How Interior Design Helped Me Cope with Mental Illness

By Lauren Rose Correa, July 16, 2024

Interior design has a deeply rooted place in my heart. As a teen, I remember plotting out the details of my own room, drawing detailed illustrations in help in the planning process. It was very “shabby chic,” with silver and light blue being the main colors. Despite this, it wasn’t until I was much older that I truly began to fall in love with design and find my own style.

I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy, so as a young adult my style reflected this. I also went through a heavy metal phase where I was really interested in black and studded everything. But at some point, things inside of me started to shift. I began to notice how beautiful an array of bright colors looked when paired together. I fell in love with floral patterns and the color pink (a color I never cared for before) started to look much more appealing to me. I also began to scour thrift stores for décor, and I fell in love with vintage accessories and the idea of refinishing my own furniture.

But there was something that truly cemented interior design as a safe haven for me. In 2018, I had a mental breakdown which led to me being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This breakdown happened in front of people I used to consider friends, and most of them misunderstood the nature of it. On top of the normal difficulty that is associated with mental health issues, I lost a lot of friendships, which was excruciating. During this time, I would spend lots of time alone in my apartment decorating, redecorating, and expressing my creativity. It became a place for me to hide out from negative thoughts that would plague me in the aftermath of my trauma.

Even years later, I am sometimes haunted by things that happened during my breakdown. I have since moved on, gotten married, and had a daughter. Despite all the ways in which my life came together, I still would struggle with intrusive thoughts or reminders of the past. But recently, I returned to blogging about design consistently, something I haven’t done in years. When I started blogging again, I noticed a huge change in my thought patterns. Almost instantly, I am no longer plagued by these negative thoughts. When my mind is consumed by creativity, there’s no space left for anything else.

When I post about design, my goal is to inspire people. I don’t want people to copy my style, but I want them to be inspired to find their own personal style and express it. There is something so healing and so grounding that happens inside of the creative flow. Expressing your personal style might seem like a frivolous thing, but it’s absolutely not. It has the power to improve your mental health in a tangible way, and it can bring you peace in the midst of a troubled time.

God designed us as creative beings, so it makes sense that expressing creativity is so powerful. When we do what he created us to do, it brings incredible freedom and peace into our lives. I am so thankful for how far God has carried me through the years, and creativity is just one of the many vehicles of healing he has worked through.