Decorating Guides
Why We Like Beauty in Design
Let's explore the power and benefits of beauty. Professionals explain ways to maximise it at home
We know that walking into an attractive, thoughtfully designed home feels better than walking into a chaotic and cluttered one. But what is it about beautiful design that’s so powerful? People have been curious about the draw of all things beautiful for centuries, so we turned to a trio of professionals who specialise in the psychological effect of design for insight into why surrounding ourselves with things we find attractive is so important and how we can make our homes feel even more beautiful.
Whatever the reason, experts say our instinct to make things beautiful isn’t going anywhere. And when it comes to our home and other structures we spend most of our time in, good design has been shown to boost our mood and overall sense of well-being.
Toby Israel, the design psychologist behind New Jersey’s Oasis by Design and the author of Some Place Like Home: Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Places, cites research in which patients in more beautiful hospital rooms reported better moods, needed less medicine and were released earlier than patients in gloomier rooms. At home, where decor can be more customised and meaningful, those benefits can resonate even more strongly Israel says.
“A home environment, obviously, you can personalise more,” she says. “A hospital environment can’t be so personal that it would turn one person off immediately and please someone else.”
Find a local interior designer on Houzz
Toby Israel, the design psychologist behind New Jersey’s Oasis by Design and the author of Some Place Like Home: Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Places, cites research in which patients in more beautiful hospital rooms reported better moods, needed less medicine and were released earlier than patients in gloomier rooms. At home, where decor can be more customised and meaningful, those benefits can resonate even more strongly Israel says.
“A home environment, obviously, you can personalise more,” she says. “A hospital environment can’t be so personal that it would turn one person off immediately and please someone else.”
Find a local interior designer on Houzz
How to figure out what’s beautiful to you
Israel and others say a home feels most beautiful when it taps into design elements that are specifically tailored to the resident and his or her preferences and experiences.
So how do you zero in on those details? Leslie Wagner, a design psychologist in Michigan, suggests that homeowners and the pros they’re working with look to the homeowner’s past living experiences as a starting point. Wagner, who also works in real estate, says she regularly conducts “environmental genealogies” with clients to get a feel for their taste.
To figure out a design direction for one recent client, for example, she determined that a “law library kind of feel” would be best since the client was a retired law professional. “I interviewed him about homes he’s lived in, homes he’s loved, what his heritage is, what his aspirations are for his new English Tudor home and the feeling that he wants,” Wagner says.
Take a look more beautiful spaces on Houzz
Israel and others say a home feels most beautiful when it taps into design elements that are specifically tailored to the resident and his or her preferences and experiences.
So how do you zero in on those details? Leslie Wagner, a design psychologist in Michigan, suggests that homeowners and the pros they’re working with look to the homeowner’s past living experiences as a starting point. Wagner, who also works in real estate, says she regularly conducts “environmental genealogies” with clients to get a feel for their taste.
To figure out a design direction for one recent client, for example, she determined that a “law library kind of feel” would be best since the client was a retired law professional. “I interviewed him about homes he’s lived in, homes he’s loved, what his heritage is, what his aspirations are for his new English Tudor home and the feeling that he wants,” Wagner says.
Take a look more beautiful spaces on Houzz
Beyond those aspects, the house itself can sometimes lead the way. Wagner was inspired by the blue striped wallpaper from the 1850s she found deep within the walls of the farmhouse she’s restoring, she says. She incorporated the colour in the house’s front room. “It can be pulling from your own life or it can be pulling from something you feel the house wants you to express,” she says.
Even if you don’t know exactly what design choice is most appealing, you’ll likely have a sense of what isn’t. “It’s great when we’re in sync; we have a sense of well-being,” Israel says. “But when we’re out of sync — for example, when there are jarring colours, a poor arrangement of furniture or objects that don’t match — we may have a sense that something isn’t right.”
5 Vastu-Recommended Colours for Bedrooms
Even if you don’t know exactly what design choice is most appealing, you’ll likely have a sense of what isn’t. “It’s great when we’re in sync; we have a sense of well-being,” Israel says. “But when we’re out of sync — for example, when there are jarring colours, a poor arrangement of furniture or objects that don’t match — we may have a sense that something isn’t right.”
5 Vastu-Recommended Colours for Bedrooms
Where beauty makes the most impact
Research has shown that certain choices can be particularly beneficial. “Elements such as colour, lighting, space and geometry, furniture, and organisation all play a role in a person’s mood and ultimately on a healthy quality of life,” says Eve Joss of Florida’s Rooms by Eve. For homeowners and designers eager to make the psychological most out of their designs, Joss offers these more general tips:
Pay attention to colour
“Colours have a definite psychological effect on behaviour,” Joss says. “For example, the colour blue, much like looking at the ocean, will provide serenity.”
Consider how much stuff you have
Photos, books and memorabilia can invoke feelings of comfort and peace, though a sparser space also can feel calming in its simplicity.
How to Choose Colours for Your Home
Research has shown that certain choices can be particularly beneficial. “Elements such as colour, lighting, space and geometry, furniture, and organisation all play a role in a person’s mood and ultimately on a healthy quality of life,” says Eve Joss of Florida’s Rooms by Eve. For homeowners and designers eager to make the psychological most out of their designs, Joss offers these more general tips:
Pay attention to colour
“Colours have a definite psychological effect on behaviour,” Joss says. “For example, the colour blue, much like looking at the ocean, will provide serenity.”
