Your Interior Design Psychology for 2014

Do you love your home and the rooms within? As you look around do you feel proud and satisfied with the spaces that surround you? Do you entertain friends and family in your home and do its objects and colors sing to your style and character? Do you rise, move about freely, and rest well in your surrounding spaces?

Or, do you look around and feel a little indifferent to your home, maybe even stuck in the past because your spaces and items within do not fully reflect who you are? Have you made efforts to accessorize for a new look, but with each trip to the store, you accumulate more items that don’t pull off the style you are hoping for? Are the rooms packed so tight that they feel dysfunctional or is there so much space that the home is unwelcoming?  Have you even thought that your home could be affecting your mood negatively or causing you stress?

If you related to any of the questions or ideas addressed in the paragraph above, now is the perfect time to make a change. As 2013 nears its end and 2014 rushes in, make this the year you resolve to do something for your well-being and happiness. It’s very achievable to create a beautiful surrounding which will make you feel great, even on a limited budget. In this New Year, check in with yourself about how you feel in your home and if that feeling is not “amazing” then resolve to change The Psychology of Your Interior Design for 2014.

Manhattan Beach Kitchen After Remodel by Space Case Design.

BEFORE The Remodel

Here’s my belief about a home. “Home” is a place where you feel content and peaceful and where you function with ease. It is your sanctuary where you can be who you are and it must provide a fertile ground from which you can live abundantly and sustain happiness. A home is a place to look forward to waking up in, preparing for your day in and then returning to. It is a place to live in and create memories in. Home is a place of your own, to be customized to your specific needs and style.

Modern Country Kitchen by Space Case Design

Cute Corner Nook With Vintage Accents, Striped Chartreuse Roman Shades and Beautiful Hemp Drapery. Designed by Space Case Design

Over the years, experts have conducted numerous studies on living environments, interior design, colors, objects and space ratios. These studies are the back bone of the science behind interior design and they have served to enlighten my industry. For example, there are colors to soothe and awaken, there are formulas that speak to the distance that a coffee table should be for easy reach and flow of foot traffic, there are many things to consider when mounting a TV, from the height of the sofa seat to its distance to the wall.

The importance of the science and psychology behind interior design and how our spaces affect us is quite often not given as much importance as required. A great interior designer has studied and can talk about the “Elements of Design”, how they create function and beauty and they’ll know how to apply these ideas to your space. They will have studied and be familiar with (1) Proxemics, the (2) Perception of Space and the  (3) System of Objects and The Object Value System and how these ideas pertain to creating a comfortable and uplifting environment for our psyche. Without getting too caught up in the theories, what we need to understand is that there are numerous pieces that need to align and fit properly in order to achieve aesthetic domestic bliss. And, the professional interior design industry is here to help.

I do not want to forget to mention, what is most important of all!  When the research is conducted as a part of the process of designing your home, it is you and those who live with you who are the essential subject matter. Because, experts say and it is quite true, that green paint can cast an unappetizing light on food in the kitchen. However, if the color green is one which you and your family associate with the most pleasant of times, then maybe green is to be considered for your kitchen.

Vintage Modern Bathroom and Vanity (Her Side) by Space Case Design

Steam Shower and Custom Roman Shade Lets in the Light. By Space Case Design

The psychology of design is complex and has many facets. Its roots are  based on the psychological make-up and welfare of the people dwelling in a space and exceptional interior design must be personally created for you. After all, it’s your life and your space that you live in every day. You deserve a home that is good for you, body and soul.

1. Proxemics–the study of varying patterns of physical proximity in human or animal populations, esp. their role in social interaction and their effect on behavior.
2. From Encyclopedia Britannica Online–Space perception, process through which humans and other organisms become aware of the relative positions of their own bodies and objects around them. Space perception provides cues, such as depth and distance, that are important for movement and orientation to the environment. Human beings have been interested in the perception of objects in space at least since antiquity. It was popularly thought in ancient Greece that objects could be seen because they emitted what was imagined to be a continuous series of extremely thin “membranes” in their own image; these fell upon the eye and merged into the picture that was perceived.
3. Object Value System is an idea which comes from Jean Baudrillard. The idea is discussed here: http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/baudrillard.collecting.pdf