Captivating and Utilising the Senses in Interior Design
This week, 18-24 May 2020, marks Mental Health Week 2020, with particular emphasis being placed on kindness. Where best to start with kindness, than with being kind to ourselves? We often forget how important this is and instead focus on being kind to others. Yet, how can we genuinely be kind to others, if we can’t be kind to ourselves?
Being kind to oneself, involves taking good care of ourselves, and this starts with our bodies, our minds and our environments. When we encounter imbalances, it usually begins with negativity surfacing in our environments. A negative environment will impact our minds and when left unresolved, this negativity comes to the forefront, manifesting itself as physical ailments and illnesses within our bodies. Ultimately, it is our soul which is the worst affected, as it is the source of our spirit and joi de vivre. Therefore, it is unsurprising that we often hear people use phrases such as “soul destroying” when the impact of such imbalances become overwhelmingly intense.
This vicious and potentially deadly cycle of environment impacting mind, mind impacting body, body impacting environment and so on, will continue until conscious actions are taken to restore balance and harmony within our lives. When caught early enough, and before the onset of any serious psychological and physical conditions, the best place to start restoring balance and harmony, is within one’s environment. Whilst we can't change everything in our environments, what we can change, is our homes.
Just as I say in the Meraki Interior Design Package, our homes are a reflection of our hearts, our souls and our passions. Therefore, any attempts to restore balance and harmony within our homes, must begin with reigniting our passions, which in turn leads to an opening of our hearts, and ultimately to the re-awakening of our souls. How do we do this? By ensuring that the interior design of our homes takes into full consideration, the engagement of all five of our senses.
TRIGGERING OUR SENSE OF SIGHT WITH INTERIOR DESIGN
This image is posted courtesy of Luxxu Modern Design & Living and features the McQueen Pendant and Empire Side Table.
In interior design, everything starts with visual aesthetics, which literally refers to how pleasant, or beautiful things appear to be. Therefore, we often talk about “getting the look” right. However, it’s not our eyes which are making the associations with whether or not something looks pleasant. Our eyes merely serve as a tool for our minds to make the associations, because it is our minds that are the visual beasts.
When we step into a room, the first sense to be triggered is sight, whilst subconsciously our minds will scan the room to decide whether we absolutely love it, completely loathe it, or feel it’s neither here nor there. When we absolutely love the room, like the bedroom we see in this picture, we can’t help but feel delighted and uplifted about our surrounding. These feelings are heightened further when it’s our own home. Beyond the delight, we feel immense satisfaction and pride for what we have achieved. Such reactions arouse positive emotions within us, which in turn help awaken our souls.
Let’s take a look at this bedroom to understand why it is so visually pleasing. Firstly, there is a great balance of neutral colours which makes the overall bedroom feel light. The neutral palette gives it a calm and peaceful look; ideal for a bedroom. Contrasting colours, i.e. the blacks and golds, add interest and depth, without which, this bedroom would be just “average”. The addition of the bright golds makes this bedroom feel absolutely luxurious, with the overall look being symbolic of Hollywood Glamour. Even the size of the pendent light used has been intentional to enhance the luxurious feel. I think we can all agree that having a bedroom like this in our homes would most definitely boost our spirits!
HOW INTERIOR DESIGN IMPACTS OUR SENSE OF TOUCH
Everything in interior design which is visible, can also be touched. The most obvious examples being fabrics. When we touch a fabric, our hands and bodies serve as a tool for our minds to decide whether or not we like the sensation of touching that fabric.
The softer and fluffier the fabric, the more we are drawn to it. In winter, we reach for soft, warm, fluffy throws and blankets to keep us warm, cosy and comforted. These reactions are sensory, and attached to them are associations we have built since childhood. As well as the immediate warmth that a throw or blanket gives, subconsciously, we feel comforted, because of those associations. Such sensations dive deep into the layers of our core, to trigger positive emotions; all of which serve to nourish and awaken our souls.
This image, posted courtesy of Koket is the perfect example. Not only is it visually pleasing, but the soft velvet sofa, paired with the fur throw, makes the entire room feel incredibly inviting. Our immediate desire is to sit on the sofa and wrap the throw around us, as we already know how they will make us feel given to familiarity of past associations.
This image is posted courtesy of Koket and features the Kelly Sofa and Finland Fox Throw.
USING INTERIOR DESIGN TO POSITIVELY IMPACT OUR SENSE OF HEARING
This image is posted courtesy of Brabbu and features their Elk Armchair and Manuka Side Table with Imperial Snake Rug by Rug’ Society
When designing interiors for our homes, a combination of noise reduction and noise enhancement considerations made early on, will make us feel happy, uplifted, and good about the homes we live in. When we get it right, our souls literally sing!
Noise Reduction - This refers to the horrible, irritating, distracting noises we wish to reduce, else risk ruining our positive experiences. We cannot completely eradicate them, but the more they are reduced, the more pleasurable our experiences will be.
Our choices in furniture, soft furnishings and accessories will help greatly to reduce internal noises. In a room that is barely filled with furniture and soft furnishings, the noises will be more prominent, especially if the room has a hard floor. It can be quite unpleasant, and when left unaddressed, we become highly sensitive to, and irritated by these noises, which begins to affect our overall wellbeing.
By ‘softening’ the rooms, we can dampen most of the noises. Rugs are great examples, especially on hard floors, like the one seen in this image, posted courtesy of Brabbu. Furniture choices also help. For example, the thick padded seats, backrests and velvet fabric of these armchairs, all help. A good tip to remember, is that the softer the fabric, the deeper the padding, the greater the sound absorbency.
