Tour our Heritage Hills Zen Den Retreat

A before-and-after look into how we transformed an old playroom into an empty-nesting mom’s dream space.

Imagine you had a place that felt unequivocally, completely, uniquely, you — it’s somewhere you always feel productive, inspires you every single day. It’s always organized, and custom-crafted for the off-the-clock activities you love to do.

Maybe there’s a perfectly carved-out space for a yoga mat, a comfortable chaise you can melt into while you read, or hidden storage for the workout equipment you use on your lunch break. Whatever those special details may be for you, they all contribute to the same common goal: creating a space that feels intentional, peaceful, and completely, uniquely you.

A zen den is a health and wellness focused space dedicated to you. These sacred spaces are specifically designed to inspire you, help you feel relaxed, and ultimately connect mind, body, and surroundings to help you feel centered and at peace.

We created this sort of space for one of our clients who recently became an empty nester. She had been a stay-at-home mom, and once her daughter moved out and went off to college, she wanted a space that was entirely her own – somewhere she could sit in the mornings to do her meditations, work at a desk to pay the bills and run the household, where she could just center herself, get focused, and be productive … she needed her own “zen den”.

Before, you would've found a now outgrown kids playroom.

Now, you'll step into Mom's transformed and reimagined zen den and quiet retreat.

Together, we transformed her daughter’s old playroom into just this, complete with custom built-ins for her book collection, a desk with custom charging capabilities, and plenty of spaces to work, read, and relax. The key to this design was making sure there was room to work, and places to play, with a healthy balance of the two to design a room that elevates what it means to create a “home office”.

As you walk into this room, a few things might catch your eye immediately: the beautiful light fixture that has such a strong presence in the room, the oversized custom chaise lounge where she has her coffee every morning, the stunning pieces of art that are all practical yet beautiful, and the crisp engineered wood floors that brings every piece in the room together with a beautiful rug overtop it.

Within the floor plan of the home, this room had a jack-and-jill bath attached to it that we were able to remodel, as well, to match what we had done in her office. Here, you'll find a completely custom, built-in vanity, stunning quartz countertops, oversized antique mirror, and open-shelving.

In this next phase in her life, amongst all things being a mother and a wife, she now had a space just to be – to relax, to focus, and to be productive in a room that was all hers. Behind every strong woman are the people, the experiences, and the places that help her to show up as her best self.

For our client, she had the first two – and together, we were able to create the third to give her a place where she could get it all done … in the way that every superhero mom deserves.

— MORE TO SEE —

See the full tour of the transformed space here.

Read more on our Heritage Hills Zen Den, as featured in Style Blueprint.

Learn how to set up your own Zen Den with insight from Nancy Charbonneau, as featured in

Better Homes & Gardens.

Find more Zen Den inspiration with our Pinterest board, here.