The Healthy Home Goods Apartment Therapy Founder Maxwell Ryan Swears By
The healthy home, minimally filled with items that bring joy and encourage inspiration, is more important now than ever before. #Bossbabes everywhere are increasingly choosing home for both work and self care, meditation nooks are catching on, and studio workouts are moving to your living room.
And while the bedroom and the kitchen have long received attention in the wellness arena—sleep and diet are critical components of good health, after all—more and more women (and men!) are looking at every room in the house through a wellness lens. And then manifesting the radical changes accordingly.
Maxwell Ryan, founder of the widely-read Apartment Therapy brand, knows a thing or two about design and decor as well as keeping his home healthy and on trend. The NYC abode he shares with his daughter Ursula is stacked with choice wellness-oriented products, from his mattress to his design-forward water filter.
Here, Ryan gives an in-depth look at the healthy home goods he loves for both their aesthetics and functionality.
Get inspired by Maxwell Ryan's healthy home, below.
In the bedroom
Hästens Mattress, prices vary
"The most important thing in the bedroom is your mattress," says Ryan, who doesn't recommend the foam variety but rather something more traditional. "Depending on your budget, I think that the peak is the Hästens mattress," says Ryan. "They're beyond natural, they're supernatural. They're also incredibly comfortable and they last a tremendously long time." Savoir is a favorite, too, he says.
Rough Linen Sheet Set, $320
Currently, Ryan has two faves when it comes to sheets. "There's a company I love called Rough Linen," he says, noting that its sheets are made by a woman in San Rafael, California named Tricia Rose. "I like Parachute for the cotton sheets," he adds. "They're well made and eco-friendly."
Blueair Classic 205, $350
Ryan is a big believer in placing air purifiers all over the house. "Blueairs are really beautiful and they fit in nicely and are super silent," he says. "RabbitAir is my other favorite."
"I've become a big fun of the Philips Hue light bulbs, which I use in my living room and in my bedroom," Ryan says. "They can be any color—blue, green, or red, for example—and they have what they call 'preloaded recipes' so you can quickly go to something that's more stimulating and good for reading or staying awake in an office, or something that's very calming and soothing." Ryan (of course) controls his Hue bulbs—turns them off and on, dims them—using Alexa.
Kitchen
Ovopur Origin, $799
"I've had for many years a ceramic egg [water filter] on my counter called the Ovopour, by a company called AquaOvo out of Canada," Ryan says. "They have tremendous filters."
Caldrea Lavender Pine Dish Soap, $10
"I always found it crazy that we would cook our food, and have all that wonderful odor of well-cooked food, and then take the pans and put them in the sink and use something [to clean them] that just erases that good feeling of what you've just been doing in cooking a meal," Ryan says. "And Caldera products, they smell as good as your cooking, partially because they [utilize naturally derived ingredients] and partially because they're not mixed to attack you with, for instance, a hard lemon scent. Instead, they go in food-positive directions."
"To wrap up food and put it away in the fridge, I don't use plastic anymore," Ryan says. "I use these reusable beeswax keepers that are made from cotton infused with beeswax which sticks and seals around food, but still breathes slightly."
Monbento Original Wood, $109
"I have a really cool Bento box for my daughter's lunch, which I saw in France and brought home," Ryan says. "I've tried every single container over the last six years, and this one won."
Vintage 1880's Griswold Cast-Iron Skillet, price by bid
"I love my cast-iron skillets—I use them for everything," Ryan says, noting that he prefers to buy them vintage on eBay. "They're not expensive and they tend to be a little lighter [than modern cast iron skillets.]" If you're looking for something newly-minted, Ryan suggests buying from Lodge.
Dining Room
HAY Frame Table, prices vary
Those Scandinavian homes you see in pictures, with floors that tend to look eternally spotless? Ryan says in Scandinavia soaped finishes are often used on floors because they are easy to clean. Naturally, that's what his table is finished in. "The dining table that I have is called the Frame Table, by a company called Hay, and the finish is soaped," Ryan says. "And every time I have people to dinner, they get a little nervous about spilling wine because it feels so raw, but the soaped finished means that when I wash it with the special cleanser [the company] gives you, the table washes perfectly clean."
Brita Sweden In/Outdoor Rug, prices vary
"There's a company called Brita, and they make absolutely drop-dead gorgeous recycled plastic—for lack of a better word—rugs," Ryan says. "They're completely washable and what's even more surprising about them is they're warm to the touch." Ryan also likes Dash and Albert, who make more budget-friendly woven polypropylene rugs.
When it comes to rugs, Ryan also recommends investing in a good wool rug with high lanolin content as it will be more resilient. "I'm a big fan of The Rug Company [for sourcing]," he says.
Bluecorn Beeswax Candle, prices vary
"I only use one brand of candles at the dinner table and they're beeswax candles from a company called Bluecorn, Ryan says.
Bathroom
Matteo Riviera Bath Towel, $75
"There's a company called Matteo and another company called Matouk that I buy towels from," Ryan says. "Both of them are beautifully-made and last a long time."
Office
ErgoErgo Ergonomic Stool, $125
"We actually use these at the office, too," Ryan says. "They're inexpensive, they take up very little room, and they're absolutely great to sit on."
Wherever you choose to put them
Common Good All-Purpose Cleaner, $7
"They [Common Good] not only make all the cleaning things you need, like glass, all-purpose, and laundry, but they use reusable containers, too," Ryan says.
Le Labo candle, prices vary
"My absolute favorite [scented candle] is from Le Labo," Ryan says. "It's not only a great scent, but it's one of the nicest-made candles you can find—hand-poured and made out of soy."
"I love little jars of succulents in the kitchen by the sink and in my bedroom," Ryan says. "I also have a cactus and jade plants—they're really easy and they're hardy."
Meyer Lemon Tree, $25
"Right now I also have two Meyer lemon trees sitting in my bedroom and they're flowering, which is lovely," Ryan says.
Juniper Ridge Smudge Variety Pack, $14
"I have a little altar I visit every morning and there's a smudge I burn from a company called Juniper Ridge," Ryan says. "They harvest out west and make a lot of really nice, sustainable products."
Laser Stars Hologram Projector, $100
"In my daughter's room—and also, I've given this as a gift many times—she has a star machine, which we turn on at night and it puts the galaxy on the ceiling," Ryan says. "It sounds corny, but they're beautiful."
Bavarian Clockworks Hand-carved Cuckoo Clock, prices vary
Ryan utilizes an unexpectedly quirky and old-school tool for staying mindful. "For many years I have had a cuckoo clock from Bavarian Clockworks, which cuckoos every hour and on the half hour and it fills the house in a nice way," he says. "You'll hear it chime and it reminds you what time it is when you're distracted or you've been procrastinating or you're going off on a tangent."
Farrow & Ball paint, prices vary
Throughout his home, Ryan's walls are coated in paint from Farrow and Ball. "The paint is all natural and comes in beautiful, beautiful colors," he says.
Outdoor
Zen Bathworks Cedar Hot Tub with Wood Heat, $3,990
"We have a Japanese-style hot tub made out of cedar that's heated by a wood stove made by an Alaskan company called Zen Bathworks," says Ryan. "It's a nice, more connected way of actually heating up and doing a hot tub situation."
If your credit card isn't exhausted from adding everything on this list to cart, keep going with agate coasters, pet-friendly plants, artistic blankets, the best of the best in water filters, and more.
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