I haven’t talked much on here about my own mental health, but it’s something that has greatly impacted the way I perceive space and the way I design both my own home and other people’s spaces. Although it was horrible and messy and scary to go through some of those low moments, dealing with mental health issues has given me a greater awareness of how our thoughts and feelings are tied up with our surroundings. It’s given me greater empathy and compassion, both for myself and others. And it’s given me a whole new appreciation of how our homes can provide a sanctuary for us when we need it the most.
The connection between our environment and our mental wellbeing is much harder to assess than anything that’s physical. You can measure temperature or adjust the lighting, but it’s more difficult to put your finger on what it is about a space that makes us feel good, happy and at home. What exactly is it about a space that impacts our mood? How do you capture that intangible, often unquantifiable, factor that gives us a feeling of comfort or familiarity? Can a space truly help us heal?
In reality, the evidence is hit and miss, or hardly there at all. The home on its own won’t be able to cure or solve any mental health problems; there’s no such thing as quick, easy fix. You can be living in the most beautiful house in the world and still struggle. But, as something of a caveat, this post really comes from my own experience and the sense of calm, comfort and stillness I’ve found from my own home. It won’t be the same for everybody. But I hope you might take something away from this post – that our homes are not just spaces to keep us warm and dry, to help us purely function in our lives, that they have the power to act as a tonic to life’s stresses, to suggest certain moods and support a feeling of contentment, comfort and ease if we let them. Our homes, when designed well, can help bring out the best in us.
When I wasn’t feeling very well, my home was my safety net. I had (and still sometimes do have) generalised anxiety and at its worst, suffered with agoraphobia. Stemming from the Greek word ‘agora’, meaning public square, agoraphobia is often misconstrued as a fear of open spaces. It’s actually much more complex – agoraphobic people fear being in situations or places where there might be no easy way to escape or where they might not be able to get help. It means that some people with agoraphobia find it difficult to leave their home. Their home literally becomes their world. While everything around them feels chaotic or confusing, their home is the one constant.
I had always had an interest in interior design and making my surroundings look beautiful, but my home took on even greater meaning when I felt anxious and agoraphobic. I started to really understand what type of spaces I liked and those that made me feel not so good. The process of making a home and a space of my own became quite cathartic; the plain, neutral walls helped still my mind and the everyday moments spent at home helped me reconnect with myself. Now, my simple home helps restore a sense of balance with all that modern life throws at me.
Here are a few things to consider if you want your home to help ease and support your mental health. As well as small changes and decoration ideas, it’s also about changing your mindset so that you can appreciate the little things and be present and at peace with what you’ve got.
– A sense of freedom
A home designed for mental wellbeing should give the user freedom – both mental freedom to think and freedom of choice. For the former, that might mean creating pockets of space conducive to moments of reflection and escapism – it could be a view out of a window, an inspiring picture on the wall of a favourite place associated with happy memories, or having areas of negative space (space where there is nothing or no visual interest, such as blank walls) where the eye has space to rest.
For the latter, freedom of choice means having a flexible space that can adapt with the user’s mood depending on how they feel. When I was feeling agoraphobic, I could even feel trapped while sitting at the dinner table. A home should not govern you or dictate how you should behave, but should be based on your own rules. Designing a home with freedom of choice means you might create areas where you can all come together and be social, but you might also want to be mindful of areas where you can escape and find a moment of quiet.
– Embrace imperfection
Social media and the pressures of modern life have made us constantly strive for perfection, whether it’s the way we look or the pursuit of having it all. But in the home, we don’t need to have such high, unattainable standards. Real homes aren’t for show. A home is to be lived in – I believe that any imperfections just show a space has been used and loved; the ring mark on the coffee table, the pencil marks measuring the height of children growing up on the back of a door, the satisfyingly comfy dip in the sofa that marks the best spot in the house.
I know I don’t want my home to feel like a clinical stage set which can’t adapt to daily life. I want it to feel relaxed and laid-back to indicate that this is a space where you can put your feet up on the coffee table.
It ties in with the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi. Instead of sleek, perfect spaces and clean lines, Wabi Sabi is all about finding beauty in the imperfect and embracing the impermanent and incomplete. It’s being content with what is already around you and accepting the natural order of things – with all its flaws.
– Get the lighting right
Lighting can really effect our mood; we know that a sunny day makes us feel happy and positive, and a dark, rainy one less so. One scientific study found that depressed patients had significantly shortened hospital stays if they were in bright, sunny rooms, rather than those with low light levels. We’re so impacted by light that we can get Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), when we might feel fatigued and down in the winter months due to the lack of sunlight.
