Dopamine Décor: Optimising Your Kitchen for Happiness

Monday, 30th September 7:41pm 2024

“Happiness comes from within!” interior designers said after the barbiecore fad. And you agreed. Donating your stuff to embrace minimalism meant less cleaning – plus, you found the remote! The only problem is, just as you delivered that last load, they decided maximalist design was in again.

“Ugh,” you huffed, heading back to re-buy your stuff. (You couldn’t just take it back, of course. That’s basically stealing from charity.) No matter. At least you re-found happiness amidst your salvaged junk (even if you lost the remote again). Plot twist, though: another U-turn: “Minimalism is cool!”

Enough. Try dopamine décor.

At Masterclass Kitchens, we love trends. But what if we told you that dopamine décor could keep you happy with your kitchen forever? No need to trend chase or live in a white kitchen with one spoon, pretending you love it. Just a personalised decorating ethos designed to boost your mood for good. Some won’t like it, but that’s fine; it’s your kitchen.

A Carnegie Claret and Solva Vintage Rose Range by Sigma 3 Kitchens Newport

What is Dopamine Décor?

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, dopamine décor stems from the TikTok trend “dopamine dressing” – the act of wearing bright colours and items you love to boost dopamine, a feel-good chemical in your brain. Similarly, dopamine décor stimulates pleasure receptors through the act of interior design.

The practice encourages you to experiment with colour and texture, balancing minimalism and maximalism, until you reach a sweet spot uniquely calibrated to make you happy. Put simply, a home that exhibits dopamine decorating typically contains three basic principles:

• Lots of nostalgic décor
• Blocks of solid colour (colour drenching)
• Plenty of items that spark joy

A Hardwick Vintage Rose and Shelford Farringdon Grey Range by Et Lorem
A Sutton New Forest and Ligna Farmhouse Oak Range by Elmview Interiors

The logic comes from kids, who are happiest surrounded by items they love and don’t have interior design “taste” in their vocabulary. Remember your childhood bedroom? The vintage décor. The kitsch, random wall posters. That’s the basis of the dopamine décor trend.

Prefer a room with just a few high-quality items? That’s okay! Love maximalism? Also fine. Dopamine home décor draws from lots of muses, including colour drenching interiors, vintage décor and retro kitchen appliances. The only “rule” is that you decorate unapologetically to stimulate your inner child.

The Psychology of Dopamine Décor

Understanding a bit of brain chemistry is key to legitimising the dopamine décor concept. On her blog, the author of The Aesthetics of Joy, Ingrid Fetell Lee, explains the science well:

“While dopamine is known as the ‘feel-good’ neurotransmitter, it’s a bit more complex than simply dopamine = happiness. [...] When you take an action that increases your chances of survival or thriving, such as eating something that tastes good, the reward pathway is activated and dopamine is released, making you feel pleasure. […] It’s also important to note that there are other neurotransmitters and hormones that play a role in the neuroscience of happiness. These include serotonin (contributes to mood regulation), oxytocin (essential to bonding and belonging), norepinephrine (related to excitement and attraction), and endorphins (involved in pain and discomfort relief). […] While it would probably be more accurate to say “dopamine serotonin oxytocin norepinephrine and endorphin decor,” that’s a bit of a mouthful! So dopamine decor is a useful shorthand.”

Put simply, you feel good when you experience stimuli that release dopamine (and other happiness chemicals). So, the key to happiness is to fill your kitchen with dopamine-releasing stimuli.

A H-Line Sutton Graphite and Deco Copper Oxide Range

In practice, engineering such an environment isn’t easy. You need to create a “Goldilocks” kitchen that’s stimulating enough to massage your happiness receptors but not so much that it overwhelms and frazzles your brain. Get it right, though, and the result can actually improve your mental health.

So, how do you get “right” an interior design approach that’s completely personalised? In reality, there’s no easy answer. That said, there are broad brushstrokes anyone can apply to master dopamine décor. We’ve broken them into three actionable steps.

