Psychology of Living Space: What Your Home Says About You.

Interestingly enough, there is a psychology behind the concept of living spaces. It is an established fact that each person needs something uniquely different in their life other than what someone else may need.

That said, our article below touches on the various four facets of this psychology and how they relate to the overall, modern trend of promoting a better lifestyle in today's society.

The State of Today's Living Space

In today's typical American scenario, there exists a dichotomy of sorts in living spaces and the human need for family units. As such, new homes are more than 1,000 square feet larger than they were in 1973, and living spaces per person have doubled since then growing by 61.4 percent.

In contrast, average household sizes have declined from 3.01 persons per household on average in 1973 to the current low of 2.54 persons--a one-half less person reduction in 40 years. In short, there's been an amazing doubling of the amount of living space per person.

Various Trending Factors Determining Living Space Choices

1.      Older or divorced children are coming back to the old homestead based on a combination of factors: economic restraints; assuming care-taking responsibilities for elderly parents; job or career changes; or going back to college. In some cases, older children are moving out of the old homestead to start on a new life away from mom and pop.

2.      There's also a psychology involved where control and choice comes into play. Generally, when human beings control their physical environment, they feel comfortable and in control of life.

3.      Some people who choose to live in tiny homes or apartments do so for financial reasons. However, others may choose otherwise. Privacy is the key issue here. Some sharing the same household might have different standards of cleanliness; who takes out the trash or can you rely on someone else to always turn off the lights on leaving a room?

For those having a carpet at home, it is best having regular carpet cleaners come to the house and do the work as professionals of their trade. It's only a matter of designating which services go to whom; moreover, then making sure the household cleaning chores are kept up either personally or by skilled tradesmen.

Some Revealing Personality Characteristics

According to some design psychologists, nothing reveals a person's personality like their furniture choices. Many times, a private person has the backs of chairs, or the back of a sofa, face the entrance of a room or living space. Private people are also more guarded, and insist on order and organized structure.

Typically, open, carefree and adventurous people have cluttered shelves with tons of family pictures or knickknacks on display.

Controlling or inflexible people usually group the books on bookshelves according to subject and alphabetized by author. Likewise, a person who has books from several genres including romantic novels; biographies and world histories is imaginatively curious about life in general. Introverts tend towards displays of photos, artistic works or nature; in contrast, extroverts generally gravitate toward pictures of people.

Taking a quick look at your refrigerator door many times reveals snapshots of pets, nieces or other close relatives--and a fondness for affection and nostalgic sentimentality.

The Powerful, Minimalist Approach of Feng Shui

No strangers to living spaces and making the best of them are those who are familiar with the ancient Chinese philosophy of Feng Shui. Taking an approach that one's surroundings affect not only a level of material comfort, but one's physical and mental health as well, many home buyers are looking for Feng Shui design efforts in their new home purchases. 
 

Putting it simply, Feng Shui is the free-flowing interaction between one's home and one's environment. A cluttered, unorganized home affects how one performs and even succeeds in life: professionally or personally. Harmony with one's surroundings, to the Feng Shui practitioner, is an art form in itself.

Providing a method to bring balance, comfort and harmony, Feng Shui is often overlooked by modern design psychologists in most of their research studies as a means to bring peace to the human soul.

In short, at the bottom line of living space psychology is the need for persons to be able to feel comfortable within their perceived "space," no matter how small or large that space is. Unfortunately, the planet's population continues to grow without providing adequate, proportionate living space. How well mankind resolves this dilemma, remains to be seen.