Does food taste better in a room with great décor? Do you feel better in your favourite colours? Does spotting your favourite colour or touching a velvety soft fabric make your heart sing?

The answer is yes, yes and yes. Always.

This is the underpinning premise for dopamine décor. Just like last year’s dopamine dressing trend, where people were encouraged to dress in colours that give them joy, dopamine décor is hinged on bringing pleasure to the homeowner.

Dopamine is the happy hormone released whenever we are hit with joy.

Dopamine dressing and décor centre emotions and feelings rather than trends or design aesthetics. They are all about you.

So, if you have a bright red seat that fills you with wonder, a rattan table that is your version of joy in table form, and a bold painting in all the colours of the rainbow, all in the same room, all that matters is that you are happy when you look at them.

Here are five tips to help you curate a happy home and make it a dopamine haven.

Heirlooms and keepsakes

In most design concepts, people have to let go of beloved pieces in order to have a seamless space.

This often leaves the homeowner with an aesthetically pleasing space while their hearts bleed as they move their childhood furniture, beloved chinked armchair, and vibrant pillows into storage.

With dopamine décor, you are allowed to keep everything that gives you joy and throw out everything that does not. It is not about the seamless, polished décor but about having décor that makes your heart burst.

So keep all your items and let the nostalgia hit you and the dopamine roll in.

Whimsy, wonder and joy

Add objects that spark joy and whimsy. It could be a sculpture in the living room, colourful plants in the hallway or a disco ball in the bathroom.

These items spark the production of dopamine, thereby instantly lifting your mood. Go all out and have bold artworks. You do not have to have them in the room’s colour schemes.

It is even better if they are your children’s ‘works of art.’ They will maximise your joy whenever you clock them.

Good lighting

Not only does good lighting make a space aesthetically pleasing, but it also increases the production of serotonin, dopamine’s cousin.

Serotonin is a feel-good hormone often associated with contentment and happiness.

Together, the two hormones create a stable, happy mood. This means that you can have huge airy windows for that extra happiness hit, and incorporate your favourite coloured lights as mood lighting.

Joyful zones

For dopamine décor to work, you need to maximise joy. Bringing things that make you happy into your home is one way to do this. If books give you joy, have a reading nook.

If you are more of a bar person, create an indoor bar. If you love dancing, create your own dance hall; it could be a room with a dancing rug and a disco ball.

Just curate for yourself tiny spots of joy in your home.

Prints, patterns & textures

Make your home a multisensory hotbed. Whatever you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell should fill you with joy. Enjoy a sea of brilliant colours. Have bold prints.

Incorporate a mix of inviting materials that beg to be touched. Play with textures as they add warmth, dimension, and sensory delight.

Have a chunky knit throw over a beanbag and a soft, warm rug at the fireplace. Let your home bring you joy, comfort and warmth.

Let it be the place you go to when you need that dopamine rush. This way, you will never have to chase dopamine.

It will always be at home waiting for you.