Decorate Yourself Happy: How to Decorate For Everyday Pleasure/Joy

Because psychologists relate true happiness to joyous occurrences happening frequently, decorating your home to promote everyday pleasure makes sense. If you're planning a home makeover, provide for the cumulative total of all the little pleasure moments.

When people rate their happiness, it is the ratio of pleasant to unpleasant emotions and experiences that count. These happy experiences may be simple pleasurable, everyday happenings, not always grand events.

Design Psychology, a new method for residential interior and exterior design starts with planning spaces to support emotional well-being. Homes decorated to support desired emotions create happy spaces for joyful living.

Design Psychology Ideas for Pleasure

1. A tea table in the Main Bedroom provides an intimate space for conversation or individual reflection.

2. A reading nook provides a quiet space for escape.

3. A game table provides a place for playing together.

4. A meandering pathway in the garden provides an enticement to stroll.

5. A garden bed provides the perfect place for relaxing and leisurely afternoon naps.

I mean a real bed, not a flower bed, although you need flowers too!

Let your imagination flow freely, enjoy the process, and focus on your goal of providing pleasurable daily moments at your home.

Joy to you!

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Jeanette Fisher, Design Psychology Professor, is the author of Joy to the Home eNewsletter. Discover innovative Interior Design Psychology and makeover your home to support happiness, productivity, and well-being. For Design Psychology information, see http://www.designpsych.com/ For more information about "Joy to the Home," see http://www.joytothehome.com/

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President-elect Barack Obama, second from the left, stands with, from left to right, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Secretary of State-designate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and National Security Adviser-designate Ret. Marine Gen. James Jones, at a news conference to announce his national security team, in Chicago, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)AP - President-elect Barack Obama picked a national security team headed by former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bush administration holdover Robert Gates on Monday, and said he wants to consult with military commanders before settling on a firm timetable to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq.



A sale sign is posted at jewlery store in Daly City, Calif., Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. The economy took a tumble in the summer that was worse than first thought as American consumers throttled back their spending by the most in 28 years, further proof the country is almost certainly in the throes of a painful recession. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)AP - The U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday.



U.S. Army soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment pray before heading out on patrol in Baqouba, , 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)AP - Barack Obama says the U.S.-Iraq security agreement approved by Iraq's parliament puts the U.S. on a "glide path" toward reducing forces there.



Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a luncheon of the Austin Chamber of Commerce Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, in Austin, Texas. He said  that further interest-rate cuts are 'certainly feasible,' but he warned there are limits to how much such action would revive an economy likely to stay weak well into next year.   (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday that further interest-rate cuts are "certainly feasible," but he warned there are limits to how much such action would revive an economy likely to stay weak well into next year.



AP - Authorities responding to a shooting at suburban Miami mall say one person has been shot and taken to a hospital.

Shoppers are reflected as they enter the Nike Store on Chicago's Magnificent Mile Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)AP - Retailers who saw Thanksgiving holiday sales drop off as the weekend progressed stepped up online promotions on the day known as "Cyber Monday" to try to get consumers tired of the crowds at stores to keep shopping.



People place petals and touch the photographs of slain policemen at a prayer meeting to pay tribute to Mumbai's policemen who lost their lives in the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008. India's top security official offered his resignation Sunday, a senior aide said, as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures following the Mumbai attacks. (AP Photo / Gautam Singh)AP - India demanded Pakistan take "strong action" against those behind the 60-hour siege that left at least 172 people dead, as new details emerged Monday about the gunmen and the survival training that enabled them to thwart Indian commandos.



AP - Israel has gotten fed up with spam. Anyone who sends out messages without receiving the recipient's consent can now be slapped with a big fine.

In this April 22, 2008 file photo Tina Fey makes an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live at MTV Studios  in New York.  (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)AP - Tina Fey's husband is talking about something the "30 Rock" actress would rather not discuss: the scar on her left cheek.



New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress arrives at a police station, Monday, Dec.1, 2008, in New York. Burress was expected to be charged after accidentally shooting himself in the right thigh. Burress shot himself at a Manhattan nightclub Friday night and was released from a hospital early Saturday, the Giants said. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)AP - Plaxico Burress was led out of a police precinct in handcuffs Monday after surrendering on a weapons possession charge, and authorities said that teammate Antonio Pierce is being investigated over his role in an accidental shooting at a Manhattan nightclub.



President-elect Barack Obama announces that Sen. Hillary Clinton will be his choice for Secretary of State during a news conference in Chicago December 1, 2008. (John Gress/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama named former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state on Monday and said Robert Gates would remain defense secretary in a national security team charged with recasting America's leadership role in the world.



A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, November 13, 2008. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)Reuters - Stocks stayed near session lows on Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. economy remained under considerable stress.



Members of ZAKA, Israel's non-governmental rescue-and-recovery organization which specializes in collecting human remains to ensure a proper Jewish burial, speak with policemen after performing religious rituals in front of Nariman House in Mumbai's Colaba area, December 1, 2008. (Jayanta Shaw/Reuters)Reuters - India on Monday demanded Pakistan take swift action over deadly attacks in Mumbai it said were carried out by militants from its rival neighbor.



U.S. President George W. Bush gestures in a conversation with Pastor Rick Warren during the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health during World AIDS day in Washington December 1, 2008. (Jason Reed/Reuters)Reuters - President George W. Bush said the biggest regret of his presidency was flawed intelligence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and told ABC "World News" in an interview airing on Monday that he was unprepared for war when he took office.



An anti-government demonstrator chases after a suspected pro-government supporter in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on December 1, 2008. (Kerek Wongsa =/Reuters)Reuters - Thai protesters prepared to end their three-month occupation of the Prime Minister's office on Monday to consolidate their grip on the main airport ahead of a court verdict that could dissolve the elected government.



Workers wearing T-shirts with company slogans at Siemens MR Center located at the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, November 25, 2008. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)Reuters - The U.S. economy has slumped into a recession, the nation's business cycle arbiter declared on Monday, while European leaders clashed over how much public money to spend tackling a deepening downturn.



Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington November 21, 2008. (Molly Riley/Reuters)Reuters - Democrats in the House of Representatives likely will seek passage next month of an economic stimulus bill costing about $500 billion, a House Democratic aide said on Monday.



Birmingham Mayor Larry P. Langford in an undated photo. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Federal authorities arrested the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, on Monday in a corruption probe surrounding a massive sewer bond debt that has forced Jefferson County to the brink of bankruptcy.



US President-elect Barack Obama (L) nominates Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-NY, as US Secretary of State during a press conference in Chicago, Illinios. Obama on Monday nominated Hillary Clinton to be his AFP - Barack Obama on Monday nominated Hillary Clinton to be his "tough," "smart" secretary of state and his former foe vowed to give her all to steer America through a perfect storm of global crises.



A Federal Bureau of Investagation (FBI) official leaves the police headquarters in Mumbai. India has formally accused AFP - India on Monday formally accused "elements" in Pakistan of being behind the devastating Islamic militant attacks in Mumbai and demanded that Islamabad take "strong action".




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