<![CDATA[MarBeth Home Arts - Decorating, Remodeling, & Homebuilding]]>

An entire branch of psychology, environmental psychology, has sprung up around the effect that our surroundings have upon us and upon our relationships with others.

Of course, your home should always reflect you and your family. However, by combining principles of good interior design with the styles and things that reflect you and your family, you can create a beautiful living space unique to you. For example, consider some of the ideas below for your home.

What Is Open Space Design

Instead of having a separate living room, dining room and kitchen, open space design merges them into one large, inclusive space.

Uncarpeted floors of wood, tile, or other materials unify the area. Then, instead of walls, furniture groupings, area rugs, and lighting fixtures -- a chandelier or a grouping of pendant lights over the dining area or LED panel lighting for the kitchen – define the spaces.

Depending on the size of your space, you also can create an office space, a conversation area, an area for playing games, or a quiet reading nook.

Open spaces invite flow from one area to another creating a decompartmentalized, free, relaxed feel.

Creating too many separate nooks, though, can result in a crowded, cramped feel, so consider whether a space that is used for playing games as a family could be used as a conversation area when you have guests and a reading space at other times.

Merging the Indoors and Outdoors

One discovery made by environmental psychologists is that people benefit from merging the indoors and outdoors.

Large windows include views of the outdoors in the design of your interior. Wide doors that open onto a deck or patio let you, your family, and your guests easily pass from one space to the other.

Patios and decks have included picnic tables for decades. Now, though, indoor rooms that you might not expect to find outdoors are moving there.

Dining spaces, outdoor kitchens, and even living rooms with entertainment spaces that include extra-large big-screen TVs all happily exist on decks and patios.

Providing a sheltered area on your patio or deck with built-in cabinets to protect your TV from the elements when it is not in use creates an entertainment center where you, your family, and your guests can enjoy a concert, a movie, or a sporting event under the stars right at home.

Outdoor kitchens work best when installed on a patio, but they also can be installed on vinyl or composite decks that have been reinforced to take the additional weight.

As the studies of environmental psychologists verify, attractive homes offer more than just a pretty space to look at and live in. Attractive home interiors offer psychological benefits as well.