Healthful living starts with a healthy interior environment. Before undertaking an interior decorating project, it’s helpful to review your built environment against healthy building standards. For example, upgrades to paint colours and lighting will not have the desired impact on your wellbeing if your space doesn’t have thoughtfully installed windows.
As an athletic young woman who grew up in a town where everyone ate organic food and spent their summers outdoors, I was shocked when I lived in New York City to see how quickly my building’s environment impacted my health. Living on the Upper East Side, I noticed deterioration in my sleep habits and other health effects after only 2 years.
The COVID-19 pandemic increased global awareness of the importance of healthful living environments. Here are a few of the things you can ask an architect or builder about to determine how healthy your building is, backed by evidence-based research.
Prioritize fresh air
The first time I walked into my current home, I was greeted with a lovely waft from the sea. Creating a home with fresh air goes beyond indoor air quality. It also requires windows that can be opened, a layout that allows breezes to circulate, and indoor plants or cut flowers to provide natural air freshening.
Some other things to think about are temperature, moisture, and chemicals. Being able to regulate the temperature from season to season without getting a headache can improve your sleep and concentration. Managing moisture levels, especially in rooms with water, will both enhance your breathing and improve the longevity of your furnishings. And, one of the luxuries of living in the suburbs or countryside over an urban setting is being able to use non-chemical approaches to prevent unwanted visitors with six legs.
Prefer natural lighting, water and sounds
When it comes to lighting, water and sounds, let nature be your guide. Lights that are energy efficient and mimic the cadence of natural daylight support both your budget and your mood. You probably notice the impact of water quality on the little things, like an ice cube in a glass of scotch. Be as thoughtful about the water you consume and bathe in as you would be about the ice cube in an 18-year whiskey.
Sounds can also augment or detract from your interior environment. Low levels of white noise and sound-absorbing acoustics may help to minimize the distracting impact of undesirable sounds from outside. High quality speakers for music can increase your enjoyment of everyday activities like cooking dinner or watching a movie.
Design for security and community
One of the toughest interior decorating challenges is creating spaces that feel secure and communal. People have coinciding desires to be able to move around freely, to turn their gaze toward the outdoors, to make eye contact with and play with others, and to also feel that their back is supported. These psychological needs are fairly straightforward to address in living and entertaining spaces, and harder to balance in dining spaces and offices.
When thinking about community, it may be helpful to think beyond decorating and to consider activities that people like to do together. For example, consider whether a guest would feel comfortable sitting on a chair with a cup of hot coffee. Or, if you have young kids, they may want to play inside on rainy days and need space for a game of tag or somersaults.
Learn more about healthy interiors
In the photo, I placed cut tulips, one of my puppy’s favourite flowers, on a coffee table to freshen the breeze in our home. To learn more about interior design practices that support healthy interiors, consider exploring professional design ideas from biophilic design or feng shui.
To learn more about specific building principles and the evidence-based research behind them, read Harvard’s 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building or the WELL Building Standard® from International Well Building Institute.
