As I have explored in previous articles, our environment plays a very important role in our mental well being. Interior design is a key part of this.
Creating Different Moods
Colour schemes can create different moods in our surroundings. Painting the walls and styling the furniture to match creates ambiance in a room which is well known to have an effect on our mood.
Us women know that when we are at home, we want to be feeling calm, relaxed and at peace with the world around us. This can be helped with styling our homes to give off a comforting and relaxing atmosphere.
Colour schemes that include colours such as pastels, beige and other calming tones will help with this. Calming colours are ones that don’t scream for attention in a room. For example, bright blues, reds and oranges etc will not help create a calming atmosphere to exist in.
Some statement items can bring personality to a room, such as a yellow rug or a something similar. But these bright colours should be in the minority.
Lighting is something else that can create different moods in a home. Most if not all of us have ceiling lights, which can often create harsh lighting that doesn’t compliment the furniture in the room. While ceiling lights can be useful in places such as the kitchen and bathrooms in order to ensure you can see everything properly, utilising lamps and other soft lighting in bedrooms and living rooms can create a much more calming atmosphere.
Alongside this, the type of light bulbs we use can have an effect. Warm white is the colour I would advise buying if you want your living rooms and bedrooms to feel more homely and relaxing. While bright white is the colour I would advise for kitchens.
An Organised Home, an Organised Mind
In a previous blog post I wrote about reducing stress through tidying up, read it here, this is a similar idea. Having a well put together home, with places for everything to live will help your overall wellbeing. Through having colour coordinated surroundings that are organised, we create a calming and homely environment.
If you have clutter, mismatched furniture, and objects that you can never find because they don’t have a home, you will find that your stress levels will never come down and you will find it difficult to relax and enjoy your own home.
Personality in our Homes
Adding our own style to a place makes us feel more at home. Your surroundings should be unique to you, reflecting your personality and your interests. Through doing this you create your own safe haven, filled with things that make you happy.
If you love the colour yellow and it brings you joy, then have it in your home so that when you look at it you feel joy. Same goes for items such as ornaments and artwork. These should reflect the things you love so that they can only bring happiness and not stress to your environment.
Books are another thing that can help reflect your personality. While I know many of us don’t enjoy reading, a lot do, and therefore displaying your favourite books on bookshelves in your home can have a calming effect, making us feel more at home. It also means that your books are easily accessible and therefore you can easily kick back and relax with a book, and feel your stress melt away.
