[ozzy1313]

I think my mental heath is getting worse as I get older. I used to paint rooms in my house fun color and had lots of funky colorful artwork. I used to paint colorful art pieces. I am re-doing my kitchen and dining room (due to knocking out walls in a hypo state) and I am picking calm colors and want bare walls. I feel like my brain is often so hectic that I want my surroundings to be quiet and uncluttered.

Same with my clothing. I just bought a bunch of new stuff and it is all black or gray. I have been so unstable for months and the world around me has become overstimulating- I never noticed any of these things in the past. Maybe these are coping skills I didn't have before?

[ozzy1313]

I am just finding colors and stuff overwhelming.

I hate how this illness is seeming to get worse. Sometimes I wonder if the meds I'm on make it worse. But then I remember that life wasn't all the great before the meds. My doctor said the meds aren't making this worse- but my moods seem to cycle way more then they used to.

This has become way off topic from paint colors. Now I'm just rambling

My taste in decor and fashion fluctuates with my mood, too. When i'm manic i am attracted to bold, edgy, flamboyant design. When i'm depressed i like subtle, minimalist design. I completely understand how you want your walls bare to help calm the chaos in your head. My walls are almost completely bare. I really like it.

I bought my glasses when i was manic and they are black, horn-rimmed platic with sparkles on the corners! I also have a red leather sofa i bought during mania. Oh well, it's fun. I get how you knocked your walls out -- was planning to do the same thing during my Spring mania but my depression kicked in.

I don't really have any words of wisdom on how to cope with it -- mostly because i feel okay now and find it amusing [at least in myself]. Just wanted you to know you are not alone!

[Turtlesoup]

My home décor just screams MANIC I'm an artist & hope to someday be self-sustaining with my art so our house is like a gallery. I do photography as well-it is quite bright & lively with a lot going on. I switch out paintings & collages depending on my mood-so sometimes its all happy happy joy joy & at others more I guess cerebral & calm. I can totally get what you were saying about clothes-half my wardrobe is vibrantly alive & the other is more subtle. That's one way my hubby notices when I'm headed for a depressive spell cause I don't wear flowers in my hair & wear a lot of black & gray. Thanks for this thread its interesting to see how others find their space & wardrobes affected by their moods.

I do think there's a connection. I consider myself a "semi-minimalist", and order to be an ideal state. I need that calm. I get easily overwhelmed and chaos sends me right over the edge. I try to have A place for everything, because even with this ADD compensatory technique, I lose things constantly. Like… in 5 seconds. That said, when I am in the midst of a creative project, it is like a hurricane zone.

Interestingly enough, BF is anything BUT a minimalist (o.m.g.). His mind requires calm. Yet he fills every surface -- horizontal and vertical -- chock full. But everything is EXACTLY in a certain place. That is his idea of calming order. (Seriously, he can walk into a room and go straight to something that's 1/4" off.)

Color-wise, not too extreme either way. But I do have colorful kitchen stuff. During a major spending binge, I got all this colorful stuff thinking it would get me in the kitchen more. Didn't work. Not being dx'd at the time, I didn't realize it was the hypo driving the buying and the depression keeping me from the kitchen. Turns out it takes more than colorful dishes.

"But I do have colorful kitchen stuff. During a major spending binge, I got all this colorful stuff thinking it would get me in the kitchen more. Didn't work. Not being dx'd at the time, I didn't realize it was the hypo driving the buying and the depression keeping me from the kitchen. Turns out it takes more than colorful dishes."

I did this, too. I have such a hard time in the kitchen i use disposable dishes. Whole seasons go by without me touching my range. I use my mic instead. I even came close to renovating my kitchen to try and get myself to cook. Madness!

Between the disposable dishes and only using the mic, i have a nice tidy kitchen -- such a joy!

[cool09]

I painted houses and apartments in H.S. and college and I can't stand to lift a paint brush or sand spackle at 50 yrs old. I was good at making things look good and now I just don't have the energy/motivation. I've found the most comfortable houses are houses that use lots of earth tones. My brother has a home painted and furnished in earth tones and it's unbelievably soothing and relaxing. I've had a few manic episodes where bright colors just jumped out at me like walking into a grocery store once - I had no idea how many thousands of bright colors were in a grocery store before - it was really freaky (and distracting).

[Love&Toil]

My home decor screams "I GIVE UP". I am overwhelmed by keeping house working full time and having three small children at home. It's too much to manage. I just try to ignore it and block it out as best I can when I am too exhausted to do anything about it. (paper bag on head) It's just too much to keep a show piece picking up after 5 people and nagging them to do their fair share exhausts me to pieces. I still nag them but I find it very draining.

Seems wise to tailor your surrounding to suit your feelings.

[Crazy Hitch]

Less is more.

If this is the more soothing alternative to your senses then you've made the right choice.

