A happy, healthy UPLIFTING HOME

The hot topic of current interior design is ‘well-being’ in the home. But can the design of our homes really affect the way we feel – and even how we behave? And how can we achieve that elusive ‘feel-good’ factor, creating the perfect interior that is at once calming and efficient, private and social, good-looking and practical?

The science demonstrates that good design can indeed positively affect our moods, behaviour and emotions, says Oliver Heath, whose architecture and interior design practice focuses on improving health and well-being in the built environment. “Incorporating direct or indirect elements of nature into the built environment has been demonstrated, through research, to reduce stress, blood-pressure levels and heart rates, whilst increasing productivity, creativity and self-reported rates of well-being,” he says. Dr Sally Augustin, environmental/design psychologist and principal at US design consultation firm Design with Science, puts it more directly: “It seems like mind games, but it’s real. You get a big emotional effect from the design of your environment, and that has been demonstrated through decades