Your entire body is aware of your happiness. Your heart is pounding. Your face gets red. Your breathing becomes rapid. You feel butterflies in your stomach.
And your brain comes next. Dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin are examples of "happiness hormones" that flood your brain's nooks and crannies when you're happy. By generating emotions of happiness, success, pleasure, contentment, and self-worth, they strengthen wholesome behaviors that support your survival and well-being.
Research indicates that a variety of factors, including sunlight, exercise, music, memories, and pets, might increase pleasure on a neurochemical level. Happiness, however, comes from more than just your actions. It's a significant consequence of your environment as well.
According to Anita Yokota, a licensed family and marriage therapist, interior designer, and author of Home Therapy: Interior Design for Increasing Happiness, Boosting Confidence, and Creating Calm, "your retina is actively sending messages to your brain when you're looking at things in your environment that directly impact how you feel." "Therefore, it's crucial that we choose carefully what we bring into our homes."
In fact, according to a 2019 study by the Happiness Research Institute, 73% of people who are content with their homes are also happier overall.
The link between house and happiness is so strong that it became widely popular on social media in 2023: As of late January, the TikTok hashtag #dopaminedecor has received over 173 million views.
According to Yokota, "dopamine decor is all about finding what I call glimmers: things that bring us joy," as opposed to triggers, which are items that raise our blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol.
A few universal design concepts can assist everyone in creating an environment that makes them smile, even though neither happiness nor homes are one-size-fits-all.
Be honest with yourself.
According to Chelsea Foy, author of The Happy Home: The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Home That Brings You Joy and founder and editor of the lifestyle site Lovely Indeed, color can instantaneously alter how spaces — and people — feel. Yellow is her personal favorite since it gives her energy and positivity. "I painted a mustardy yellow on a little bank of cabinets in my laundry room, and it makes me happy every time I walk by," she adds.
There is no "bad" color, even if cool tones are generally calming and warm tones are often exciting. Foy points out that it depends on personal taste and that even tiny splashes of color can have a significant effect. Think about painting or wallpapering an accent wall, sprinkling rooms with striking pillows, lamps, and accessories, or creating extravagant focal points with furniture, artwork, or rugs.
"It could be a painting that takes up a large portion of a wall or a gorgeous pink couch you found at a thrift store," Foy explains. "Beige can be lovely, but we need things that add color to our spaces."
The 'dopamine decor' trend promotes the use of color in novel and creative ways, because color has the power to instantaneously alter the atmosphere of a space.
Avoid being a square.
According to Ingrid Fetell Lee, an industrial designer and author of Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness, shapes can also have an impact. According to research, the amygdala, the area of the brain linked to worry and dread, becomes active when we gaze at angular objects. "That part of our brain stays silent when we look at round shapes," says Lee, who recommends round tables, mirrors, and picture frames over square ones. "You tend to be a little more cautious if you see how you move in an area with acute angles. A room with lots of rounded forms makes you feel extremely comfortable, yet you don't want to bang your shin on the coffee table.
Sacred symmetry is effective.
In a 2016 experiment, researchers at the University of Chicago presented students images of either disordered or tidy settings before administering an arithmetic test. Researchers noted asymmetry as a characteristic of chaotic settings and found that students who observed dirty rooms were more prone to cheat.
According to Lee, "there's something destabilizing about asymmetrical environments that influences the way we behave." You can add more symmetry to spaces by decorating in pairs, such as two plants next to a large piece of art or two nightstands next to a bed, or by selecting repeating patterns in fabrics and wallpaper.
Joy is disrupted by clutter.
Clutter is a typical source of asymmetry. "Clutter raises cortisol, a stress hormone. Yokota says, "When we see clutter, it actually raises our blood pressure." Yokota suggests organizing junk in drawers, cabinets, closets, and on surfaces like desktops and counters with baskets, bins, and trays. Since I'm a big supporter of leveraging vertical space, I really adore hooks. My kids' backpacks end up on the gorgeous porcelain waterfall countertop in my kitchen, so I installed 3M hooks there because I would go insane if I saw a backpack on the floor.
According to interior designer Rebecca West, CEO of Seriously Happy Homes and author of Happy Starts at Home: Change Your Space, Transform Your Life, clearing out mental clutter is just as crucial as clearing out physical clutter. For instance, she remembers a recently divorced client who threw away a bookcase that brought back memories of her marriage. According to West, "it felt like a hundred pounds had been lifted off her shoulders as soon as she put it on the curb."
Take use of the element of surprise.
According to interior designer Betsy Wentz, author of Design Happy: Colorful Homes for the Modern Family, creating little moments of whimsy and surprise makes you feel happy every time you see them. For instance, Wentz like framing and hanging vibrant scarves or stylish bed linens in instead of artwork. She also adds colored lacquer on mirrors, light fixtures, and trinkets as playful accents.
"Anything can be lacquered," Wentz says, recalling a grandfather clock she once made for a customer. Her husband's great-grandfather had owned it. We added fabric panels beneath the pendulum's swing and varnished it. It's a truly surprising and enjoyable piece now. It is a vivid citron yellow, although it appears to be ancient.
Wallpaper may accomplish the same thing. It can be placed in closets, alcoves, drawers, and even on ceilings. Lee gives the example of a woman who covered the foyer closet where her children keep their shoes and outerwear with butterfly wallpaper. "Her children now say, 'To the butterflies!' whenever they leave the house," says Lee, who formerly painted large yellow cabana stripes in her own closet. "I would open the closet and get a big blast of sunshine after forgetting about them."
Build a community
According to the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the oldest studies of adult life in the world, close relationships and social ties are the main factors that determine happiness. Create areas in your house that encourage social bonding to help them grow.
Yokota advises "think about having more of a circular furniture flow rather than having your furniture face one way to the TV in the living room." Swivel chairs provide me with a significant dopamine boost. These days, the kitchen and family spaces are integrated in these open layouts. To make it easier to engage with folks on either side of you, I love to use swivel chairs in those areas.
Wax sentimental
Researchers have shown that nostalgic experiences can engage both the pleasure and memory-related parts of the brain. For this reason, Foy prefers to decorate with meaningful mementos from special trips or framed artwork from her children rather than useless trinkets. "I enjoy looking around my room and seeing things that remind me of happy times," she says. "Adding tangible reminders of a life well lived to your home makes it feel cozy and helps you see yourself there."
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