Your home is your sanctuary, your refuge from the world. Being in your home should make you feel good, and the decor you choose can influence your mood both positively and negatively. Whether is it through a color palette or lighting component, you can use elements of design to enhance your mood.
In neuro-architecture, there are 5 areas of brain activity to consider when creating a space that will boost your mood: sensation and perception, learning and memory, decision-making, emotion, and movement. By addressing the power of each of these senses, you can create the ideal space for your lifestyle.
Improve your sensation and perception by changing your home’s lighting. A dampening, dark home feels restrictive and dismal. Remove overbearing lights, and replace them with more subtle options such as dimmers or lamps to create ambiance. Natural light is an easy way to evoke freshness and positivity, so open up your window treatments during daylight hours.
Strengthen your learning and memory abilities by incorporating various geometric objects or shapes. Curved or rounded furniture or décor encourages a feeling of contentment and relaxation.
Informed decision making can stem from creative, functional organization. When things are too cluttered an individual will tend to go with the easiest, stress-free option. For example, display fruits in a decorative bowl on your dining table instead of next to your kitchen counter canisters. Or, place a laundry bin in the area you most frequently undress. Efficient organization makes access to good decisions simple & easy.
Bringing touches of life and nature into your home can improve your mood and emotional well-being. You don’t need a green thumb to grow a few easy houseplants such as pothos, Chinese evergreen or a spider plant. Artwork or collectibles with nature themes can also help create soothing feeling.
Finally, focus on how movement can play a part in your response to your home. A change in environment helps improve mood, so keep your decor from becoming stagnate by deep-cleaning your space and re-arranging your furniture floorplan every few years.