You should always be striving to improve and take care of your health; mentally and physically. Modern life can make it difficult to do this, as there are so many aspects that can get in our way and take its toll on us. Creating an environment that you can feel comfortable in is one of the best ways that you can improve your mood. That’s why your interior design is so important.
We will spend a large portion of our lives inside our homes, making it crucial to create a space that makes you feel happy. Having decor that evokes positive emotions can be essential to this, or simply having an aesthetically pleasing design can go a long way in helping the way you think. You should take the time to consider what interior design strategy is best for you.
This guide will explore how your interior design can benefit your health, as well as give you some inspiration on what decor elements you can try to help with this.
The Psychology of Interior Design
There are certain ways that you can tweak your interior design to change the home’s psychological impact. The way you layout the furniture in your living room can make a huge difference. Having the seating arranged in a way that can boost communication can improve your mood. It all comes down to preferences, as other people will prefer more open spaces that help create a sense of freedom within the home. You can also enhance comfort with the perfect cushions, which can improve your mood.
Psychology is currently at the forefront of interior design, but it has always been a thing throughout history. Feng Shui has been around for a long time and is all about the psychology of decor. It’s the practice of arranging pieces in living spaces to create balance with the natural world.
Plenty of research has been done on the topic of interior design and how it can impact our mental health. It has led to people being more conscious of how to decorate their home interior to positively impact wellbeing. The goal of any form of interior decor should be to encourage creativity and happiness by making a space feel perfect for your needs.
Interior Design to Boost Your Mood
Outdoor Elements
Bringing the outdoors inside can be very beneficial for boosting your mood and improving your mental health. Decorating your home with plants has been proven to relieve stress, improve focus and boost productivity. It can also make air quality better. Faux plants can also be used, as they have similar effects due to invoking natural emotions in our brains. They don’t require any maintenance to keep alive, so they could be more beneficial than real plants.
Sustainable Materials
Using naturally sourced materials in your home should improve your mental health, as not only are you being environmentally friendly but it can also be aesthetically pleasing. Natural materials such as bamboo, wood, cork and linen can be used in various parts of the house, so using these materials can make you feel like you’re having a positive effect on the environment. The colours of sustainable materials are often beige, or similar colours, which are proven to invoke positive feelings. Some sustainable materials are also good at reducing heat loss in the home.
Natural Light
Sitting in a brightly lit room can bring you more happiness than being surrounded by darkness. Lacking sunlight isn’t good for you and can trigger negative emotions, such as anxiety or stress, so it’s important to find ways to incorporate more natural light in your home. Natural light can also make us feel more motivated, which is perfect if we need to work from home regularly. There are several ways of boosting natural light, such as installing larger windows, hanging up more mirrors or incorporating skylights. This can help save money around the home that might be used up by expensive lighting sources.
Colour Scheme
Different colours will invoke certain emotions. Bright colours like white, yellow and pink are proven to increase your mental state and leave you feeling both energised and rejuvenated. If you regularly suffer from low energy, a simple change of colour scheme within your home can solve this issue. Cool colours like blue or green can create a calming and soothing effect, which makes them ideal for bedroom or bathroom decor.
Round Shapes
Revamping your home decor with rounded shapes can have several psychological benefits, as they help promote relaxation, enhance creativity and encourage social interaction. Having too many harsh edges within the home can make a space feel strict, which can lead to us feeling anxious if too much time is spent there. Whereas rounded shapes throughout the home can make it free-spirited and more comfortable to live in.