Noise Enhancement - These are the types of noises we want!! The most obvious being music! After all, what better way than to play music to awaken your soul?! It could be loud music you intentionally play to lift your spirits and dance to, or gentle background music you play whilst working, meditating, or to help your children sleep. Nowadays, the demand for built in audio-visual systems is so high, that it must be considered in the overall interior design scheme, and not be an afterthought!
HOW OUR SENSE OF SMELL CAN BE INFLUENCED AND MANIPULATED WITH INTERIOR DESIGN
From the moment we were born, and long before we learnt to walk and talk, we were developing our sense of smell. As babies, the familiarity we have with our parents, is through our sense of smell. It is therefore, unsurprising that smell is one of our most strongest and most sensitive of senses.
Over time, we build strong attachments to smells we become familiar with. Subconsciously, these smells trigger positive feelings and emotions. Sometimes, we might even get flashbacks of past events, or people we associate that smell with, which lifts our spirits and makes us feel happy.
Scented candles, diffusers and room sprays; incense sticks, bukhoor, smudge sticks and resins such as frankincense and myrrh, are all ways in which we can introduce these lovely smells into our homes. The benefits of these products, go beyond just making our homes smell sublime. When used regularly they help to not only cleanse the rooms of stale energies, but also our own energy fields too. This cleansing has a profound and positive affect on our psyche and in time, helps to awaken our souls.
This image is posted courtesy of Koket and features the Reed Diffuser and Empowering Scent
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERIOR DESIGN AND OUR SENSE OF TASTE
This image is posted courtesy of Boca Do Lobo and features the Fortuna Dining Table
The least obvious sense associated with interior design is our sense of taste. However, it is something which has to be considered when creating interior design schemes. When we talk about taste in association with interior design, we are referring to how our surroundings can influence, positively or negatively, our eating experiences.
If you recall, when you were kids, your mother would cook your favourite meals, and even before you took a taste, already your mouthes were watering. Just the smell of the food triggered your tastebuds.
What would happen though, if once you were handed the meal, you didn’t have a nice dining table to sit at, and instead you sat scrunched on the sofa with your siblings, fighting over the TV remote whilst shovelling forkfuls of food into your mouth? Would the food taste as good as it would, if you were sitting at a dining table? Would your overall experience be pleasurable? Probably not!
What if, you had a gorgeous space dedicated for mealtimes, with this beautiful Fortuna dining table? [image posted courtesy of Boca Do Lobo]. Would your food taste better? Would you have a more pleasurable experience? Too right you would!
The experience doesn’t have to be limited to a dining room. In living rooms, adding a bowl of chocolates or sweets to our coffee tables, makes the room even more inviting. In Bahrain, a friend of mine had this gorgeous crystal bowl, full to the brim with Paatchi chocolates. I can tell you, my face lit up just seeing them! By adding this little touch to her coffee table, she was making the guest experience more pleasurable. Likewise, you can do something similar in your home offices. The odd chocolate here or there with your coffees can work a treat in your otherwise mundane mornings!
As you see, our sense of taste is heavily impacted by the overall ambience created within our surroundings. When we sit to eat in a dedicated space, we send signals to our brains to switch off and relax. Our stresses dissipate. Our happy hormones get triggered and we feel uplifted as we take the time to eat and interact with others. We turn inwards to ourselves, not only to feed our bodies, but to feed our souls too!
Although, the connection between our souls and interior design may not have been apparent at first, I hope that this article has helped you to make the connections. I also hope that the suggestions made here, are ones that you start to implement in your homes. Even small steps taken towards creating better environments for yourselves can have profound affects on your mood and your souls. Every single action taken is a form of being kind to yourselves and given time, this positivity will filter its way through into all aspects of your lives, including your actions with others.
For myself, being kind to myself meant coming home from a long day’s work in Bahrain, lighting a candle, sitting to watch tv and cuddling my cats. No matter how difficult my day was, the scent of the candles and being with my cats would help alleviate my stresses. In my bedroom, I made a point of not having a tv. Having a beautiful and welcoming sacred space, dedicated for sleeping without the disturbances and distractions of a tv meant that bedtime, really was bedtime. A time to switch off, sleep, recharge and wake up refreshed.
The best act of kindness, however, was the ritual I had for myself in the mornings. Every day, before the pandemonium of work started, I would take 15-20 minutes out of my day, to just sit outside at my patio to have breakfast. Even if it was just a cup of tea, the shear ritual of sitting out at the patio table, listening to the birds sing and the sun shining was enough to set up my day right. Ironically, I didn’t know how beneficial it was until one day, I just went out there and had breakfast. The experience was definitely multi-sensory. At the entrance to my patio were two gorgeous bougainvillaea plants. They were so big they formed a flowered arch over the entrance which was unbelievably picturesque. In the summertime, the smell from neighbouring jasmine and frangipanis would scent the air. The birds singing were nature’s version of music, and the warmth of the sun kissing my skin was the best sensation of all. I can assure you, as a result, my food did taste so much better for it! This one random act, soon became a ritual for me and was synonymous with being my “me time”!
Each and every single one of these actions helped to lift my spirits, keep me balanced and in tune with myself. In turn, I really found that I was kinder not only to myself, but to others too! And I am sure there are quite a few who were utterly grateful for that!!