Home is where the heart is. But it’s also where the motivation and inspiration are if you know how to decorate your home to stoke the fire in your creative soul. Your home is like a personal charging station. At home, you reconnect to who you are, rest, relax, and rejuvenate. The magic of home is enhanced when you decorate with an eye to what motivates and inspires you, filling your home spaces with what lights you up. So let’s look at decorating your home intentionally, making it the most energizing charging station possible.
Dopamine Decorating
Dopamine decor is named for the body’s self-manufactured “feel good” chemical, a cross between a hormone and a neurotransmitter. Dopamine is the chemical in charge of sleep, memory, movement, motivation, and behavioral or emotional regulation. The decor style is derived from the study of neuroaesthetics, which explores the connection between design and the brain.
Dopamine imparts a sense of well-being, rewarding you for performing actions you enjoy. This sense of well-being is something you want to repeat and so, you repeat the actions that provoke its release. Those actions are everything from sex to eating a beautiful meal to exercise. We like the feeling of dopamine coursing through our bodies, so why wouldn’t you want to open your front door to find it in every nook and cranny of your domestic habitat?
Maybe your thing is edgy home decor that makes you grin with every glance. Or maybe it’s a huge modern painting in bright, energetic colors. Maybe it’s a statue of Mickey Mouse! But it’s your home, so whatever gets that dopamine flowing is exactly right in your space.
What Makes You Feel Good?
What makes you smile? What makes you happy when you look at it? Dopamine-inspired decor that brings you bliss every time you walk through the door is built from the inside out. Maybe you love certain colors, types of art, plants, fairy lights, or artisan fabrics. Bust them out!
The first step toward creating a dopamine-fueled space is to look at each room in your home and determine how that room makes you feel when you enter it. Do you feel motivated and inspired or tired and overwhelmed? Knowing how you feel in your personal sanctuary is the first step in a journey of dopamine-decorating discovery!
From the bathroom to the bedroom, your home should be filled with what makes you happy; what gets you fired up and ready to smash another day in the challenging world beyond your door.
Getting Started
Be willful. Caring for what other people think will get you nowhere. This is your space, so claim it with bold strokes and no apologies. If your favorite color is purple, paint an accent wall that color. If you’re in a rental where you’re not allowed to paint, try a piece of furniture or an art piece that features purple. Or try removable wallpaper for a splash of your favorite color that gets you to “happy” without breaking your rental agreement!
Dopamine decorating is about the patient assembly of an environment that’s tailored to your psychological needs. It’s not about rushing out and buying “stuff” that you think will transform the place. It’s about poking around in dusty antique shops and thrift stores. It’s about finding that pleasurable rush of joyful recognition — dopamine!
What attracts you is right for your motivating, inspiring home habitat. This is your environment, so don’t even stop to ask yourself if you’re doing it “correctly”. If you like it and feel wonderful about the piece in your space, then enjoy what you’ve purchased without apology or a second thought.
What’s Missing?
As you’re recalibrating your home to motivate and inspire, it’s important to ask yourself what’s missing. What would you love to have at home that you don’t currently have? You may envision something as simply comforting as a reading nook with a cozy armchair, tucked in a quiet corner. Maybe it’s a purple armchair! Or you may desire a fireplace. In a rental, the solution is an electric mantle. Not only do you get the pleasure of dancing, dopamine-inducing “flames”, but an electric fireplace adds warmth to your home in winter.
Add a light-up or neon cactus. Install crown molding painted an outrageous, dopamine-provoking color. If the change imparts bliss, it’s right! Living in an environment that’s decorated in colors, objects, and furnishings that bring you joy is a key ingredient for a happy, satisfied life. Be bold! Decorate your home to motivate and inspire you!