[Chickpea321]

Decorating used to be one of the things I loved most. People always complimented our home because of the decor - it was quirky but somehow always worked really well. Perhaps that's when I was either stable or hypomanic? But since I moved out of my home (my husband and I just divorced last week), I haven't even had the motivation to hang pictures. I've been here for almost 6 months now, and I still have done next to nothing (including cleaning). I know I'm in a very deep depression right now, so maybe that's one of those "interests I no longer find interesting". Either way, I do believe there's a correlation. I don't know if my depressed mind prefers the empty walls/lack of decor, or if it's preventing it. I can't say my mood has improved any from NOT having decorated. *throws hands in the air*

Well that was of little help. Just my own experience, I guess.

[ozzy1313]

On the one day I could sleep in I was up at 5am thinking about decorating ideas. I bought a table and chairs for $80 on craigslist yesterday and I am bursting with ideas to re-finish them. Just hoping this enthusiasm lasts until the end of this big project!

[ozzy1313]

Yesterday I wanted calm colors and today I want to spray paint my news chairs yellow with black and white fabric for the seat.

At least it is just paint and can be changed in a weekend if I don't like it.

[~Christina]

I can not handle clutter at all..

[lacerta]

I like the idea of yellow black white combination.

I would love to order and sense of calm in my decor but it seems I just can't achieve it. I see a number of people here are "minimalists" But still with my minimalist tendencies a sense of chaos prevails. It's almost that I crave order but my brain finds this unacceptable and has make its internal chaos external. Maybe I crave external order to give the impression to the others in my life that everything in my brain is line with them and their sense of order.

Originally Posted by Bipolarartist

... But still with my minimalist tendencies a sense of chaos prevails.

This semi-minimalist can totally relate. I'm drawn to it, can create it, BUT maintaining it? That's the hard part. I can't (and don't even try really) when I'm in the midst of a Project. My only focus is the THING. All the elements involved (tools, materials etc.) will get pondered, grabbed, flung according to their "rightness" in any given moment. In that hyper-focus I don't even see what is happening around me. At some stopping point though, the recognition could usually summed up by "holy cannoli…" (Then yes, tidy up.)

Originally Posted by Bipolarartist

It's almost that I crave order but my brain finds this unacceptable and has make its internal chaos external. Maybe I crave external order to give the impression to the others in my life that everything in my brain is line with them and their sense of order.

Hmmm. Now you've really got me thinking about this. I think my brain craves order because it is so scrambly, that in a mess, it just gets scramblier (What, that's not a word? ), and goes either to frantic confusion or shutdown. Also, I have to attention span of a gnat. If I can't just go to the place where something belongs, it's not just that I won't be able to remember what I was looking for. There's a good chance I won't even remember I was looking for anything(!)

I don't *think* I do it for other people (though will get in a cleaning frenzy if someone is coming over --not so much for them, but because it's very very rare, makes me very anxious, and when anxious, I clean…) The primary reason I think is needing it to be able to function. Without it --Confusion>panic overwhelm>shutdown (or meltdown depending on pressure level).

Oh, but back to maintaining. Since overwhelm slows, and bad depression can stop it in its tracks, I really try to stay on top of it when I can, because it's so easy to get in a paralyzing circle.

Does help that there is the motivation from being a visually-oriented person-- I'm hard-wired for the aesthetic!

(P.S. "Can't achieve it" is so very much the category paperwork falls under! Can.Not.Do! Ugh!)

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by apfei

I have such a hard time in the kitchen i use disposable dishes. Whole seasons go by without me touching my range. I use my mic instead. I even came close to renovating my kitchen to try and get myself to cook. Madness!

Between the disposable dishes and only using the mic, i have a nice tidy kitchen -- such a joy!

I think that microwave cooking is still cooking. You are cooking - you do not need to try to get yourself to cook because you are cooking.

I rent a very old unit. The range is electric, which is not something I would want anyway (I like old-fashioned gas range because I can instantly change the heat with gas), but this one... the burners are crooked and only one burner is big and the others are all tiny.

Literally, I only boil eggs or cook pasta or make soups, because for all of those even heat without ups and downs is enough, more or less. The rest I cook in my microwave. There is nothing really bad about it - cooking in a microwave is very economical energy-wise and can produce great results. I cook fish, asparagus, grains, frozen veggies, potatoes, and what not in a microwave. I also have a Tupperware microwaveable omelette maker but have not tried it yet. I have a Tupperware MW rice cooker which works great. Also the cleanup is super easy. I vote with both hands for microwave cooking.

And colors in the kitchen, yes! I actually like that my microwave steamer is green and the rice cooker is blue. And a whole bunch of little cooking implements, rubber spatula, grapefruit spoons, ice cream scoop, and what not are colorful.

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by cool09

I painted houses and apartments in H.S. and college and I can't stand to lift a paint brush or sand spackle at 50 yrs old. I was good at making things look good and now I just don't have the energy/motivation. I've found the most comfortable houses are houses that use lots of earth tones. My brother has a home painted and furnished in earth tones and it's unbelievably soothing and relaxing.

I now go to the house of my personal trainer instead of to a gym where she used to work. In her house, the walls are painted a very warm, earthy hue of brownish red. At the gym everything was some kind of black. It makes such a difference. The earth tones in her house make exercising easier.