5 minute read
DOPAMINE DECOR
It’s my home and I’ll decorate it how I want to
The song lyrics “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” are applicable to much more than just parties. What is yours – be it a party, a social media account, or in the case of this article, your home – gives you the right to do with it whatever you want, provided it does not harm others, of course. And if you are going to cry because you want to, draped over a sofa listening to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac on repeat, one thing will surely cheer you up: dopamine decor.
Forecasted as one of the top home design trends of 2024, dopamine decor is a natural development from last year’s dopamine dressing fashion, characterised by vibrant colours, tactile textures and injected with nostalgia. Architectural Digest quotes Saniya Kantawala, principal designer at Saniya Kantawala Design, as follows: “This trend brings back memories of a carefree childhood when the bedroom walls had your favourite celebrity posters, playful signages, eccentric lights and objects that elicit a deep sense of joy.”
A quick Google search will reveal a rather maximalist approach to dopamine decor, with more-is-more furniture and bright, contrasting colours. Yet dopamine – the neurotransmitter or chemical messenger which, when released into the brain, induces feelings of happiness – is completely subjective. If too many textures, over-filled living rooms and abundant gallery walls are unsettling to you, let this be your cue to explore what does indeed stimulate dopamine to you, and only you.
Let’s look at some alternative approaches to designing your home around what truly makes you happy, without bordering kindergarten territory.
COLOUR:
The dopamine decor textbook insists that loud, bright colours make us happy. However, if you tend to become overstimulated by colour-blocked tangerine and turquoise (I don’t blame you), it does not mean you should discard colour entirely. Sad beige homes are where interior dreams go to die. The colour theory can guide you to include the hues that spark joy for you. Instead of covering a feature wall in saturated Barbie pink, try including a musk or elderberry shade of pink in elements like picture frames or closet doors. Green is known to evoke feelings of safety and growth. Hues like sage and malachite can surely do the trick just as well as a highlighter green can.
NOSTALGIA:
Family heirlooms are the best way to inject a sense of nostalgia into your space. Imagine the sofa in your granny’s house – where you spent many Christmas eves unwrapping gifts – reupholstered and holding pride of place in your living room. Perhaps your parents have safeguarded painted portraits of your great grandparents, which you could reframe and hang on a gallery wall. If you are not in the running for inheriting heirlooms, or the ones up for grabs did not age well, try tapping into the design details that stay etched in your memory from childhood, and implementing them with modern twists. Wallpaper patterns can be immortalised in scatter cushions or old film negatives repurposed into bedside lampshades. Furniture and decor pieces that link back to fond memories, be they vintage or newfound, can effortlessly inject dopamine into your living spaces.
TEXTURES:
The feelings evoked by tactile touch make it arguably one of our strongest senses. If, like me, fluffy things make you happy, try including them in your frequented spaces, like a faux fur throw at the foot end of your bed. Curtains and rugs are the perfect opportunity to bring more texture into the home. A plush, tufted carpet as the first thing you step on every morning is sure to induce dopamine, regardless of which side you get out of. Handloom-style linen drapes add incredible dimension, compared to flat, textureless curtains. Dopamine-inducing textures do not have to be the kind you physically touch every day. For example, even plants play their part in bringing character to a space.
CALMING ENERGY:
This is the part where you read up a little bit on feng shui. It is complex, but not as far-fetched as you might think. One practical way of making your home more calming through the principles of feng shui is to leave space for you to move around freely. If you continuously bump into the corner of a console, or find yourself having to navigate around other objects in your home with caution, odds are they are bringing the opposite of calming energy into your home.
If a mix of colours, textures and nostalgia instil a sense of calm in you, by all means. It is your “party” after all. Our homes can be the sanctuaries we retire to when the outside world gets a bit too much, yet we must remember that a coat of paint and velvet sofa can only go so far in injecting calming, joyful energy into our spaces. The vibes you bring into your home play probably the most important role in making it a calming, dopamine-inducing space, or precisely the opposite.
Charene Labuschagne