1. Embrace Colour Psychology

Natural light is a known mood booster. Hence, if you’re renovating before you deploy your dopamine décor, try baking windows and skylights into your plans because they’ll enhance everything that follows. Then, once that’s done, look into the world of colour therapy.

Dopamine décor presents clear throughlines on Pinterest regarding colour: 1950s design; pop-art décor; colour drenching. Bold colour blocks play a role, but choosing the right colour for you is vital. After all, individual colours influence our psychology in a range of ways.

A Carnegie Claret and Solva Vintage Rose Range by Sigma 3 Kitchens Newport

For instance, barbiecore maximises on pink, which studies indicate reassures the nervous system. Red, meanwhile, raises your heartrate, creating a sense of urgency. Blue soothes, which is great for productivity. Yellow (in small doses) promotes optimism. Green is calming, similar to being in nature. Orange stimulates appetite and social interaction. And purple exudes luxury, which inspires creativity.

So, how do you want your kitchen décor to influence you? Do you want to feel reassured, impassioned, productive, optimistic, calm, hungry, talkative or creative? Pick a colour that will help you achieve your desired brand of happiness. You can go deep on one or mix for a blend of outcomes, or even balance neutrals with accents to avoid overload. Just ensure you use bold colours somewhere in your design.

2. Use KonMari to Spark Joy

As we’ve established, blue kitchen paint colours or blue kitchen cabinets can help you hack your psychology to feel calm. You’re unlikely to benefit from the hack, though, if you offset it with worktops so cluttered they weigh down your mind with decision fatigue.

Yes, dopamine décor gurus say we need to embrace interior design eclecticism, populating rooms with sentimental décor and other pleasing stimuli to achieve happiness through design, but you don’t want to overdo it. After all, happiness studies tell us that more stuff doesn’t always equal more happiness.

A Hatfield Scots Grey and Moonlight Blue Range by Sigma 3 Culverhouse Cross

If you want happiness, it’s best not to design a room that swallows a lot of time and energy to keep clean. Instead, try designing a kitchen that encourages you to focus on things you love, namely hobbies, goals and people. Start by embracing Marie Kondo’s “KonMari” method – the act of removing all superfluous possessions, leaving yourself with only things you need, love and can keep organised.

Strip back to dopamine décor furniture. Maybe some retro antiques that remind you of passions you’ve had since you were young. The more playful the better. Loved cooking fantasy-themed recipes? Keep you Harry Potter oven dish for inspiration. At the risk of sounding like Dr Seuss, the key is to create a kitchen where you love everything you can access, and you can access everything you love.

3. Go Maximalist on Cherished Items

The Pareto Principle, which states 20% of causes lead to 80% of effects, appears all around us. In business, 20% of clients make 80% of profits. In farming, 20% of plants produce 80% of the yield. Run this idea through the dopamine décor filter and voila: 20% of possessions make 80% of your happiness.

The other 80% that max out your capacity for attention mostly cause upkeep and stress. The trick, therefore, is to identify the best 20% and replicate it if you want to overshoot your original happiness ceiling. Maximise thoughtful purchases and you’ll be happier than ever. Or, put another way:

40% Good Possessions = 160% of Your Original Happiness

An Ashbourne Oxford Blue and Scots Grey
A Hardwick Highland Stone Range by PB Home Solutions

Remember, personal interior design is the key – bright interior design and heirloom furniture. Make it as comfortable as possible because style alone won’t get your dopamine centres firing.

Combine vivid colours, patterns and textures, plus plants into your kitchen for their wellbeing benefits. Display mementos of stories from your life on open shelving, including things you think are cool, not just what society tells you are cool. And – most important of all – aim to achieve a sense of feel-good nostalgia. Combined, all these factors produce powerful, mood-boosting dopamine décor.

Where to Buy Dopamine Décor

Stimulating furniture is the heart of dopamine design. So, if you need more help choosing a foundation, find your nearest Masterclass Kitchens showroom and book a meeting, or become a Masterclass Insider for free. As Masterclass Insider, you’ll get exclusive lifestyle guides and design tips.

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