Curve Appeal

Rounded furnishings may make you feel less on edge and more hopeful.

If you feel like you’re in a happy place right now, maybe your emotions have something to do with the furniture you’re around. Same goes if you’re feeling on edge. So says a recent study that compared the impact of different furniture types on people’s emotions. Researchers at Oregon State University found that rooms with curvy furniture produced more positive emotions than rooms with rectangular furniture. The curvilinear rooms made the subjects feel relaxed, happy, hopeful, and even more sociable than the rectangular, sharp-angled room settings. Courtney Jeffcott, a design consultant at Baer’s Furniture in Altamonte Springs, is not surprised: “Shapes from nature are more pleasing to the eye,” she says. “People are turning toward a more organic feel in their homes, and that’s why you’re seeing a lot more curvy pieces with modern undertones.” Here are a few home-décor items we found to help you round out happier rooms.
 

Hot-pink Menlo Park armless chaise by American Leather, suggested retail $3,300, Slone Brothers in Longwood and Scan Design in South Orlando and Altamonte Springs
 

The Lobster chair with bent- wood “shell” and leather interior, $4,885, exclusively at Scan Design Altamonte Springs and South Orlando
 

Omni console by Century, $3,600, Baer’s Furniture in Altamonte Springs
 

Minut floor lamp, $79.99, IKEA Orlando, near The Mall at Millenia