Okay, let’s talk about this ‘psychology of spaces’ thing. It sounds fancy, but for me, it started pretty simply. I never gave much thought to why I arranged my furniture a certain way, other than maybe ‘does it fit?’ or ‘is the TV viewable?’.
My thinking started to shift when I spent a lot more time at home a while back. My living room, where I also ended up working sometimes, just felt… off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I often felt kinda sluggish or even a bit down when I was in there for long periods.
Tinkering Starts
So, I decided to experiment. Didn’t read any books on it at first, just went with gut feeling. The first thing I did was tackle the couch. It was pushed flat against the longest wall, facing the TV cabinet directly opposite. Felt very… linear. Very boxy.
I remember one Saturday morning, I just started shoving furniture around. I pulled the couch away from the wall, maybe by about a foot, not much. Then I angled it slightly towards the window, along with the armchair. It immediately broke up that ‘bowling alley’ look the room had.
Next, I looked at the lighting. It was mostly overhead lighting, quite harsh in the evenings. Felt like an office sometimes. I dug out some old table lamps I had stored away. Put one on a side table next to the armchair, another on a shelf. Started using those in the evening instead of the main light.
Noticing the Difference
It sounds minor, right? But the effect was noticeable almost immediately.
- Pulling the couch out made the space feel a bit more intimate, less like a waiting room.
- Angling the furniture made conversation feel more natural when people came over.
- Using the lamps instead of the overhead light? That was a huge one. The room instantly felt warmer, more relaxing. Less ‘task lighting’, more ‘chill-out zone’.
Then I moved on to clutter. My shelves weren’t messy, exactly, but they were full. Books crammed in, random knick-knacks everywhere. I took about half the stuff off. Stored some, donated others. Left more empty space on the shelves.
The room seemed to breathe easier after that. My eyes weren’t darting around looking at a hundred different things. It felt calmer.
My Takeaway
So, over a few weeks, just by shifting things, changing the light, and reducing the visual noise, the whole feel of the room changed. And my mood in it changed too. I genuinely felt more relaxed, more comfortable spending time there. It wasn’t about buying expensive new things; it was about working with what I had and thinking about how the space flowed and felt.
It really made me aware of how sensitive we are to our surroundings. The layout, the light, the amount of ‘stuff’ – it all sends little signals to our brain, affecting how we feel and behave. Since then, I pay a lot more attention to how spaces are arranged, whether it’s my own home, an office, or even a cafe. It’s fascinating stuff, once you start noticing it.
