Today we're going to be talking about simple steps to creating that home that just makes you feel good. There's science behind it truly. Your home reflects you, but also just makes you feel good when you're at home.
I did not go to design school, as you may know, but I'm learning all of this from my good friend Lara and that's what we're gonna be talking about today.
Lara: I would love to speak to this, because obviously, it's my passion. Good design isn't something that somebody just thought up and packaged it and said, here it is. This is all backed up by science and knowing about the human condition and how we respond to areas, how we respond to light, how we respond to color, how we respond to texture, the scale of things, and different patterns. These elements all together, impact us psychologically, and we don't even know about it. This goes way back to how we have evolved and how things bring us joy. We don't even know why. It's just the human nature of design. It's something that I'm very passionate about, because it's real. That's my kind of secret ingredient in interior design is being aware of these elements that affect how we feel, and to put together an amazing design that is going to make my client experience their room in a way that they never thought possible.
Megan: Yeah, you probably can think of a time yourself that you've maybe gone to someplace you've never been before. You walk in, you just feel good. You just walk in and immediately feel comfortable. Just like everything is working together, you feel at peace. You might not even be able to put words to how it makes you feel but it just feels good. Then in contrast going to someplace where you walk in and everything feels off. You feel uncomfortable, you sort of want to leave, you just want to kind of pull in on yourself and you don't want to open up, you don't want to be there. It really is psychological. The elements of design really play into that. I thought I would just interview Lara a little bit on these elements of design, and how they really can make us feel. Let's first just start off with lighting and just light in general. How do you use lighting to make your space feel good and right and fit the space?
Lara: Lighting is the most important element that creates a stage. It creates a mood and that's one of the things that you need to know from the client. How do they want to feel when they come into this room? If this is your kitchenette dining space that you have breakfast in every morning, you want to feel lifted, light, and conquer the day kind of atmosphere. Lighting has a lot to do with that. Nice bright, wonderful lights would be appropriate in that situation. If you have a smoking room, or a place where you'd like to go have cocktails with your friends, you don't want that to be lit in a way that is bright and all consuming. You want to create a more of a mood that is a little bit more sultry. You're gonna have a little darker lighting. Then there's places where you want productivity. If it's in your office, and you want to make sure that you're efficient in your work, you're sticking to your tasks at hand, proper task lighting is an absolute necessity there.
Megan: Also, I was just gonna say about the lighting that is appropriate for the task, like, when you're in your bathroom. You don't necessarily want an overhead light that is going to make it difficult to apply your makeup or going to give you these overcast shadows.
Lara: Yeah, that's so true. Good lighting design, I have to say, it's not my wheelhouse. I don't get super involved in the lighting. I know the generalities. I definitely know the do's and don'ts of it. But there are lighting designers that are well equipped to get down to the minute details to get you exactly what you want. The feeling that you're trying to evoke when you come into a room.
Megan: Let's go on to the next element, which is scale. Maybe you can explain scale to someone who is not into interiors?
Lara: This is the one that is probably the hardest for most people to understand. What is the right size table? What is the right size lamp? What is the right size sofa? Because people open up a catalog and think something is beautiful so they buy it. Then it shows up and it's way too big. Or you have a huge home and it's dwarfed in size in the room. Scale is so important just to make sure that a design is going to land right. I would say that my clients, more than anything, need help on scale. They'll fall in love with something but I might have to ixnay it because there's no way that that's going to fit the size of the room and what we're trying to accomplish,
Megan: Especially these days with most people shopping online. We've lived in multiple different sized homes. We've lived in a craftsman that was super tiny. The rooms were all cut up and it was very small. Then we've lived in new builds with these huge, great rooms. The scale is hard in the great room. You can't find a sofa that's large enough. The super small cut up old school design, old school architecture homes, the sofas are always way too big. But it really is much more than a sofa. It's the tables, it's lamps. It's your chandelier, artwork, drapery panels, all of that. Scale really is so important. Texture is our next element. Tell me about texture. I think this is your favorite.
Lara: I've said that to Megan many times. I love texture so much and I think it might even be more of a personal love because I love spaces that are warm and inviting and ultimately I feel cozy in them. For me that requires a lot of different textures. A diversity of textures that I'm experiencing. A velvet sofa, wool blanket, a leather ottoman, a wood sculpture. All of these have texture and I love the language of texture and how they interact and ultimately make a space very inviting.
Megan: Yeah, if you go into a space that has all things of the same texture, glass or leather, it can be very sterile. Okay, the next element is pattern which I love. I am rarely in a solid colored anything, I love patterns. I love mixing patterns and Lara will tell us how patterns really make us feel in our interiors.
Lara: Well, again, scale relates to pattern. Large scale patterns feel different than something that's like a small mini print kind of thing. Some of that has to do with a personality type. Generally bold personality types are going to want a bold pattern. That's something that they're drawn to where as somebody more conservative isn’t comfortable with that. Patterns can be in wallpapers and fabrics, in artwork, even in flooring. There are people that really love patterns, and they're happy to mix them. You can look at Architectural Digest as one of the ones that famously has what I would describe as very traditional old school design projects that they feature. Where they'll put a plaid with a chintz or a floral and a check and my head just wants to explode when I look at this. But I know that some people get great joy out of that. Megan's been a little bit of an inspiration. Unbeknownst to her, sometimes I can get a little bit too safe. I do like to throw in a wow factor. Pattern is going to be one of those.
Megan: Okay, so color is so important. You could just say the color green. Well there are so many shades of green. Tell us more about how you use color when we're making our home feel good for us.
Lara: In design school, we study a lot about color theory, and again, to the science of it, that we are impacted emotionally by color. Unbeknownst to ourselves, we don't realize it's happening. The marketing world is very aware of this where they know what color combinations are going to get you to pay attention. The same is the case for a home. But more on a personal note, right? Because we all have personal experiences. My favorite color is green. I live in the northwest. I'm surrounded by evergreen trees. It's green everywhere. I've just always loved that vitality of the color, it's very comforting to me. But then you might have somebody who maybe they're from Santa Fe, and they liked the desert palette, and they're drawn to more of your earth tones and browns and beiges and clay shades. Color is very personal because we all have our own imprint in the color world. But then there are some generalities of things you do in areas with color to create mood. The most famous ones are fast food. The yellow and red that makes people want to hurry up and eat and get out of there. If you want to chill and relax and enjoy a seven course meal, you're gonna have some deep muted color that almost makes you feel like you need to take a nap at the end of it like it's gonna it's gonna rescue it. So color is a huge part.
Megan: That's so cool. I love learning about the color wheel too, and how opposite colors are attracted to each other, literally vibrating off of each other. That's a little simple tip like if you have a certain color you love or your room has a certain color, get out the color wheel, or just search it up on the internet and pick the color that will enhance the color that you love.
Lara: Reds and greens are gorgeous together as they vibrate off of each other. Your blues and oranges are gorgeous together and we always see it in sports teams. They're always opposite colors on the color wheel.
Megan: Those are the basic elements of design. If you are new to this concept, I just want you to go through your day and think about them and think about like, wow, I never noticed that texture. Now I'm gonna start noticing that texture, or I never noticed how lighting really impacts my home. I'm gonna start thinking about that. Because that's what I want these podcast episodes to do for you. To just bring more beauty into your life and really to make your homework comfortable. These little tips are just ways for you to kind of take it, think about it, improve your surroundings and really just love where you live.
