‘Dopamine decor’ is the anti-trend trend that can boost your mood

If you’ve been seeking a little jolt of happiness anywhere you can find one lately, you’re not alone. “Trying to have a home that is incredibly comfortable and [surrounding] myself with the things that I love tempers my existential despair,” says designer Jonathan Adler, who has made a brand out of mood-boosting with his witty tabletop objects (cases in point: decorative brass boxes in the shape of Xanax; wicker bananas).

Consider Adler’s work the precursor to “dopamine decor,” the viral buzzword du jour. The anti-trend aesthetic is all about eschewing the latest thing and embracing what makes you feel good.

“Dopamine is the neurotransmitter designed to make us do more of the things that are good for us,” says Samuel D. Gosling, author of “Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You” and a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. “The things that make us feel good tend to be things that have been either good for us now in some way or have been good for us in some kind of evolutionary context.”

Some of this is fairly universal — seeing a fire in the fireplace, for example, or being near water — while some of it is particular to you (like wanting to bathe your space in pink because your beloved grandma was a “blush and bashful” girl).

But if you’re using TikTok as a guide, most of the rooms that turn up on a “dopamine decor” search would be considered punchy, even for the internet. Snaking Pepto-pink sofas; stools shaped like Candyland bonbons — the types of overly cartoonish spaces that could give many of us a migraine in minutes (and are not exactly dope). We talked to Adler and other pros about how to do the non-trend trend right. Here are their suggestions.

“For me, color is an injector of happiness,” says Brittany Bromley, a designer with offices in Bedford, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida. “And so while we may start with a neutral base [in a room], we layer things onto that, because when everything in the room is one palette, it doesn’t give your eye the ability to sort of jump around to things. And I think that’s actually quite satisfying to be able to have your eye travel around a room and take it in.”

Bromley recommends considering hues with some soul and depth. “We don’t actually use primary colors very often. ... Very rarely do we use a true primary yellow,” she says. “Instead, we’ll gravitate towards a burnt saffron or something that gives us that color value but is less of a true primary [for] a more satisfying outcome.”

It’s that layered, almost earthy feeling in a color that can often lend a sense of comfort and restorative authenticity. Pairing a chocolate brown with a true red is very traditional, but “if you put a chocolate brown with a persimmon, it’s cool, calm and collected,” Bromley says.

Kristin Harrison, of Bungalow 10 Interiors, sees people embracing unexpected colors more and more. “The days of minimalism and white walls are not necessarily over, but I do see a massive shift [from] playing it safe,” she said in an email, adding that having a home that feels like “an escape from reality” can lift your mood.

“In a world where we are all scrolling Instagram for a dopamine high (or is it just me?!), your home should feel like a respite from the ‘same old,’” Emily Janak, a designer in Jackson, Wyoming, said in an email. “I think one of the best ways to evoke that warm feeling in your home is to inject it with humor and personality.” One of Janak’s favorite ways to do that is to select a not-so-serious wallpaper for a powder room. “A friend who runs her family’s multigenerational Christmas business just papered her powder [room] in vintage Christmas wrapping paper,” Janak said. “How could you not get a kick out of that?” Janak covered the walls of the powder room in her previous house with Queen Elizabeth II-themed paper. “It was arguably not tasteful, but it brought so much joy to our little log cabin,” she said.

Liz Potarazu, CEO and principal designer of the Maryland-based LP & Co., calls her home wellness room her dopamine den. She has stocked it with green millwork, a sauna and cold plunge, and — the pièce de résistance — a floral art piece that says: “Do Epic S---.”

When Marie Kondo advised that we get rid of things that don’t “spark joy,” she was also saying that the things we decide to keep can do exactly that. So find the life-changing magic of those. “Framing personal items like notes and sketches that mean something to you is another way to make you instantly feel good,” Janak says, noting that she framed a souvenir scarf from Jackson Hole, complete with a humorous typo. “I love to include conversation pieces that entertain, whether you have a house full of people or just your family.”

Pieces with round edges, such as the rotund sofas that have been popular in recent years, might actually assist in amplifying your mood. Gosling cites a study by Oshin Vartanian that showed most humans “have preferences for curvature rather than straight, angular spaces.” Round mirrors, orb-like ottomans and poufs, and circular dining tables may have the same comforting effect.

“Everyone talks about the Unexpected Red Theory, but have you tried adding a punch of yellow?” Janak says. She’s right: Yellow can inspire a mood boost. Researchers at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland have found that humans tend to equate the sunshine-y color with joy. “Yellow is such a happy hue. I upholstered a one-of-a-kind mid-century chair in a bright yellow velvet that didn’t coordinate with anything else in the room, but provided that tension you need to have a space feel notsoperfect.” Just call it mellow yellow.

Kathryn O’Shea-Evans is a design and travel writer in Colorado.