The Benefits of Decorating
“Art
enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
We Need a Lamp
I
have small confession to make. I have been planning what my house will look
like since fifth grade, when I learned about ancient Egypt. Sadly, I
don’t have the funds to just be able to buy decorations spontaneously. However,
my boyfriend and I have started decorating his apartment as the funds and/or
need arises. For example, one night last semester we were studying. It had
gotten to the point in the season where the sun had already gone down, though
it was only about five or six o’clock.
“We need a lamp.”
“Yes we should get one.”
“Ok do you want to go to Walmart to
get one?”
“Now?” My surprise stemmed from the
fact that while I was growing up if we needed to buy something it had to be fit
into the budget. Then the time to go to the store had to be fit into the
schedule. This all adds up to about a two and a half week waiting period, which
by the time it comes around is a nice surprise, because you’ve generally
forgotten about it by then. However, this isn’t the case for my boyfriend Sean
and I. Stereotypically, guys don’t have any interest in decorating. Sean
listens to my decorating idea and we have fun picking out things for our
apartment. Leaving walmart, we had in hand a faux deer antler lamp with a tan
shade. Although I have ad my future house’s room themes planned out since fifth
grade from the Ancient Egyptian Family Room, Colonial Kitchen, Japanese Dining
Room, to the Greco-Roman Living Room, I never planned out the bedroom, because
I figured my future husband should have some say in the bedroom, because it
would be his as well. Sean never planned his future house’s decorations, but he
does like helping me pick out things for our future house.
Benefit of Art and
One
of the biggest parts of decorating is picking complementary colors. If you
don’t pick colors that go together well you can end up with a very disjointed
room and it give an overwhelming feeling. In fact restaurants, brands, and
other companies pay marketers to look into something called color psychology.
Most people make judgements on products in a matter of seconds and according to
a study done by Satyendra Singh from Canada’s University of Winnipeg, “Impact
of color on marketing” about 62-90% of the consumer’s assessment of the product
is based on color (1). Similarly, different colors can mean different things,
though it is culturally dependent, meaning that if you grew up in a different
culture than the participants of the study, then you probably won’t have the
same associations with the color. Brown can mean ruggedness, black expensive,
yellow competence and happiness, red lust and power, and so on (2). This
explains the numerous articles claiming that if you use such and such color in
your decorating or eliminate this other one that you will be more calm,
productive, adventurous, confident, or any other myriad of positive
descriptors.
Despite those more tenuous claims,
there is significant evidence that just decorating your house or workplace can
have a positive impact on your life. Decorating with plants can lead to cleaner
air, reduced noise, and give the impression of cleanliness (3). A study done by
Dr Ercole Vellone et al. suggests that art can assist the recovery of patients
who just had a stroke. Dr Vellone said that, “Stroke survivors who saw art as
an integrated part of their former lifestyle, by expressing appreciation
towards music, painting and theatre, showed better recovery skills than those who
did not,” and that, “The [study’s] results suggest that art may make long term
changes to the brain which help it recover when things go wrong,” (4). Growing
in popularity, art therapy helps reduce people’s stress and anxiety by
How does this relate to decorating?
Over
the past year we’ve gradually built up a collection of decorations stemming
from bedspreads and soap dispensers, to an outside doormat and the little
cranes that are featured in this post’s main picture. Every time I catch a
glance of the cranes out of the corner of my eye, a small jolt of pride runs
through me. Not because I had the money to buy them, but because in a way
decorating a room is like creating a work of art. Whether it’s centered around
a color, time period, or centerpiece, interior decorating requires careful
selection of colors, textures, and a balance of everything lest it become to
tacky. So while my little pair of cranes are the only part of my future
Egyptian themes family room that I actually have in my possession, they give me
something to look forward to that one day the room in my head will actually be
in front of me. One little dream will have become a reality.
Notes:
Image Credit: Crane Decorations by Me
(4) "Art improves stroke survivors' quality of life" Public Release by European Society of Cardiology
(5) Quote at the top by Thomas Merton from his book No Man is
an Island
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