The first time I ever held a newborn in my arms was a little nerve-wracking. My sister asked me if I would like to hold my nephew, and I eagerly agreed. After some coaching on how to hold and cradle babies, I held him in my arms, and looked into his eyes. And then he started screaming. Horrified, and panic-stricken that I must have hurt him somehow, I whirled back to my sister to suggest that the paramedics be summoned immediately. She didn’t bat an eye, saying, "Oh, he’s just bored." I stared at her uncomprehendingly. "He’s BORED?" She nodded and said, "I’ll walk him around a little bit." And sure enough, the walking commenced, and the screaming abated. As I watched them turn the corner to the kitchen, I mused, "My God, if he makes that kind of sound when he’s bored, what sort of noise comes out of him when he’s angry?"

Later that day, my nephew was placed in his cradle for a nap, and we all crowded around him to continue the adoration. A colorful mobile of different geometric shapes hung in the air over his head, and when the first dreaded signs of bored screaming threatened, my sister sent the shapes twirling, twisting on their individual axes, and my nephew was once again transfixed, engaged, and not in the least bored.

We can thank the artist Alexander Calder for the invention of the mobile. He was famed for creating huge mobiles with creative shapes and colors, gliding in space, and one of his works hangs in the lobby of Chicago’s Sears Tower. Everyone from harried business executives to schoolchildren will pause to watch the artwork soar gently through the air. I remember watching the people as they studied the slowly drifting shapes with the same rapt fascination that my nephew had displayed.

[image courtesy Theothero.com]

From these anecdotes, we can glean three interesting facts:

1. I have a face which children find boring.

2. A change of scenery, or the introduction of interesting colors, textures, and geometry can keep things interesting for people of all ages.

3. Nobody likes to be bored. The mind rebels, our emotions curdle, and we all get cranky to one degree or another. Babies look to us to cure their boredom, as they cannot operate television remotes or videogame consoles without our help, but adults have no excuse. While most of us adults have been socially conditioned not to scream when we’re bored, that doesn’t mean that boredom doesn’t afflict us all from time to time. But surprisingly, many of us don’t take the necessary steps to design our homes to help alleviate that boredom.

Consider the ideas and elements of Alexander Calder’s mobiles, to create a space that helps battle boredom.

Play with Geometry

Think of Calder’s mobile, and experiment with adding different shapes, heights, and angles to your home. Play with contrasts, and move things around until you find yourself responding to some arrangement. Horizontal lines are suggestive of repose and rest; so, to spark interest and energy, flirt with asymmetry, for a sense of movement and action. Remember: This is not an intellectual exercise; it’s an emotional, intuitive one. There is no right or wrong here, and you may want to alter the configuration again in the future.

Exploit Color

Colors can have a great impact on our emotions. Reds, oranges, and yellows are great choices for living rooms, home offices, kitchens, and dining rooms, as they can cheer, stimulate, and energize people. Cooler colors on the other side of the spectrum like purples, greens, and blues, can have a soothing effect, and are good choices for bedrooms, dens, or anywhere you want to emphasize peace and quiet. If you are currently looking at beige or white walls, you’d be surprised by how a splash of color can liven up your living spaces.

Embrace Space

Don’t be afraid of areas of blankness. Empty space is like a rest in a piece of music, or a silence in a stage play, in that it adds resonance to what’s around it. Empty space allows for energy to resolve, and then re-gather before continuing, like an intake of breath between moments of expression. Another reason Calder’s mobiles are so arresting is because of the changing relationships in space between the shapes and forms. Compose your room, and your entire home, to frame those things that are most meaningful to you, by giving them room to breathe. Having things clumped together can mute their individual power, and make them like a cacophony of competing voices, and they can drown each other out.

Incorporate Challenges

Have you ever lain on your back on the grass and studied the clouds rolling past? Remember trying to make sense of the shapes, and the lazy game of discovering what they might resemble? Here again, Calder’s mobiles tapped into that basic, childlike wonder by allowing the subtle movements of his works to gradually bring their elements into new relationships with each other. Consider having photographs, paintings, or other artworks that continue to challenge you, day after day. Art, and what we find beautiful is a personal thing, but the best art is never completely solved, asking us to bring something of ourselves to the conversation, and offers us the gift of continuing engagement. We are all a bit different every day, and with a good work of art, our experience of that art will always be a bit different as well.

Add Movement

Here are some ways to create a sense of movement in your home:

Fresh flowers can provide variety, color, and some welcome asymmetry. They also add a pleasing new fragrance to the air.

Have a chalkboard that you can draw on, and multicolored chalks for variety. Leave messages for family members; write down words and thoughts that motivate you or make you smile, or draw a picture if the mood strikes you.

Consider having a bulletin board to arrange and rearrange photos and illustrations. Rotate the photos and add new ones on a regular basis.

Add throw pillows to couches and chairs. Choose strong designs and colors for them, so that their random rearrangement can keep things visually interesting, as well as allowing family and friends to tweak the setting for their personal comfort.

Consider an indoor water feature. The sound of running water can be both soothing and stimulating, and its flowing movement can make a room seem more alive.

Fireplaces and candles can also create powerful effects in a room, changing the light and playing with shadows, and making even the most static objects seem more organic.

Stress Usefulness

While good design is a wonderful thing, don’t compose a room purely for visual effect. While visuals are important, your first objective should be maximum habitability. There was a home trend for many years that featured austere, perfectly composed dining rooms, with sets of identical-looking furniture, that were every bit as inviting as mausoleums. In order to preserve their perfection, they were rarely if ever used, and most family meals were consumed around the kitchen table. It was easy to forget the dining room existed, as it had so little to do with our daily lives. What a waste! Don’t design a room as if you were dressing a shop window. Usefulness absolutely trumps every other consideration when designing your home.

"How Can I Miss You if You Won’t Go Away?"

An important thing you can do to make your home more interesting is to leave it on a regular basis. One of the best things about a home is the marvelous feeling of returning to it, whether at the end of a long day, or after a long absence. Our homes are nothing without the energies with which we endow them, and that energy is renewed by positive interaction with the outside world. Homes are not intended to be closed systems that enable you to shut out the world, and internalize everything. Rather, they are the foundation that supports you while you engage the wider world.

It’s Up to You

Making your home interesting does require some effort on your part, but if you give it some careful thought, you can create a home environment that keeps you active and engaged, and truly facilitates your daily living. So remember Alexander Calder, and consider taking his ideas out for a spin.

By Robert Bundy for Homeminders

[main image: Alexander Calder: Crinkly avec disc rouge, 1973 Schlossplatz in Stuttgart (Öffentlicher Platz) | Wikimedia Commons]