Creating moods with texture, colours and lighting

Coming home to a comforting place, where one can relax and enjoy life. Is that not what each of us would like to do after a long day of work? Interior design can change our mood and help make us feel at ease, focused, more in contact with nature or productive. It all depends on how we choose interior design pieces and have them interplaying with our everyday life.

Creating a cozy home with the use of different textures and materials

Psychology can explain some of what happens during the process of redecorating. It usually starts when there is an inner change taking place in how you perceive yourself and your life. This then gets reflected in an outer change in the environment you live in. Changes in how you perceive the world around you are reflected in your decisions towards more details or a minimalist approach, for example, or a choice of more colourful tones instead of neutral ones.

Marion Woodman, a Canadian psychologist, affirmed that internal psychological change processes in her clients appeared in the outer world through renewing their wardrobes and houses, donating old things and buying new ones, renovating. This is exactly what happens when we change our interior decoration. We are in some sense new, and therefore new things are brought into our homes to reflect that.

Historically, oriental practices such as feng shui and vastu shastra have been influencing interior design for many centuries, integrating architecture and religion. Nowadays, architects and interior designers work hard to bring together functionality and aesthetics, creating spaces with multiple uses specifically tailored for each client.

Alain de Botton, swiss philosopher and founder of School of Life, claims in his book Architecture of Happiness that “belief in the significance of architecture is premised on the notion that we are, for better and for worse, different people in different places – and on the conviction that it is architecture’s task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be.''

Interior design is accessible to everyone interested in changing how they live. Creating places where we truly feel at home gets easier with some tips on main aspects of a room: lighting, furniture, plants, colours… every aspect of it should be coherent with others, creating a unity. Ideally, you should also try to coordinate this space with the rest of the rooms, making transitions from one place to the other relatively smooth.

Match lighting, furniture and walls in coordinating colours to create a cohesive room

First of all,  find inspiration for your new room and create a moodboard on apps such as Pinterest or Instagram, which allow multiple boards for each idea. Begin by collecting photos that reflect how you would like your place to feel. After collecting some images, you will begin to see some emerging patterns of colour, materials, designs and moods. Try to separate each inspiration into a different category and see how they blend with each other.

Choose one of the themes to work with. This will be the basis for your choices of colours, materials and designs when you start selecting furniture items, rugs, curtains, vases, wallpapers, plants and paintings for living room wall. Try to blend your purchase picks to your moodboard, creating your own version of what inspired you.

In case you already have some items in your house that you would like to keep, such as furniture, for example, you can always think of ways to incorporate them into your new design, either by reupholstering beloved chairs and sofas or changing picture frames or by matching the new decoration to value your sentimental pieces.

Remember to pay attention to your walls. Painting them in colours that go with your chosen theme or choose a nice wallpaper to add a touch to some of them. Colourful paintings with well chosen  picture frames can change a room instantly.

Colourful paintings for the living room can instantly lift moods

Another important aspect of interior design is lighting. Morning sunlight should be privileged whenever possible and interior lighting should focus on warmer tones to create a more intimate setting. Special pendant lights can be used to create a light focus over a dinner table, while floor lamps can provide light to a corner near a sofa, for example. A whimsical touch on a lamp can also add some fun to more neutral decoration.

Luxury lighting can provide some fun while being elegant

Last but not least, plants are a must in a house! Besides being aesthetically pleasing, they can also contribute to mental health. Several studies confirm that owning and caring for houseplants can have positive impacts on your life, such as reducing stress and anxiety. Choose beautiful vases for a centre table, put some flowers around the house and consider buying small trees for the living room to bring nature inside. Minimalists might also like adding potted cacti or succulents to an office for a more contemporary look.