The Impact of Interior Design on Self Identity

Interior design isn’t about designing pretty spaces. It’s about end-user experience. And I’ve been thinking about something lately that I haven’t talked about in a while, my ADHD. (The raging kind.)

At first glance, those two things don’t seem like they have anything to do with each other. Interior design and ADHD. But the more I sit with it, the more I realize they have everything to do with each other. And that might actually be why I care so much about how spaces make people feel.

When a hotel designs a lobby, they aren’t asking, “What sofa is trending?” They’re asking, “How do we want guests to feel when they walk in?” Important? Calm? Energized? Understated but luxurious? The entire experience is intentional.

Retail stores do the same thing. Restaurants do it. Even well-designed office spaces do it. They are shaping behavior, mood, identity, all through the environment.

We don’t talk about this enough in residential design.

Here’s what’s really happening in your day-to-day life: you are constantly choosing environments based on identity. You might not say it out loud, but the dialogue is there.

• Am I the type of person who shops there?

• Is that my kind of gym?

• Would someone like me stay at that hotel?

• Is this my kind of home?

We don’t avoid certain environments because we think we’re better than anyone else. We avoid environments that don’t feel aligned with who we believe we are, or who we are trying to become. Your space is not neutral. It is constantly reinforcing something about you, whether you’re aware of it or not, and if you have ADHD, you feel this on another level.

Those of us with ADHD are hypersensitive to our surroundings. Chaos isn’t just “a little messy.” It’s loud. Clutter isn’t background noise; it hums in your nervous system. Lighting, color, visual overload, unfinished tasks sitting in plain sight, they register more intensely than we’d like to admit.

Even if you don’t have ADHD, your body still responds to your environment. You might not label it the same way, but it’s happening.

If you walk into your home and it feels chaotic, sticky, cluttered, and overwhelming, the version of you that shows up in that space will match that energy. You’ll feel reactive. Scattered. Slightly behind. If you walk into a space that feels intentional and aligned, you show up differently. You stand up straighter. You think more clearly. You feel capable.

That isn't an aesthetic preference. That’s identity reinforcement happening in real time.

Here’s the part that matters most, especially if you’re feeling stuck: You do not need a renovation. You do not need a new sofa. You need a micro-win, something small that shifts the signal your environment is sending back to you.

Pick up three things off the floor. Wipe one counter. Put the pen back where it belongs. Fold a small pile of laundry. Take two branches from outside and put them in a glass on your kitchen table. These actions aren’t about cleaning. They’re about interruption. They interrupt the identity of “overwhelmed” and replace it with “capable.”

The moment you walk through your door, the energy of your space hits you. That energy influences who you’re going to be for the rest of the evening, sometimes for the rest of the week.

Interior design isn’t about creating pretty rooms. It’s about shaping environments that support the version of you you’re trying to grow into. 

When you start seeing design through that lens, everything changes. You stop decorating, and you start thinking differently. Sometimes that looks like building a national commercial firm. Sometimes it looks like folding three shirts. Both matter.

This way of thinking about design, the psychology of it, the end-user experience, the identity piece, is exactly how I teach inside the Degree-less Designer Crash Course. It’s the foundation of how I approach projects and how I train designers to think.

The Valentine’s promotion has ended, but I still want you to move forward. You can use code DDLOVEEXTRA for 10% off the Degree-less Design Crash Course.

XO,

Shira