Consider how much stuff you have
Photos, books and memorabilia can invoke feelings of comfort and peace, though a sparser space also can feel calming in its simplicity.
How to Choose Colours for Your Home
Look to the lights
A brightly lit space can be an instant mood booster, particularly if it’s filled with natural light.
Focus on exteriors and entryways
More beautiful exteriors and entryways set a tone as soon as someone enters or looks at a home.
Bring the outdoors in
For most people, natural decorative elements like plants, wood, feathers or even a highlighted view introduce instant tranquillity and beauty into a space.
A brightly lit space can be an instant mood booster, particularly if it’s filled with natural light.
Focus on exteriors and entryways
More beautiful exteriors and entryways set a tone as soon as someone enters or looks at a home.
Bring the outdoors in
For most people, natural decorative elements like plants, wood, feathers or even a highlighted view introduce instant tranquillity and beauty into a space.
How to find the deeper meaning
When homeowners are scrolling through photos for inspiration on Houzz, the design psychologists suggest that they be on the lookout for any recurring themes or patterns and that they think about why they connect with certain images more than others.
“It’s looking at those things but then saying, ‘OK, why does this appeal to me?’” Israel says. “There’s something beneath that, that reaches down to our very sense of being, to our very sense of self.”
Positive associations from childhood and other past experiences often drive some of the most powerful personalised design, Israel says, even unconsciously. You may love kitchens with yellow walls and lots of windows because that’s what you remember from your grandmother’s house.
When homeowners are scrolling through photos for inspiration on Houzz, the design psychologists suggest that they be on the lookout for any recurring themes or patterns and that they think about why they connect with certain images more than others.
“It’s looking at those things but then saying, ‘OK, why does this appeal to me?’” Israel says. “There’s something beneath that, that reaches down to our very sense of being, to our very sense of self.”
Positive associations from childhood and other past experiences often drive some of the most powerful personalised design, Israel says, even unconsciously. You may love kitchens with yellow walls and lots of windows because that’s what you remember from your grandmother’s house.
Similarly, certain objects are meaningful because they’re associated with a particular happy vacation, person or time period. And it works the other way too. Israel finds the burnt-orange walls of her office beautiful because they remind her of her Hungarian ancestors, but she says someone else might be turned off by the colour’s intensity because it reminds that person of something traumatic.
“I say choose objects that are not just beautiful in terms of their shape or their texture, but also objects that you have a psychologically positive association with,” Israel says. “So, for instance, it might be great to look in a magazine and see a blue upholstered chair: ‘Oh, that’s a pretty chair.’ Then you’re on Houzz and you see another one that’s a purple upholstered chair and you just love that. And then you realise that part of the reason you love it is because your great-aunt who was a special person to you always wore that shade of purple so that resonates positively for you for psychological reasons. So it might be the same nice chair, but it has positive associations.”
The concept of beauty, in many ways, remains mysterious, but experts say homeowners and pros can build an even deeper connection with the homes they love by tuning in to the specific design elements they find appealing.
“For the vast majority of us, beauty is what motivates and moves us,” Wagner says. “We move toward things we are attracted to, be it a human or a painting or a sculpture, so having a home that is expressive of your inner life just makes for an integrated life and a place where you can come home and take a deep breath, sink into the couch and think, ‘Yeah, I made this. This is me.’”
Read more:
Beautiful Inside-Outside Bathrooms We LoveThe Secret to Beautiful Interiors?
Tell us:
What makes your house feel beautiful? Tell us in the Comments.
“I say choose objects that are not just beautiful in terms of their shape or their texture, but also objects that you have a psychologically positive association with,” Israel says. “So, for instance, it might be great to look in a magazine and see a blue upholstered chair: ‘Oh, that’s a pretty chair.’ Then you’re on Houzz and you see another one that’s a purple upholstered chair and you just love that. And then you realise that part of the reason you love it is because your great-aunt who was a special person to you always wore that shade of purple so that resonates positively for you for psychological reasons. So it might be the same nice chair, but it has positive associations.”
The concept of beauty, in many ways, remains mysterious, but experts say homeowners and pros can build an even deeper connection with the homes they love by tuning in to the specific design elements they find appealing.
“For the vast majority of us, beauty is what motivates and moves us,” Wagner says. “We move toward things we are attracted to, be it a human or a painting or a sculpture, so having a home that is expressive of your inner life just makes for an integrated life and a place where you can come home and take a deep breath, sink into the couch and think, ‘Yeah, I made this. This is me.’”
Read more:
Beautiful Inside-Outside Bathrooms We LoveThe Secret to Beautiful Interiors?
Tell us:
What makes your house feel beautiful? Tell us in the Comments.
Beauty is hard to define, but generally speaking, people find something beautiful if its form, shape, texture, colour or other physical traits are in some way appealing. And that appeal is particularly impactful when it’s around us day in and day out at home.
New York designers Stefan Sagmeister and Jessica Walsh examine the ways everyday beauty wields power in fields like architecture, graphic design, city planning and product design in the just-opened multimedia exhibit, demonstrating the many ways that beauty goes beyond being just a superficial trait. Beauty can improve people’s quality of life, the exhibit and its related events argue.
Some researchers think our appreciation for beautiful surroundings evolved from a need to be in sync with the natural world since many shapes and patterns we think of as beautiful, such as spirals and waves, can be found in nature. Gravitating toward beauty also may have started as a way for humans to defend themselves from danger (a more beautiful, symmetrical plant could have been safer to eat than a misshapen one, for example).