‘Tis the Season for Cosy

The space in this photograph is a fine place to spend some time.

Nothing says “cosy winter afternoon” faster than a fireplace fire.

Staring into those flames is, what’s known in the psych biz, as “cognitively restorative.” Cognitive restoration is a fancy way of saying that looking at that fire helps us restock our levels of mental energy after we’ve depleted them doing something that saps our brain’s reserves, such as concentrating on solving a problem—which explains why after a long week in an office, spending time staring at a fire makes you feel so good and ready to tackle the crossword puzzle in the Sunday paper.  No fireplace?  You can get the same effect by looking into a candle flame or an aquarium.

The bulbs in the lamps in this room seem warm, which will help anyone lazing about feel calm and relaxed.  Warm light also make it that more likely that the people mingling in this space will feel sociable.

Looking at wood grain helps us beat stress also, so a coffee table like the one shown between the sofas in this room is always a good idea in any place you want to calm down and feel better.  The hardwood floors are also highly desirable from a psychological perspective. A little visible wood grain on the walls in this library space would be excellent, but there is a limit for wood surfaces.  When more than about half of the planes in a room show wood grain, wood benefits stop accruing.

The furniture arrangement in this room is optimized for extraverts—they love sitting on sofas, particularly parallel sofas, while introverts would much prefer individual chairs. Introverts in this space can always break the gaze of whoever is across from them by looking at the mid-table plant, however, which keeps tension tolerable.

Sofas are particularly good at helping people stay whatever distance they want from each other, whether that’s cuddling close or distinctly distant.  We have “interpersonal distancing control” when we sit on them.  We can also recline on sofas, and that makes us just a little more tolerant of whoever’s around, which can be a very good thing if they’re a sullen teenager or a “challenging” sister-in-law.

The window here lets in natural light during the day, that optimizes our mental performance and mood and starlight at night.  Opening it creates the natural ventilation we respond to so positively—and gives us a comfortable level of control over our world.

Time in a cosy den like this one is great for refreshing our minds and keeping stress levels low enough so our bodies feel fine.