The Complete Guide on How Interior Design Affects Your Well-being
When you step into any space, you bring with you a myriad of emotions and feelings. Interior design is a fascinating field that draws from other fields like psychology and sociology, to create spaces that are not only pleasing to look at, but also enhance your well-being. And with the winter blues among us, we thought it would be the perfect time to share some tips and tricks for elevating your knowledge on how interior design affects our mood. Keep reading to see what it’s all about and walk away with simple action items you can immediately apply to your space to enhance your everyday.
How Interior Design Affects Your Mood
How you feel in your home directly results from the interior design of your home. The space, layout, and design of every room in your home can either enhance or detract from your mood. Everything from the size of the room to the colours in the space to the furniture placement impact how you feel when you walk into that room. The right environment can help you be more productive at work, more creative at home and even happier all around.
Here are some ways interior design can help improve your mood:
Spaciousness and light: A spacious, open room with lots of natural light helps us feel happy and relaxed. Conversely, a dark, cramped room makes us feel trapped and stressed out.
Use of materials: The use of materials such as wood floors, stone countertops and leather furniture creates warmth and comfort. Using cold materials like tile floors or metal cabinets will make you feel like you need to keep moving because they lack warmth.
Colour: Colour can have a powerful effect on your mood. Dark colours tend to make us feel tired while bright colours make us feel energized and happy. Bright colours also help improve cognitive function by stimulating brain activity.
How to Create a Room that Will Make You Feel Good Everyday
1. Incorporate Elements of Feng Shui
Feng Shui is a Chinese system of beliefs that aims to balance the energy of the environment. It was developed in the Ming dynasty in 1368. It is based on Taoism, and it’s a practice that has been around for over 2,000 years.
Feng Shui interior design is a process of arranging furniture and other objects in a way that maximizes the flow of energy in the room.
It’s said that Feng Shui can be used to improve life by optimizing one's living space, which could lead to increased happiness, and better health, and bring good luck, health, wealth and happiness to those who live or work in the space.
Here are some tips for creating a feng shui home:
Clear away clutter: If you’re feeling tired, depressed or unmotivated, the Chi (positive energy) in your home is probably slow or stagnant. Clear up the clutter to avoid impeding the flow of energy within your home as it can cause anxiety and stress.
Open up the flow of traffic: Think about the way you move through a room and make sure routes are smooth and clear of obstacles. Feng Shui experts recommend using rounded objects like coffee tables to avoid disrupting walking traffic.
Design a welcoming entry: Your entryway represents the way energy enters your home and your life so it’s important to make sure it is decluttered and welcoming to set the tone.
Add Feng Shui Plants: Plants embody life energy, so by incorporating plants you’ll add freshness and vitality to your home.
Arrange furniture using the command position: One of the most important principles is the commanding position. Essentially, this is the position of some important pieces of furniture: the bed (it represents you), the desk (it represents your career), and the stove (it represents your wealth). Criteria for a power command position include; placing your bed in sight of the door but not directly inline, facing your working desk towards the east, and ensuring you have a good view in your living room with a back wall supporting you.
Create balance with feng shui colours: Colour can either ground or uplift a room, so to achieve the right balance, choose carefully. In general, muted, nature-inspired hues will encourage calm, while brighter, more vibrant colours will increase energy levels.
2. Choose the Right Colour for You and the Space
One of the first things to consider when designing a mood-boosting space is the colour palette. Colour affects how we feel, how our brains work, and how we react to different spaces. Not to mention it’s shown to have different effects on our moods, emotions and behaviour. Whether it’s bright colours or dark colours, colour can make us feel happy or calm or energized depending on what we’re looking at. For example, blue is often associated with peace and tranquillity while red is more likely to stimulate excitement. Depending on the mood or vibe you want to project or feel in a space, it’s important to choose the right colour.
Pick colours that are soothing and calming while considering colours that reflect your personality.
For example, if you're an energetic person, choose bright colours like reds, yellows and oranges. If you're more introverted, choose softer colours like blues and greens.
Additionally, keep in mind your surroundings when choosing a colour palette - what other items will be in the room? If there are lots of wood tones or white furniture, then cool tones would work best.
Here are some examples of colours and the feeling they evoke:
Red - Reminds us of passionate energy like love, anger and fire.
Blue - Promotes confidence, openness and stability.
Purple - Represents luxury, ambition, creativity and wealth.
