Say what you will, working from home is slowly but surely becoming the new standard for work in the new age. The trend emerged out of necessity in the pandemic world, but it looks like the trend is becoming a part of modern work culture. The social and economical disruption of the pandemic also forced everyone to take a step back and re-evaluate their relationship with their living space, and interior design trends are not lagging behind in reflecting these changing dynamics. Hand-in-hand with these changes is one other trend that has been growing and garnering increasingly more traction even before the word ‘pandemic’ entered mainstream media. And that is the increasing consideration that people are paying to their consumption patterns and the sustainability of the planet. Sustainability, multi-functionality, and longevity are all factors that are considered in interior design in the present day and age.
Dopamine Dressing
All these serious and practical considerations don’t mean that the world is moving away from fun and whimsy either – in fact, quite the opposite. ‘Dopamine dressing’ is the emerging trend in a world looking to move increasingly away from the social trappings of the past. Dopamine dressing looks to incorporate comfort and relaxation with refreshing colour palettes and textures in the home. There are no apparent rules to the trend either, individual comfort and happiness is key. With that said, there are also a few key aesthetics that are emerging in line with dopamine dressing in the interior design space.
Structural Dopamine Dressing
‘Comfortcore’
Soothing textures and a cocooning finish is key to comfortcore interior dressing. As the name itself suggests, the aim is to prioritise a sense of comfort above all else in a given space. This applies to furniture, which tends towards soft and rounded forms, soothing tones in colour, and soft, fuzzy, and tantalising textures. A comfortcore aesthetic makes the home or living space transform into a safe and secure heaven for the senses.
Heritage Design
Even as globalisation picks up pace through the internet, people are also becoming increasingly conscious of their cultural roots. The heritage trend is seeing the resurgence of traditional details such as culturally relevant patterns and prints, traditional furniture and even traditional spatial design. These details bring in an element of period-specific charm to interior spaces, making them both individual and timeless. Patinated, distressed and or lived-in finishes can add an additional dimension to your living space.
Ease and Joy in the Home
Unorthodox design choices that maximise joy and comfort is fundamental to ‘dopamine dressing’ your home. Easy chairs in the kitchen, a divan bed for seating at the dining table, a reading nook in the laundry room, all help you add your own individual style and give new meaning to how you use these spaces themselves. Layering colours, textures and patterns is key to ensure that your choices look deliberate. The best thing about going down this route when it comes to interior design is that there is no wrong way to go about it, so you needn’t hesitate to put together a mismatched look, if that’s what you prefer instead.
When it comes to structural choices in interior design, dopamine dressing aims to project a sense of playfulness and youthfulness. Those who find youthful shapes and patterns more appealing will enjoy this trend more than others. Other design elements that can help you express your vibe are rugs and carpets in unusual shapes and colours, unorthodox ornaments and knick-knacks.
Colour Choices for Dopamine Dressing
Committing to colour pairings that inspire and refresh living spaces is also key in dopamine dressing. As with structural choices, pristine and homogenic colour choices are being left firmly behind. Colour has the ability to sway our very moods, and is key in incorporating the theme of happiness and comfort inside the home.
Anyone weaning themselves off of the clinical look or looking to experiment can start off small. A printed or patterned cushion, a cheerful throw rug, or a flowery curtain are all easy and undemanding ways to see if the trend works for you as well.
Sunset Hues and Painted Borders
White, sterile spaces for the home are the design choices of the yesteryear. Sunset hues, soothing green tones and warm earthy hues are joined with colour choices that inspire cheer and hope in the modern home. Life is hard enough without making it dreary as well seems to be the thinking, and fresh paints are also a relatively easy way to transform what you’re working with. Painting the borders of a room for example allows you to express new depths and space in the home – in contrasting colours for a cosy effect or bold ones for a more artistic look.
Geometrical Colours
In line with using coloured borders to add depths to spatial design is the use of colour to express geometrical shapes in your home. Standout features such as a curving wall, an unusually-shaped window or an unconventional entry can be easily ‘dressed up’ and accentuated by painting them and accentuating their backgrounds through your colour choices. What was once hidden away behind plant pots and drapery can become statement pieces that invigorate an entire space.
Colour Drenching
It is expected that colour drenching will also feature in much of dopamine dressing trends in 2023 and beyond. The technique takes paint colours from the wall and onto the ceiling for a more cohesive look. Bold colour choices make for a more striking look, and pastel tones for a more soothing one. As said before, the great thing about playing with colour is that it doesn’t need an entire overhaul of what you’re starting with, and can actually inject new life into tired spaces.
If there is one thing that the dopamine dressing trend makes clear, it’s that interior design is no longer an area in which we need to feel meek in. The living space is truly for us to customise, and the guiding principle when you’re faced with any design or decor choice should be less about how it looks and more about how it makes you feel.
(Theruni Liyanage)