Edited Spaces Healthy Places (p.40)

By Carol St. Sauveur Ferris

It's the start of 2012. Christmas decorations have been put away and the house is restored to order. And now, if you're like most Americans, you are taking a stab at implementing a few New Year's Resolutions. Lose weight? Quit smoking? Exercise daily? Save more? All are healthy noble goals, but incredibly challenging if your environment is unsupportive.

In fact, numerous studies have shown that the built environment can have a positive or negative effect on a person's behavior. Architects, interior designers, and urban planners take this very seriously as they design spaces and places for us to live, work, gather, and play. You should too.

Make your personal spaces work for you because they heavily influence your perceptions, feelings, and stress levels 24/7. They should inspire, support, and nourish you. If they don't, it's time for a makeover.

THE KITCHEN
For example, if you're trying to lose weight, clean out the pantry closet and cabinets of all junk food and stuff you never use. Then take a queue from the experts in supermarket merchandising and organize your kitchen so that the healthy foods found on your new eating plan will be in full view and within easy reach.

Now bring out and display your special occasion dishes too. Use them daily to honor yourself and your commitment to your New Year's goals.

THE CLOSETS
And if you're trying to get your day off to a good start, an often neglected space that stresses even the most resolute is the closet. Many look like the aftermath of a tornado making every day dressing an anxiety-ridden experience.

Think about boutique shopping and try to create that same pleasurable environment in your closet. Donate, sell, or discard items that you never wear and what you had hoped to wear for the last few years. Raise the shelf and pole unit on one wall and add a second one underneath to double your hanging space. If you can afford matching wood hangers, buy them, but sturdy plastic hangers will certainly do. Group your shirts, blouses, skirts, jackets, pants, and dresses separately, then arrange by color and face them the same way.

Seeing your belongings beautifully organized makes everyday dressing a breeze and represents a new found respect for yourself. What a great way to start the day and what better way to motivate you to stick with those resolutions!

THE OFFICE
Similarly, whether at home or office, you probably need to edit your space. The best interior designers are avowed editors of space. It's the uncluttered balance of color, texture, and objects that create the peace and harmony we all seek. Lots of stuff for stuff's sake does not make for long term calm and happiness. They're a quick fix like junk food, and similarly, they add up like unwanted calories.

THE DECOR
Step back and look at all the rooms in your home objectively. Do you really need all those magazines piled on the end table in your living room? How about all those family photos in millions of little frames from the last decade cluttering every available surface in your family room? Could all those cute little florals in matching frames all over the walls be replaced with one or two dramatic botanicals?

If this sounds like too overwhelming of a task to take on yourself, then hire an interior designer for an hour or two to help you edit your house, room by room. By doing so, you will be given solid, professional advice on what to sell, discard, or store and suggestions for rearranging items within your décor to support how you wish to live.

And like nature, your edited spaces will become healthy places for you to breathe and grow, setting the stage for success with the resolutions you are now motivated to keep in 2012. Happy New Year!

Carol St. Sauveur Ferris is co-owner and interior designer of VEURDANZA, LLC, a space planning and interior design firm in Raleigh with a gift and home décor boutique located in the Shops of Baileywick. She may be contacted by visiting www.veurdanza.com.