The design of your home can seriously affect the way you feel, as your environment brings out the best and worst in you. House and Home, Ireland's biggest selling home interiors magazine, can teach you how to make your home a happy place, with this essential room-by-room guide.
The Kitchen
The kitchen is the heart of the home, which is why people are drawn to it. When you consider all the life that takes place in kitchens, from cooking to relaxing, it is important to remember that when designing the room thoughts should not be limited to where to place the fridge or the cooker.
- Design your kitchen around your life: you need to understand how much time you spend in the kitchen, how this time will be spent and how you would like this time to feel.
- Do not allow your kitchen to be hidden or partitioned out of sight. Design your kitchen so that people are drawn near to you as you cook. Consider a kitchen/dining room or draw some stools up to the work surfaces.
- Natural light is good but not essential, as we use our kitchens most in the evening. They're about warmth rather than light. If you have only a couple of rooms that give good light, save them for the bedroom and the bathroom.
The reception room was so named because it was, literally, somewhere were families received people so that it was wasn't necessary to bring them into the rest of the house.
Living rooms should be designed to encourage living.
- Deicide what you want to do in the living room and design it around that, i.e. read, watch telly etc.
- For most, lounging is a lot more comfortable than sitting and certainly on a family level it seems to work.
- We are hardwired to be happy with some connection to nature, it doesn't have to be direct contact such as a view of a garden but even introducing some natural material will meet this need.
The Bedroom
The bedroom is the room we will spend most of our lives in and is worth some effort.
- It's well worth having a bed that's interesting because the bed is like a stage. It really helps if it is visually and sensuously pleasing.
- Having a good mattress and decent bedding is well worth the investment when you consider how much time you spend in bed.
- Include lamps candles windows and a fireplace to soothe the mood. Add flowers and plants to nurture and look at, and fill the room with music and ideas to help you dream.
The Bathroom
The bathroom should be viewed as a place rich in the promise of privacy and pleasure.
- The bathroom is one of the few places in which we can really be on our own and for this reason it has tremendous allure. The bathroom allows us to really pay attention to ourselves.
- If you have extra space it would be worthwhile considering moving the bathroom, perhaps into an unused bedroom etc.
- If you have very limited space, open it up by getting rid of the bath and installing a fantastic shower instead.
