bubbles will insulate the surface of the water from the cooler air above, keeping it warmer for longer. Plus, they’re fun! A relaxing bath isn’t quite the same without bubbles.
Keeping your bubble bath water cozy
Run the water hot enough to create a bit of steam, but not too hot that it might burn you (that would definitely NOT be a relaxing bath). The water should still be very nice and warm by the time you get in, but not uncomfortably hot.
Keep in mind it might take a few minutes to get all your bubble bath stuff together, so if the water has to cool down for a minute or two before you get in, that is ok. Keep the steam in by closing the doors and curtains. This will help keep the room cozy and minimize cold drafts.
After your relaxing spa bath
Be sure to keep a luxurious towel right by the bath, as well as a cozy bath mat to step out onto. Cozy textiles are a very important part of a DIY spa bathroom! It’s nice to carry the cozy, relaxed feeling of a good bath into the rest of your day or evening. Staying warm will definitely help with that.
For a light, unscented lotion, I like Alba’s Very Emollient Body Lotion. It is quick-drying and non-greasy and is one of the cleaner everyday lotions I’ve found locally. For a more luxurious facial lotion, Josie Maran’s Whipped Argan Face Butter is great for after a nice bubble bath.
That’s it! Now go create your own luxury DIY spa bathroom so you can enjoy a relaxing bubble bath on your at-home spa day :)
For more relaxing houseplants, check out this Pinterest board.
