We tend to decorate with our eyes and hope the rest will follow. Then we wonder why the place still feels curiously flat. The truth is simple: we’ve been decorating as if we only had one sense. When, in fact, there are four more we can appeal to.
Excellent interior design, the kind that lodges in our memory and puts us in a good mood, is a full-body experience. Our brains knit impressions together with all five senses. The more senses involved, the stronger the thread. And a good room doesn’t just look the part. You feel it. In every sense.
Sight
What the eye reads first decides how the room will feel. Show the eye where to land by defining a visual system. Keep colour temperatures coherent. Use contrast to explain function, like a slightly darker worktop against pale units. Sightlines matter and if you can see the mess, you’ll feel the mess. Conceal things like charging stations inside cabinets that close. Keep art at eye level and grouped instead of scattered and let one strong piece carry a wall. Mirrors should borrow light and extend views and not multiply mess.
Sound
Sound is a type of architecture you can’t see. The trick isn’t total silence, which is eerie, but control. A dense rug and underlay will muffle echo in the room. Cork or rubber furniture pads under furniture prevent the jangle each time you pull out a chair. Curtains that actually carry weight also nibble away at reverberation. Seal the gaps around doors and, if possible, do not place the washing machine against the same wall as your bed or couch unless you enjoy bass solos to unwind. Sound can also intensify the moment, and the rattling sound of Mr Vegas jackpots is the proof.
Smell
Smell is the most powerful shortcut to memory. The right signal at the right moment controls energy and presence. Start your morning with a scented candle. Add a herbal spray when the afternoon loses momentum. Include some cedar to top off a soft evening. Plants in the room also provide both scent and microclimate, for example citrus, fig, or rosemary. Place them where the air moves so the scent actually travels. Then the scent will reach you.
Touch
Touch is the sense we usually plan the least, yet it’s what we actually feel on two counts. It’s in the grip of a handle, the density of a cushion, or the rounded edges on a kitchen counter. You can also work with texture to achieve different things. Coarse jute is used to ground you, smooth stone to cool you, and open-grain wood to warm you back up. Speaking of temperature: a room with a thermal variety, like a cool sill, a wool throw, a patch of sun gives the body things to work with.
Taste
The last sense, taste, is at first glance a more untraditional component before you realize how many spaces already rely on it. You might have a tray permanently set for tea. A shallow bowl that always holds fruit. A nice glass within arm’s reach, not exiled to a high cupboard. If not, it’s worth considering. Also a breakfast perch by the window with a stool and a socket for the kettle. Or a nook designed to prepare tea or coffee, ready at all times. Maybe a centrepiece of herbs or citrus in the dining zone, to increase appetite.
Good rooms have components that conspire. When you choreograph the five senses they reinforce one another. If you come home late, tired, and rain-soaked, they will all be there to catch you. The low light finds your path, the rug softens the echo, the door handle says welcome back and rosemary leans in and guides you to a bowl of your favourite snacks. The place remembers you.