Feeling: How Your Home Shapes Your Emotions

Feeling is one of the most powerful yet overlooked elements of home design. The way your home makes you feel — through your five senses, the moods it creates, the materials, textures, lighting and colours — has a profound impact on your daily life.

The Five Senses

On a full immersion experience to an Airbnb, as I lay on the window seat basking in the warmth of the sun, the aroma of the timber warmed by sunlight filled my nostrils. It was in this moment that I realised the true impact our built environment has on our wellbeing.

• Smell: The scent of natural timbers, a scented garden, fresh ventilation — or the off-gassing of synthetic materials
• Touch: Granite benchtops, timber handrails, brass taps — every surface tells a story
• Hearing: Birdsong, water features, music — or traffic noise and mechanical noise
• Sight: Natural light, views, the quality of light at different times of day
• Taste: The overall "flavour" of your home — is it fresh and sweet or rich and luxuriant?

Moods and Mood Recipes

Moods represent different emotional states and are profoundly influenced by our senses. Like a movie sound designer, you can mix carefully chosen sensual elements to create different moods in different rooms. There's a recipe for creating calm, inspiration, playfulness.

Materials, Lighting and Colour

Different materials create different effects. A wall of glass creates an intimate relationship with the outside world, while timber cladding feels warm and organic. Lighting is the art of shaping atmosphere — layering ambient, task and accent lighting. Colour sets the mood the moment you step into a home.