Is your home a temple to your past, or a page on which to write your next chapter? If you’re embarking on an interiors project and following the prevailing mood in design, you are most probably layering colour, texture and “story” into your rooms. But are the stories built around memories and artefacts you’ve been clinging onto, or are they preparing the ground for the future you?
“Often people’s homes are museums to who they’ve been,” says Olga Naiman, who is making waves in the US with the psychology-based design theories laid out in her recent book Spatial Alchemy: Design Your Home to Transform Your Life. “There’s nothing wrong with having some history in your home. It’s natural to have family photos, keepsakes and heirlooms that have been passed down. But is the space resonating with who you are becoming, or is it holding you in psychological patterns that aren’t serving you? We’re so familiar with our spaces that we can’t always see what’s holding us back.”
Naiman firmly believes that our homes hold sway over how we behave and who we become. It’s not a new idea – her book opens with a celebrated quote by British former prime minister Winston Churchill, delivered when the bombed House of Commons was being rebuilt to a plan that would encourage frank face-to-face debate: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”
