Sub-fields within Personalisation Comfort

Strong links were identified between personalisation and perceptual comfort, as participants described different areas of their home, sharing their perceptions of the environment based on the décor, furnishings, etc. Part of the process of turning a house into a home is to decorate it to one’s taste. In describing this, a range of perceptual qualities were identified; order, tidiness, the subjective judgement of the spatial dimensions and through the use of emotive language in describing their experiences of comfort.

Having order and things in their place was significant to those participants who had created their own space for their possessions. A good example of this is provided by Walter describing his shed shown in Figure 34. However, cluttered or ‘messy’ areas were also seen as personalised as this was their way of stamping their mark on their property; Rachael, in reference to her inertia towards redecorating and personalised her home, stated:

To be able to personalise their homes, participants benefited from the ability to make changes or repairs to their property when required. Those who had decorated their homes themselves or had major construction work completed may

Rachael: “Well I kind of feel, it’s got our stamp all over it [in reference to the children toys and books on the living room floor]. I mean if it was horrendous

and I really didn’t like it, then yes I would change it, but I kind of go well it’s fine there’s nothing about it that I dislike so.”

Walter: “The shed, this was built by myself, everything’s laid out to how I

like it. I can go in and find things straight away. [Personalised] because I am the one that needs to

170 have had a greater level of facilitative comfort than those who could not due to financial reasons or restrictions on the property. In fact in one case there appeared to be conflict between elements of facilitative and personalisation comfort; Kevin explained that after doing much of the renovation work on his home himself, he was less inclined to hang photos in his hallway:

Very few incidences of interactive qualities occurred where some participants had decorated private spaces for which they were the main or sole user; Figure 34: Walter, Shed, Personalisation, provides an example of this.

Facilitative Comfort 8.12.5

To capture aspects of facilitative comfort, participants were asked to take photos of different areas of their home where they have adapt the space, where they can carry out activities they enjoy and activities which are necessary. Participants captured adaption in the home in terms of creating extra space, changing the prominent function of a room and having multipurpose spaces. Several participants discussed how they were able to move furnishings around to create ‘extra space’ for carrying out certain activities. The adaption of the space tended to be for activities which were infrequently performed such as entertaining, exercising or home projects [Maria, Kevin, Mike, Rachael and Jessica]. Mike stated how he had been able to extend his home with a conservatory some years ago and was able to use this space for a variety of activities including as a dining room when entertaining:

Kevin: “… this is a slight cause of conflict because I quite like not having lots of stuff around. I think it’s partly because I in effect, apart from the building work but, I’ve done the whole house so I kind of feel like I’m damaging it by sticking things on the wall… it’s all looking quite nice and I don’t like banging

things in the wall. So you know and I quite like having the photos up there but I’m not that bothered, she [his wife] kind of wanted them somewhere.”

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Figure 35: Mike,Conservatory, Facilitative Comfort

In some cases participants were able to change the prominent function of a room, by transforming the space, through the use of adaptable furniture [Maria, Pauline, Sarah, and Olivia]. Pauline described her ‘back room’ as also being several other rooms, the dining room, spare room and computer room; she was able to adapt this space from its usual use as a dining room into a spare room by converting the sofa into a bed, and into a computer room by opening up the cabinet. It depended on what was required to how the room would be arranged; certain functions could be easily hidden:

Mike: “Added extra room to the house.

Used as 'outside' sitting room. Reading, entertaining, 'door step' to

the garden.

We have cleared the space and used it as a dining room or, as the doors

from lounge can be fully pushed back, extended the lounge/dining

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Figure 36: Pauline, Dining Room, Facilitative Comfort

Participants identified areas where had the space to carry out activities they enjoyed [Eva, Pauline, Walter, Kevin and Mike] and also the area holding the objects (crafts table, TV, games etc.) they required for enjoyment, of which some rooms were multi-functional in nature [Maria, Kevin, Rachael, Lewis, Jessica and Olivia]. Jessica stated how her conservatory was the place where she was able to engage in several different types of activities which she enjoyed, they varied in interaction with others and skill, but the conservatory was a space which held all the necessary tools to carry out these various activities:

Photos:

1 Dining Room 2 Spare Room

3 & 4 Computer Room (closed & open)

4

3

2

1

Pauline: “I have decorated our dining room (backroom) so that my husband and I have a space for us to eat our

evening meal.

We both like using the computer and so therefore we like it to be downstairs and easily accessible, but we also like

to use the dining room as a spare bedroom when all the family stay with

us.

The sofa bed is comfortable as a sofa and an occasional bed, and the computer can be closed off so that it is

not in the way when guests are here. This makes a very versatile space in our

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Figure 37: Jessica, Conservatory, Facilitative Comfort

Whilst Lewis described how he could enjoy several activities from the comfort of his bedroom:

Figure 38: Lewis, Bedroom, Facilitative Comfort

As previously mentioned having the space to carry out enjoyable activities was also considered by participants, Eva described how the rug on her living room floor provided her family with space to play games:

Jessica: “I often watch TV and films in here. There is a Wii but I don't

play it as much as I would like. I have an electric piano I like to play. I

also have lots of board games but again I don't find as much time to play games as I would like. I enjoy socialising and this room is perfect.”

Lewis: “This is the area I use the most. I use it to relax either watching

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Figure 39: Eva, Living Area, Facilitative Comfort

Finally, necessary activities were captured as aspects of the third part of facilitative comfort. The necessary activities which were captured were often associated with chores around the home, six participants discussed the kitchen as being somewhere they could carry out the required washing, cleaning or storage of cleaning products, Olivia noted the importance of keeping her products organised:

Figure 40: Olivia, Kitchen Cupboard, Facilitative Comfort

Some participants discussed combining necessary activities with other activities which they enjoyed, i.e. listening to music or watching television to make them more enjoyable [Maria, Pauline and Lewis]. As Pauline stated about ironing in her living room:

Eva: “My family and I use this part of the lounge to play and have fun. There is a large red rug on the floor and it is a fantastic play, to engage with boxed games. We play dominoes

occasionally as the children and I enjoy this game very much.”

Olivia: “The cupboard under the sink has all my cleaning stuff, bin bags, fish food etc. It stores all the

'domestic' stuff I need to do cleaning, washing, bins etc. I don't

like cleaning products to be out in the rooms - this way the rooms look

nice, it's organised and I don't always have to look at them reminding me I need to clean!”

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Figure 41: Pauline, Living Room, Facilitative Comfort

Whilst others noted that certain tasks were necessary and also enjoyable, this was specifically mentioned by Walter and Mike about maintaining their garden:

Figure 42: Walter, Garden, Facilitative Comfort