How To Design Your Home Using Your Senses
Feed the senses with design: I have put in place the process of Bio-Design because I believe that designing a home should take in consideration so many different factors. The planning, the lighting and the interior architecture are the base to give space after to add the mood before you are ready to sit down and enjoy, as a home is not really finished until you have added stimulation for all your senses. The way we do this is adding different layers of elements that can evoke a particular emotion or memory. Often we forget, when designing our home, that an appealing space is not only one which appeals to your visual sense but to your other fours senses as well.
The senses of touch, smell, sound and even taste, all come into play when creating an inviting home.
So let’s see how we can stimulate our senses with the design!
Taste
This for me comes into play when we think about how a room will be used for entertaining and living. Is there a space to put a cup of tea on a side table next to a chair or will we have to stand out and move to go to the near table? If I do that for sure my moment of tasting a drink or food will be ruined. Remember that every sense will stimulate a positive or negative reaction in our brain.
I give you another example. Imagine you have been invited to a room where everything is so perfect and delicate and you have been given a drink. Whatever conversation you are having, actually your mind is wondering around thinking what will happen if I spill the drink, would it ruin the fabric or the floor? Has this ever happened to you? It’s the sense we most equate with confirming that this room works for the people who will live there. So the sense of taste in a home is about considering how would your mood change with the right elements around.
For instance, if you walked into your kitchen and ate a fresh baked cake or meal, or maybe you have a bowl of chocolate in your office that you can savour during your day or you can offer to guests. These are small and seemingly unimportant details when it comes to how you feel about your home. Sometimes we are asked to design a well define drink area that can be for wine or whisky or gin etc. Don’t you think that if you know that you are sitting in a space where everything is designed to make you immerse in that emotion the drink will taste different?
Smell
The scent is really important to us, and we can introduce this through cooking, plants, flowers, fruit or from scented candles, sprays or a combination of all, the fact is that the smell of a home can create a mood from homey to romantic. Like the perfume you choose to wear, you should notice the smell of your home the moment you walk through.
Try to create a signature scent in your home using a combination of elements, and then vary it according to the weather. We prefer more spicy scents as the weather gets cold, fresher and cooler ones in the Summer and Spring). The smell can evoke an emotional response that is connected to our conscious memory. Try for instance burning candles around your home. Pick out different scents for different areas of your home, and see if it makes a difference! Not nice smells can instead evoke bad mood in your home. Stinky carpets, dirty dishes, dirty laundry, and other bad smells directly affect how you feel. Now I will give you an example. Have you ever heard of the advice that you if you want to sell your home quicker you should bake a cake or some bread so that when people enter inside the house feel cosy and can identify themselves living in there?
Hearing
The sound is an important and subtle ingredient of a home’s character as it helps us to unwind and relax. Striking a balance between quiet and great sound is key in creating a peaceful home. When we are sitting and relaxing this is the time when we listen to our home and sounds around your home can affect your concentration and make you extremely irritable. Any creak of a floorboard, water dropping from a tap or the hum of the refrigerator motor, the movement of a window, all will make your brain to be alert. You may need to eliminate annoying sounds. Having for instance good windows installed can make a huge difference.
You can also boost your concentration and relaxation level in your home by adding music or other soothing sounds in different areas of the house. If you can add an audio system installed that can enable you to listen to musing in whatever room you want. Also, the sound of water helps some people to relax as it provides a calming noise. If you are among those, maybe consider adding a small water fountain that sits on a table or shelf or in the garden if this is adjacent to any of the room in your house.
Touch
Have you ever enter a house that it was so inviting that you wanted to touch absolutely everything? Touch I will say is not the first sense that you will use as soon as you enter a house, but definitely, the one that will make you mind decided if you like something or not. We are constantly touching something so make sure the things you are touching around your home are pleasing to you. Is like when you see jumper that you really like in shape and colour but then when you try on is really uncomfortable in touch and create skin intolerance. Is the touch the sense that will take the priority.
Well in a house is exactly the same. Use the texture in your home to create the feel you want. Fabric and texture can invite someone to sit and send good vibes through a home, hard surfaces can really make a room feel cold or warm. Some people for instance like to walk bare feet in a soft and warm carpet and others like the feel of tiling. This is really personal, but the point is that most of our decision is based on touching!
Sight
When we see something or someone we have a fraction of second for the message to get through our eyes and to be received into our brain and decide if we like it or not. Colour, light and aesthetic are the three major elements which come into play here. Colour is a very powerful tool can excite you or calm you down. Light as well can help you to create a focal point and set a mood, learn how to improve the interior with lighting. Aesthetic, whether of furniture, accessories or soft furnishing creates a sense of balance and calm.
As part of the aesthetic, I will add also that is visually appealing having a house that is cleaned and organized as it allows to focus more and to get more energy from your space, rather than a messy and dirty home. It will be easy here to divert and talk about decluttering but this is all another chapter! Our visual awareness is arguably the main factor that affects our feelings, thought and mood. Thus, make your home visually appealing, a place where you and your guests like to be in. You don’t have to spend a ton of money, here is not about a budget but choosing the right items.
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