Yellow - Creates feelings of joyfulness, optimism and happiness.
Green - Relieves stress, heals us, and inspires motivation
3. Consider the Spaciousness of Your Home
Space is important for how we feel in our homes because it dictates how much freedom we have to move around and what kind of environment we live in. If there’s not enough space, then it will be more difficult to relax and unwind.
When it comes to creating a room that makes you feel good every day, it’s important to consider basic principles in conjunction with personal preferences.
For example, some people feel inspired in space with a lot of stimulation. They need lots of things going on, so they can see new things every day and get excited by them. For example, these people may like having shelves with a lot of styling, plants and books, and lots of visual interest, but without clutter.
Another personal preference might be clean and closed storage with monotones and a minimal vibe. This type of person likes it when everything has its place and feels organized when there are no distractions from their daily routines.
4. Leverage Lighting to Create a Mood
Lighting is an important part of interior design because it can affect the mood of a room. In fact, some studies have shown that different types of lighting can actually change people’s behaviour and mood. This is reflected in a study by the University of Texas that found that people who live in a home with more natural light are happier than those who don't.
There are different ways you can take advantage of lighting to create the mood and vibe you want for the space.
If you want to create a romantic setting in your bedroom, try dimmer lights that flicker like candles at night. If you want to create a more relaxing atmosphere in the living room, use bright overhead lights with no glare.
Natural lighting should be another important consideration when designing a room’s lighting. When possible, choose windows that let in lots of natural light during the day and reduce artificial light sources when necessary (such as at night). This will help keep energy costs down while still creating a calm and inviting atmosphere.
5. Incorporate Plants into your Space
Plants embody life energy, so by incorporating plants you’ll add freshness and vitality to your home. Research shows that indoor plants can improve mood, boost concentration, reduce stress and even help with problems such as insomnia.
Plants make the room feel fresh and alive with life energy. Living plants are also very beneficial in reducing the levels of carbon dioxide in the air, which helps us breathe better. They act as natural air purifiers by removing pollutants from the air such as formaldehyde found in paints and glues used in furniture or carpets. They also absorb carbon monoxide emitted by gas stoves and heaters.
Studies have shown that people who have living plants in their office spaces tend to be happier, more productive and get along better with their colleagues than those who don’t have them around them. Who doesn’t love a little calmness in their life? Indoor plants are a great way to do just that.
6. Use Materials to Elevate the Space and your Mood
The use of materials in design is a very important part of creating a relaxing atmosphere. The right material can be used to create a soothing atmosphere that will help to make your home a more comfortable place to be in. The wrong materials can have the opposite effect and make you feel uncomfortable when you are in your home.
The most important thing to consider when choosing the right material for your interior design is how it will affect the mood of your space.
Below are some examples of materials that can help set the mood you’re looking for:
Warm Materials – Wood, leather, velvet and suede are all good choices if you want to create a warm, cozy atmosphere in your home. These materials tend to be heavy and absorb sound well.
Cool Materials – Glass is an excellent choice for creating a cool, modern look. It reflects light, which makes it great for brightening up dark spaces. You can also opt for stone tiles or marble for an elegant feel.
Natural Materials – If you prefer natural materials over synthetic ones, consider using bamboo flooring or rattan furniture pieces in your home. They’re both naturally beautiful and are known to improve air quality as they release negative ions into the environment while they’re being used by humans (which could also improve your mood).
7. Incorporate Pieces of Art to Evoke Emotion
Art is a very important part of interior design. It can change the whole look and feel of your home. Art can be used in many ways such as paintings, sculptures, and even photographs. It is not just about the beauty of it but also about how it makes you feel when you look at it.
Art has been used as a way to express emotions in homes for centuries now and this continues even today. This is because art helps to improve your moods and feelings which can be beneficial for everyone involved. If your home has a lot of artwork, then this will help to improve your overall well-being by boosting your mood and energy levels.
Bonus quick and easy ways to elevate your space:
Marie Kondo it: Fill your home with things that bring you joy.
Use scents: Use candles, incense, or essential oils to lift your spirits and trigger nostalgia.
Create a cozy nook: Make yourself a haven with a hanging swing, or a cozy breakfast nook for a place to read a book or rejuvenate over a cup of tea.
And there you have it - everything you need to know on how interior design can make your mood change for the better. Whether it be switching up the colour schemes or rearranging your furniture, you can make these simple changes to create a new space and help you live your best life. We’re all for that!
