Emotional design fosters a deep connection between a user and a product, a goal that product designers aspire for when they integrate aesthetics, usability, and storytelling. This is not much different from emotional interior design where colors, materials, furniture, home accessories, and lighting significantly influence how we feel in a space. Our surroundings play a crucial role in our well-being, so much more if it’s our home.
The need to find emotional balance at home came to a head when many of us could not go out during the pandemic lockdowns. We came face to face with our homes, day in and day out. We got to know the space more intimately—the things that were pleasing and soothing, the things that needed repair, and the things that we wanted to change.
Elements of Emotional Interior Design
Emotional interior design goes deeper than the functionality of a home. We want our private space to express who we are, to stimulate our senses, and to offer us the nurturing and safety that we need. We approach a home makeover differently because we are different people with different needs and priorities. Changes can be instinctive, with our individual voice and our language as guides.
1. Colors
Colors are attributed the power to influence human emotions, behaviors, perceptions, and even physiological responses. Some examples are ascribing strength to red, confidence to orange, cheer to yellow, healing to green, peace to blue, and so on and so forth. However, I would suggest that you take what you read with a grain of salt because there are other variables that affect how an individual is influenced by colors, like age, gender, and culture.
You are the expert who can decide how a color influences you, and you can test this by looking at colors one by one and discern what feeling each hue gives you.
2. Materials
Choose organic and natural materials that have texture. Mix these up to create depth, like using polished stone and raw wood, or burnished metal and nubby boucle, or concrete and handmade weaves. The sense of touch is a very powerful one and decorating your home with different textures to engage tactility can bring comfort and sensory experiences.
3. Furniture, Fixtures, and Home Accessories
All of us have different tastes and different requirements for furniture, fixtures, and home accessories. Choose things that address your functional specifications and your emotional needs, and not what you think looks good for others or are trendy or seem posh and stylish. Let your home express and celebrate you.
4. Lighting
“Let there be light.” Genesis 1:3 in the Bible marks this as the first act of divine creation. We don’t have to be religious to agree that light is a very important thing to have and to consider in your home. Interior designers treat lighting as a fundamental element that shapes mood, function, and color, which is why some place a chunk of the budget on this element. When choosing colors for your space, you have to see how these are affected by natural and artificial light found in the different rooms. For this reason, it is important to test paint color samples in the spaces.
Trivia: It might be interesting for you to know that color is a direct manifestation of light. Without light, there is no color.
5. Art
Art is very subjective. What one finds beautiful may be boring to someone else. This does not discount the influence of art, where it can transform the ambience, perceived dimensions, and emotional impact of a space. Again, trust your instincts and your definition of beauty when you style your home. Many of us do not have the wherewithal to afford a masterpiece of some famous artist’s work. But no worries. What you need to do is to choose what you define as art that provides the emotional resonance that you want to have in your home.
6. 5 Senses
Emotional design engages all the five senses, so do consider all five senses—touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell—when making your home.
Functional Things to Consider in Interior Design
It’s good to have a framework to use when you are thinking about how to design your home. There are two important posts in this blog that I wrote a long time ago that you’d probably like to read if you are thinking of a DIY home makeover.
I don’t want to turn you into a pseudo-interior designer. It takes years of learning for that. But at least, if you have these elements and principles to guide you, you can use these frameworks to cover important matters which have to be considered.
The 7 Elements of Interior Design
The seven elements of interior design are: 1) space, 2) lines, 3) forms, 4) lighting, 5) textures, 6) patterns, and 7) colors.
If you are doing a new build, you have to consider all that. But if you have an architect and/or interior designer to guide you, you would just need to think about and discuss each element with your professional partner.
The 7 Principles of Interior Design
The seven principles of interior design are: 1) balance, 2) scale and proportion, 3) rhythm, 4) emphasis, 5) contrast, 6) details, and 7) unity. Knowing how to work with these principles can create a space that is not only functional and visually cohesive, but also one that is purposeful, balanced, and personalized.
Emotional Interior Design
Raise the emotional value of your home by thinking about your core memories. Surround yourself with sentimental objects, start or continue family rituals, infuse homey smells, create a photo wall of your most precious memories.
I am sure that if you sit still and listen to your heart, you will know what needs to be done to make your home a place that expresses your yearnings and your joys.
This year, create a home that touches and embraces you every time you come in the door. This blog can help give you ideas and inspiration so subscribe, if you haven’t done so yet.
