An Interior Designer Reveals Just How Much Your Bedroom Affects Your Mood & It's So Wild

Have you ever walked into your bedroom, looked around at a rather cluttered mess, and just felt, well, a little spiritually dampened? If I had to guess, you probably don't ever really think about how your bedroom affects your mood, but it might have more of an impact on your well-being than you realize. So if your room (or even your attitude) is feeling a little stagnant lately, perhaps it's time to get out that old spring-cleaning hat and put on the radio for a nice day of rearranging. Because the thing is, it might be exactly what you need to lift your spirits from the moment you wake up, to the time you return home to your comfy sanctuary.

According to Carolyn DiCarlo, a designer and wellness-driven architect in New York City, a cluttered space can easily manifest itself in your well-being, making you feel just as cluttered and not-like-yourself. She tells Elite Daily that, when it comes to arranging in your room in a way that's best for your overall health, it's best to think about the space you live in as something you can control, as opposed to something that controls you. "Spaces absolutely affect people's moods," DiCarlo says. "Just because we are in a society that doesn’t acknowledge it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. When you walk into a room, you feel it. We are so stuck in our heads, that we aren’t considering that."

She points out that, on a cellular level, a cell responds to its environment. The same can be said on a more macro level for us as human beings as we navigate our day-to-day world.

Not only do spaces affect you and your mood, DiCarlo says, they affect how you think about yourself.

And yes, this is especially true for your bedroom, where DiCarlo says the goal should be to focus on these three things, and these three things only: rest, sex, and winding down. That sounds simple enough, right?

To achieve that goal, the architect says, you first have to pay attention to the directions of your furniture — yes, as in north, south, west, and east — and make sure you don't have any jarring angles. You want a harmonic space, DiCarlo says, and each direction has a certain quality. North, for example, is a direction of stillness and calm, she explains, and a great place to put your bed. "Placing your bed to the north is something indigenous cultures have been long been practicing," DiCarlo tells Elite Daily. "By placing it in that direction, you get those qualities of stillness and calm."

Secondly, she says, the less visual clutter you have in your bedroom, the better. If you can't help yourself, and you insist that you thrive on a little bit of clutter, DiCarlo suggests keeping two of your favorite items out where you can see them — no more, no less. As for everything else, invest in a bookcase, a good shelf, a vase, whatever you need to tuck away the excess clutter. "The less visual stimulus," the architect says, "the better."

The less you have to look at or think about in your bedroom, DiCarlo tells Elite Daily, the more easily your brain can sink into a calmer, less agitated state when you enter the space.

"Messy mind, messy dream state," she says, adding that these things also set you up for a messy day overall. "Cleaning really is a form of cleaning out your mind."

And last but not least, of course, you want to pay attention to the color scheme in your bedroom. DiCarlo recommends going for very calm, soothing shades, as opposed to bold or bright hues. "You want shades that change color with the light and time of day," she tells Elite Daily. "This makes you more connected to nature. If it's bright blue morning, noon, and night, you don't pick up on the subtleties of the day. You want a color that, from morning to night, feels different." With that in mind, consider a very light pastel with a little gray in it, for instance — and whatever you do, DiCarlo says, stay away from red, which will likely just overstimulate you when you want to get some rest.

I don't know about you guys, but DiCarlo has inspired me to spend this weekend putting all my stuff away and moving my bed around for a little ~feng shui~ action. Who wants to help?