In general, most people spend a large amount of their income on where they live either as a mortgage or rent. It fulfills the basic requirement of shelter.Many people also spend a large amount of their income on cars. There is a need for transportation, but the amount of money spent on cars goes way beyond that basic function. Some people spend more of their finances on cars than they do on their housing. What does such say about their priorities in life? To them, a residence is shelter, but a car is a social-economic statement, a status symbol that one can show to the world, being “in” with what is the latest fashion and design, and what’s new. It matters not what the rest of my life is like, look at my car! In some parts of this nation, one is evaluated by the car one drives.

Eating is required to survive. We all have to do it to live. We have to have a certain number of calories, nutrients, vitamins, minerals, et cetera to meet this basic need. Our physical health is affected by the food we choose to eat. Our body is literally what we eat. Yet, think about it. What is primarily taken into consideration in fulfilling this basic  need? Taste. We primarily base our food choices on taste. We choose to eat food that we like how it taste to us. We will seek to fulfill cravings for certain flavors. We spend hours shopping, cooking, using different  recipes. methods of cooking, seasonings, ingredients, et cetera. Are all of these resources expended for nutritional value? No. Not to fulfill our basic nutritional needs, but because we like the way it taste to us. Such is the way most of us live.

So what does all of this comment have to do with residential interior design? We expend resources up and above what is needed to fulfill our transportation and our nutritional needs. What happens when it comes to our needs for shelter. Is all that we do to primarily fulfill that need? Or is our residence just to be a financial investment with all expenditures to be exclusively on a financial returns basis or a service station where we eat, sleep, and dress?

For human beings, a residence should be more than a shelter. It should be our home. It should be the base from which we go out into the world and to which we return from the outside world. It should be our haven and refuge. It should be our place of emotional and behavioral expression. It should be where we live and have our being in the fullest meanings of the words.

If we do what we do for transportation and food, would it not be of merit to use the same approach for our residence? The physical need for shelter and other wants and desires can both be satisfied.  The principles of choosing different ingredients, methods, and results for food can also be applied to our residential interior. If you want your house to be  a social-economic status symbol, that can be done. If you want to show the world your level of design and taste, that can also be done.

You have to decide what are your priorities in life and how do you want to experience your basic needs on this planet? Think about it.

Food for thought.