What do courtrooms, prisons, and funeral homes have in common? They’re all instances of environments that use color, texture, lighting, and room layout to elicit distinct emotional responses from their occupants, aside from being places you’d probably rather avoid. It also works.
Although it’s a far less extreme—and solemn—example, a home’s interior decor and design may equally affect its occupants’ moods, emotions, and general mental health. According to Noel Gantts, interior designer and host of HGTV’s Home Inspector Joe, “Our ability to find physical comfort and visual inspiration in our home is vital to our well-being.” “Universal comforts are essential for the health of the body and mind, including shelter, privacy, access to flowing water, and clean air.
It’s a little more difficult to perfect the art of surrounding ourselves with domestic places that speak our love language. Although it’s a subject that has gained greater attention since the start of the epidemic, when people were spending a lot more time at home than usual, most of the writing on the subject has been on the advantages of decluttering for mental health.
For many people, decluttering, getting rid of things, and organising are important initial steps to making an environment that promotes their mental health. Pots and pans organisation can be highly therapeutic for people who spend a lot of time in their kitchen. But what happens once the clutter is cleared away? Decor and design components come into play at this point and start to work their magic. Here are some expert nuggets of knowledge and methods supported by science for creating a happy and supportive environment in your house.
Prioritize emotional safety.
You probably take at least one step every day to keep yourself physically secure in your house, whether it’s securing your doors, closing open windows at night, or making sure you always have a clear path to an exit (and the toilet) in case of an emergency. But what about the security of your emotions?
“The overall feeling of a space—how it’s organised, how clean it is, how comfortable it feels, how personal you make it—all these things can put you at ease and affect how safe you feel in an environment,” said interior designer Kristen Fiore. “You want a space that feels safe and comfortable to be who you are when you’re having mental health difficulties or when you’re triggered.That is why it’s so crucial for your home to be cosy and welcoming and to represent your personality.
Surround yourself with friendly faces.
Let’s speak about family photos while we’re talking about emotional safety and the value of decorating your environment with items that give you a sense of security and comfort.
According to interior designer Michal Rubin, “perhaps you want a lot of frames with family photos because surrounding yourself with images of loved ones will make you feel happy and less alone.” Or, perhaps, family gatherings will have a detrimental impact on your mental health. Choose flora and ornamental items in such case.
There isn’t a law that says you have to always keep a particular amount of family pictures on display in your house. Family ties are complicated and distinctive, so let go of stressful memories of specific people or moments. This is where you may relax and feel at ease. You can always put up pictures of your friends, your chosen family, or other people whose presence gives you a sense of security and comfort.
