How to Design a Space Using Your Five Senses

When looking to design a space, it’s essential to consider the five senses while crafting the concept of the space. By incorporating the five human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and scent, you’ll be able to create a room with soul. A space that feels alive and whole.

All of us carry, in our hearts and minds, the image of our ideal home – realized or not. It’s the place where we feel the most like our authentic selves. One where we belong.

A home is a place where you can fully be yourself and surrender to the pressures of the outside world.  Home is the place where your mind, body, and soul are restored. It’s a source of emotional nourishment and a place where you can close the door and open your heart.

If there’s any meaning to existence, we’re definitely closest to it while at home. We often take our homes for granted, but when we steep ourselves into our homes, a deep sense of place begins to emerge.

Life becomes more meaningful. We begin to have a greater sense of spatial awareness of what our home is and should be.  Our family members will carry the atmosphere we create in our homes for the rest of their lives.  

How to Design a Space

So how can we create this special place? A home that rises up to meet us when we come through the door. One that calls out to our soul and draws us in like a magnet. A home that calms, soothes, rejuvenates, and restores.

We begin by considering the five human senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.  

I recommend focusing on one room or space at a time while doing this exercise. Grab a pen and notebook and for each room in your home, fill out the following template. I’ve also provided examples to get your brain going.

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Design a Space Template

Room Name: 

Desired Vibe:

Sight: 

Sound: 

Touch: 

Taste: 

Scent:  

Sight:

The Focal Point

When you walk into the room from the main door entrance, what do you want your eye to be drawn to in the room? What things do you want to be visually available for the person who enters the space? What are the focal points? Think about this from the perspective of first impressions. When you walk into a room, what message do you want to be sent first?

There will be other messages sent as the eye continues to wander, but when considering the focal point, you’ll consider what first impression you want to be made.

Focal Point Examples

For example, if you walk into a foyer with tall, architectural ceilings and a massive, grand chandelier, the first impression will be one of elegance. It will be a grand first impression. When you design a space, the first impression sends a message to the viewer. It tells them what the story of the building is, how they should behave, what the family values.

Another example is a grand fireplace with large, cozy seating around it. If this is the focal point, a message is being sent of a value of gathering, coziness, and conversation. This focal point says, “Come in, sit down, and stay awhile.”

Look at your room and think about what the current focal point is, and what you want it to be. Consider how you can enhance it, maximize it or refine what is currently there.

Some examples of commonly used focal points in various rooms are fireplaces, water outside, garden, kitchen island, dining table, chandelier, etc.  Think about what the statement piece is. You can also add any specific visual touches or accents that you think would enhance the room. 

The Message

When looking at the room as a whole, aside from the focal point, think about what overall message and vibe you want the room to give off. For example, in the kitchen, one might want a bright, clean, and fresh feeling. When doing this exercise, try listing as many descriptive words as possible.

It’s okay for different rooms in your home to have different goals. One might want the kitchen to have a slightly different feeling than the office, versus the master bedroom, versus the guest bathroom.

When you do this for each room and are very specific in what the desired outcome is, how you want someone to FEEL when they’re in the space, you’ll be able to implement elements to achieve this.

Through color, texture, and the five senses, you’ll be able to create this desired feeling, not just dream about it and wish it would magically happen.

Example

For example, when we consider how we want to design a space, say a kitchen, and we want it to feel bright, fresh, and clean, we might think about what elements will help us achieve this. Bright natural light, achieved through large unobstructed, clean windows. We might add a bowl of lemons on the kitchen island for freshness, maybe a vase of fresh flowers. We will want to reduce clutter on the counters and have the floors and appliances kept clean.

For a bathroom, if we want a fresh, clean, relaxing, tranquil, and spa-like feeling, we might want to have fresh, soft, clean white hand towels out, we’ll want to incorporate some fresh eucalyptus and maybe a teak wood stool.

Think about the room, think about the message you want to send, and then consider which elements you can incorporate to create this feeling.

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The Five Senses

By using the five senses to design a space, we are able to maximize the human experience in the room. We think about what we want the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the nose to smell, the hands and feet to touch and the mouth to taste.

Sight

The colors in our rooms should reflect what is most pleasing to our eye. Color strongly affects our mood, so pay attention to the way various colors stir your emotions. When we think about what will be seen in the room, we can decide what accessories and focal points to choose.

Sound

You can also think about the activities in the room that will take place, to get yourself imagining the true feeling of the space. For example, what you might hear in a kitchen is coffee brewing, the stove boiling, the sink running, and the cutting board chopping.

In a living room, one might hear breeze winding through open windows, birds chirping, the lawn being mowed outside. Doing this will help you get in tune with designing the space using the senses and really feeling the art you’re creating.

Scent

How a space smells has a very big impact on the effect as well. A masculine cigar lounge office might smell like leather from the sofas, and tobacco or whiskey. A living room might smell like fresh white tea and sage.

What aromas do you want to subtly fill the air to enhance the experience of this space? It’s okay to prefer different aromas in different rooms. For example, you may want your kitchen to smell like coffee beans and vanilla, while the bathroom smells like eucalyptus and sandalwood. 

Touch

When we consider touch, we think about what materials will be felt to help us achieve our desired outcome. If we want the space to feel warm, soft and cozy, we’ll incorporate fur, sheepskin, and tweed.

If we want a clean, sterile feeling say in a bathroom, we’ll incorporate different metals and marble. Here are some different materials that can be incorporated into space to achieve various different moods.

• Light airy – cotton, linen, beachwood, bare branches and greenery
• Masculine, edgy – vintage leather, iron, rustic wood, faux fur, antiqued brass
• Feminine – glass, white faux fur, marble
• Luxurious – marble, crystal, faux fur, porcelain, suede, leather, cashmere
• Traditional – wood, wrought iron, stone, tweed, flannel

Taste

Are there any tastes or things you can add to this space to enhance the overall experience of the room? For example, breath mints in an entryway, whiskey in a lounge room, etc. 

By using the five senses to design a space, we are able to maximize the human experience in the room. We think about what we want the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the nose to smell, the hands and feet to touch and the mouth to taste. I hope this guide helps you to design a space that feels alive and makes you feel whole and at home.