Have you ever heard designers speak about the way something feels?

Has it given you pause for concern, worried that any moment now someone's going to grab your hands, look deep into your eyes and ask you to share your feelings?

Fear not.

What we're talking about here are the qualities that affect how you feel when you’re in a particular room, garden, house, building, park, or city - any place really.

How does this place make you feel?

A bit freaked out, maybe? Is it overwhelming? The edges are a long way away if you're standing there in the middle. There’s nowhere to find shelter or privacy. Everything you did would be on full display. Unless you're a despotic dictator with need to frequently remind your peoples of your terrific might and power, you'd be unlikely to feel especially relaxed in such a place.

How about this place?

It’s different, isn’t it? It’s a lot more enclosing and protective for one. Perhaps you find it more welcoming.

This one?

Some people might find this place private, secure and serene. Others might find it a bit isolating.

Why is this important?

If you start to notice and understand how different places make you feel, it’s much easier to describe how you want places in your home or garden to feel. And once you know, it’s much, much easier to work towards achieving that feeling, or quality.

There’s lots of ways to achieve the quality you’re after, and we’ll talk about some of them in future Design 101 topics.

Now it’s over to you.

Think about your favourite place, either at home or somewhere you’ve visited. Now tell me what qualities it has – how does it make you feel when you’re there?

Let me know in the comments section.

If you found this useful and interesting, consider sharing it with a friend, and I’ll see you soon for more Design 101.

Have you ever heard designers speak about orientation? Has it given you pause for concern, worried that your penchant for wearing latex and scuba suits in manners for which they were not originally intended is about to be revealed?

Fear not.

The orientation we’re discussing here, if properly understood, will actually make it easier and more comfortable to enjoy the things you want to do in the privacy of your own home and garden.

So what is orientation?

Orientation simply means the location of your garden and home in relation to the sun.

In Australia the sun rises in the east, travels through the sky to reach the north at noon, before descending again to a western sunset. In summer the sun is high, and in winter it is lower.

Why is this important?

If you live in northern Queensland and you want to have Christmas lunch outside on your new deck, then you don't need me to tell you that you need to understand where the sun’s going to be at come midday. Once you know, you can make sure the deck is placed where it can be shaded by trees, roofing or a combo of the two.

On the other hand, if you live in high country Tasmania, you'll probably want to plan your deck and garden so you’ll be warm and sheltered. Seems pretty obvious when you think about it, but you'd be surprised how many houses have been built that don't take account of this simple, yet significant factor.

This approach translates through every aspect and detail of designing your home, garden and landscape.

Do you have bizarre night time rituals that require long, uninterrupted sleep-ins? Maybe don’t put your bedroom on the east side of the house.

Like to swim in a cool oasis, out of the sun? Maybe put your pool to the south, or make sure there’s space for a dense surrounding garden with shade trees.

Want to grow a kitchen garden? Make sure adjacent buildings or trees aren’t over-shadowing the space.

And finally, if you do wish to loll on the lawn in your scuba suit, then maybe some strategically placed sun shading will protect your privates from poaching, and your neighbours from nosying.

Now it’s over to you. How did you enjoy the first lesson in Design 101? What would you like to learn about next? Let me know what weird words you've heard designers use that you'd like clarified. And finally, let me know how understanding your orientation is going to free you up to think more creatively about how you plan things in your home and garden, scuba suit or not.