Add a bit of You to Your Space

In a space where people will have a great time together, which is what mingling is all about, the amount of visual stimulation they receive should be managed. Your environment should have moderate visual complexity as discussed in some of our other articles for instance this one (you can search on the term too).  A residential environment created by Frank Lloyd Wright has moderate visual complexity, for example.  We’re stressed by places that are too stark as well as those that are overwhelming, so bare tabletops and walls are as undesirable as ones packed cheek-to-jowl with paintings, photos, school art projects, travel souvenirs . . .

But what should you display in your carefully curated new home or office? 

You should use the items on your vertical and horizontal surfaces to tell the story you want people to hear about yourself and the people you live with (of if you are working in an office, those that you work with).

Consider what makes you proud when you think about yourself or the set of humans in question. 

Are you competitive sailors?  Do you work tirelessly to protect and restore our natural world?  Are you a Lithuanian with fond memories of the homeland?

If you are, place one or two items, be they photos or paintings or sculptures or anything else that silently send the desired message out for others to see—and to remind yourself about whatever is being “said” at the same time.

As long as you can tuck things away out of sight in storage boxes or under the bed or wherever might be available, there’s no reason that items not on display today but that are meaningful to you need to be discarded or donated.

You can start a new monthly or quarterly ritual and rotate some of the items on display into storage and take the same number out of storage and get them out where they are on view and singing their song.