In the home, you’ll want to maximise the amount of natural light coming in during the day and reduce the amount of harsh, artificial blue light at night. That’s all to do with the circadian rhythm, the daily 24 cycle that helps you wake in the morning and feel sleepy in the evening. As a good night’s sleep is pretty integral for a good mood, this one’s quite an important one.
Choose window treatments that won’t cover or block a window to let light in – a simple black-out roller blind that when rolled up is really discreet and lightweight linen curtains, for instance, rather than heavy curtains. Lighter colours and soft tones will make a space look brighter, darker colours will absorb the light. In the evening, there’s nothing like a bright, harsh overhead light to make you feel alert and awake. Install dimmers to lower light levels ready for bed and use table or standing lamps to create a softer, more intimate glow. You can even get smart bulbs where you can adjust the colour range by the click of a button on your phone, from energising cool light to soothing warm light.
– The impact of colour
Colour can instantly impact the feeling of a space. Like I said in my introvert interior post, I need to surround myself with neutral tones to give my brain the space to pause, away from all the colour and goings on outside. I like soft, light colours because they make me feel calm.
Each person will react to colour in a different way but colour psychology has a few theories that are worth noting. Colours at the warm end of the spectrum such as reds and oranges can make us feel alert and energised but they can also be associated with feelings of anger and passion. It makes sense if you think of a teacher marking a paper in red ink, or a red road sign to warn you of upcoming danger. You might not want to put such colours in a bedroom, but they could work well in a dining room or vibrant living space. At the other end of the colour spectrum, there’s blues and greens, that evoke nature and feelings of balance and harmony. Some people might find them to be calm, others might perceive them to be cold.
If you think about it, modern life has become so far removed from what we’ve known as a species – we now live in increasingly urbanised spaces, more and more removed from the natural world. Bringing in elements of nature into the home, such as plants and greenery, can help create a space that will connect with the senses.
– The natural over the synthetic
When I was feeling my most anxious, I’d get panic attacks in shopping centres, supermarkets and large station halls; basically the types of places that can feel cold, disconnected and lacking in any feeling, with shiny surfaces and artificial elements. These aren’t the type of spaces you really want to hang about in. In the home, everything has a more human scale; you want it to feel safe and warm.
If you’re decorating or buying a new piece of furniture, choose natural materials over synthetic ones. They’ll instantly add an element of tactility and warmth. And if they’re better for the planet, they’ll likely be better for us too. In a study by the Clear Air Day campaign, they found that indoor air pollution was over three times worse than outdoor air pollution. This could be from scented candles, open fires or even the flame retardant chemicals that our furniture is sprayed with. Over and above a design’s looks, it’s worth considering how something is made, where it’s made and the long-term effects of its production.
– Practice gratitude
Now with social media, where we can see a 100 images of perfectly-styled, magazine-worthy homes in the space of five minutes and a quick scroll, it’s easy to compare and start to feel downhearted with the state of our own humble abode or our own achievements. But Instagram is just a show reel of highlights – the best bits of life – and it’s worth remembering that that person will have probably tidied before taking the shot, picked up those random socks or toys from the floor and moved the ironing board out the way, they will have selected the best angle, used a decent camera, and edited the image to make it the best version of itself. Similarly with holiday snaps or outfit posts.
Instead of focusing on the things you don’t like about your home – all the little things left to do, the way the bedroom door catches and doesn’t close properly, the cracks running down the walls and the bodge job you did with that DIY project – think about all the things you appreciate having around you. We can be guilty of constantly chasing the next project, or the next trend, or the next thing we’ll buy. Instead of longing for something that isn’t, it can be helpful to seek gratitude in the present moment; because when you really start to think about it, there will be so much more to be grateful for than you initially realise. The brain has an amazing capacity to always search for the negative in something.
You could start now by making a list of 10 things you love about your home. It could be as simple as ‘it’s warm and shelters me’, or ‘it enables me to have quality time with my family’, or ‘I like the way the sun comes through the window in the morning’. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a material thing.
– Be more mindful of your surroundings
We’re all busy, in a rush and on the go. It can be easy to whizz through the house in the midst of the morning routine on auto pilot and not even truly notice your surroundings. Mindfulness can help us control our thoughts, feel less stressed and be in the present moment more. If we take the time to live more mindfully in the home, we might be able to find those moments where we can slow down and find a sense of balance.
It’s appreciating the little things that could otherwise pass us by, as our mind flips from the past to the future, without stopping to be content in the present. That might be as simple as enjoying a coffee without scrolling through your phone. We never take the time to be bored or still anymore; we always need to be doing something. I challenge you to find a moment to sit and do nothing at all but take in your surroundings. Even just five minutes before you start your day can make a big difference.
How does your home support your mental health? Have you noticed how your surroundings can effect your mood?
