Dr. Carl Sagan once wrote, "Somewhere, something
incredible is waiting to be known."
Although Dr. Sagan was pointing out the
wonders to be found in the vastness of outer space, there are also incredible
design possibilities just waiting to be discovered right in your own home.
In fact, your home's overall design represents a symphony. You compose the
melody and harmony with the individual design details played out as the musical
notes for the symphony of your living space.
Your home should always bolster feelings of happiness, serenity, and comfort.
Once you discover a few simple Design Psychology ideas, composing a home
symphony that supports positive emotions and encourages joyful living is easy.
Begin
composing your symphony by choosing colors. Harmonize your colors with ones you
see in the natural world surrounding your house. Depending on your climate and
local terrain, you'll see natural color combinations. Don't forget to watch the
sunrise or sunset so you pick up balancing warm accent colors if you live in an
area with a lot of greens, sky blues and tan earth, like our area in Southern
California.
This method assures you of picking colors to support feelings of
serenity and cheerfulness. Accustomed to Mother Nature's colors, people view
these colors as comforting. All of your home's colors should harmonize, both
inside and out. Once you've chosen your exterior colors, bring subtle shades of
those same colors inside, using them as accents throughout your home.
Next, add carefully-crafted lighting, the most important factor in home design.
Well-designed lighting, both a science and an art, sets the emotional atmosphere
for the home when used in conjunction with color. Too little light in a room
causes people to feel depressed, while overly bright rooms cause uneasy
feelings.
Like the color of your walls, your lighting choices should also harmonize with
the natural light that surrounds your home. The amount of light should vary,
just as it does in nature, to give rooms a more natural feel and to evoke a note
of harmony and peace.
The next movement in your symphony involves the patterns you choose to showcase
throughout your home. Studies have shown that emotionally pleasing patterns
based on nature encourage feelings of happiness and contentment. Undulating
patterns, combined with gentle swags, lend an upbeat, natural feeling to a room,
while rooms with no patterns feel boring because people are accustomed to the
multitude of patterns displayed by Mother Nature.
Many other design details in your home also come into play when creating your
home symphony, such as sounds, furnishings, and furniture arrangement. But
regardless of which movement of your symphony you're working on, always keep in
mind that balance is the key. And just like the combined elements of a symphony,
your home must have some sections that promote quiet and rest--remember, it's
the vacant spaces between the notes that make the music.
If you look at decorating your home as if you were creating a symphony, in all
of its complexity and harmony, you'll be able to make design decisions that are
always in concert with your overall concept. If you continue to visualize the
complete work in mind, you'll choose design elements that resonate in harmony
with each other, and your home will make joyful music for all who enter.
Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher. All Rights Reserved.
