Design Rx for home décor

Design psychologists use a variety of tools to gauge their clients’ tastes, preferences and personalities, and to uncover the emotions attached to meaningful places from their past. This information is then used as a springboard for creating a design blueprint or prescription. Susan Painter and Constance Forrest, for example, have created a three-part series of exercises for their clients. The exercises involve: A developmental history of place: A description of all the places they’ve lived and the most important things that happened to them in those places.

Favorite objects: Clients bring in objects that are meaningful to them and talk about why each one is important. For Ronit Ever-Hadani, for example, they included her bridal bouquet, which had a lot of bright colors, her silver wedding ring and an antique chair given to her by her father. Among her husband Ran’s favorites were a yellow shirt, a professional photographer’s lamp and a leather briefcase with rounded edges.

A mental inventory of every place they’ve visited: Using techniques of hypnotherapy, clients are told to relax, and think back on all the places they’ve ever been, and then stop at the place where they felt their absolute best. What were the physical attributes of the place? The color, the light, the shadows, the sounds, the scents? What was it about the space that made them feel good? This can provide specific clues as to the environment cues that trigger good feelings.

— Linda Marsa