Designology author Dr. Sally Augustin has been featured in The Wall Street Journal! Read Dr. Augustin’s article on “the most de-stressing room in your house” here.
The Most De-Stressing Room in Your House Isn’t a Room
It’s winter, and Covid’s got us largely homebound. If there ever was a time to trick out a cozy, comforting nook, it’s now.
By Christina Poletto
WHEN COVID-19 took hold, graduate student Anna Palmer claimed a compact hideaway under a stair landing in the Sewanee, Tenn., home she shares with her partner. She can barely stand up in the space—which is hemmed in by two book-lined walls and a honey-pine staircase. No matter. A small mattress, blankets, pillows and a long bolster encourage repose and hours of solace.
“It was essential that we find our own spaces and activities to mentally survive the pandemic,” said Ms. Palmer, 26. “Reading in the book nook was, and still is, my thing.”
Perhaps because they are so recently in utero, children unselfconsciously seek tiny spaces—assembling Legos under a table, playing house in the fireplace. In the Covid era, weary of open floor plans and an overload of togetherness, adults are becoming reacquainted with the pacifying powers of a hidy-hole. And though window seats can offer a restorative vantage point on nature, legit niches afford a more absolute feeling of envelopment.
“Having your back against the wall and a view of the world around you gives you the most secure sense of refuge,” said Dr. Sally Augustin, an applied environmental psychologist and author of “Designology: How to Find Your PlaceType and Align Your Life with Design” (Mango). In restaurants, for example, people gravitate toward seats and banquettes set against a wall, with a view of the door.
Read the entire article here!
Designology
How to Find Your PlaceType and Align Your Life With Design
DESIGNOLOGY gives readers the tools they need to instantly understand themselves and how to work with the world around them. DESIGNOLOGY cuts through the fads of clutter and cleaning books and delivers the clear, uncomplicated truth about why we respond to certain spaces in certain ways, and how we can use colors, scents, and other sensory experiences to create spaces that serve our real needs. Sally Augustin delivers straightforward action plans we need to develop places where we can live our best lives.