Home Therapy: Interior Design for Increasing Happiness, Boosting Confidence, and Creating Calm

by Anita Yokota

"Therapy meets home design in this holistic, beautifully photographed guide to incorporating self-care and mental wellness into all your living spaces. Our surroundings are more than just a reflection of our personal style. The right lighting, furniture arrangement, and paint colors have a direct effect on our well-being. Whether you're looking for better work/life balance or design solutions for your family, licensed therapist turned interior designer Anita Yokota walks you through her signature method for setting up your home to boost your mind, body, and spirit. Featuring beautiful photographs and practical tips, Home Therapy focuses on the four "domains" that must be addressed in each room in order to holistically improve your living The Individual Domain helps you get to know yourself, connect to your ultimate purpose, and discover what you need in a home. The Organization Domain walks you through decluttering each room and increasing its function so you can be your most efficient self. The Communal Domain inspires you to form more authentic connections with others using good design layout and ideas for gathering. The Renewal Domain is about creating the right energy for rejuvenation and recharging. Feeling confident when you step out the door starts in your home, with intentionally designed spaces. With Home Therapy, instead of basing decorating decisions on trends and fads, you'll be able to create thoughtful, personalized interiors that support your lifestyle and sustain your happiness"--

Genres: Nonfiction, Interior Design, Design, Adult, Self Help, Architecture, Reference

303 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 6, 2022

Reviews

[meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the style of a lot of the spaces and found some inspiration and a couple helpful tips. However I realized pretty quick that the target audience of this book is actually people with large houses and significant amounts of disposable income lmaoooo and as an apartment renter I simply cannot relate. Half the tips are about how to effectively use all your extra space and at one point she suggests installing extra windows or skylights 🥴😭🫠 it feels petty to give a book a low rating simply because I am not the target audience for it but the author truly seemed so out of touch with how 99% of people live

[Meryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has such a great concept but fell REALLY short for me. I’m totally sold on the author’s idea that making changes to your space can pay dividends for your mental health, and I always love a career-switch story (she was a therapist who became an interior designer with a therapy-twist, very cool!)

But… the book was pretty disorganized at times and I didn’t feel like I left with a lot of actionable ideas.

The general concept is to think about how your spaces support you in your personal development (through self exploration, self care, and organization that makes your life easier) and in your interpersonal development (through facilitating fun and connection with others). A smattering of ideas about this is mixed with general design advice and inspiration. All of the spaces she shows pictures of are extremely staged looking, and I found it pretty disappointing that there wasn’t anything realistic to inspire me in a book that had a mental health aspect to it. She mentions comparing yourself to unrealistic images on social media a lot, but this book is really just social media images in a book so I don’t see the difference in terms of its impact on your mental health. Also, while she makes some suggestions for inexpensive ways to do things, at least half of what is suggested is more aimed at someone doing a full remodel of a room (changing window sizes, adding skylights, recessed lighting, cabinetry, tile, etc.).

[Dani · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

It’s pretty, I can give it that. And some of the early chapters have helpful thoughts about setting up your home for mental/relational wellness. But the organization of the book itself is not intuitive, the pictures are mostly unrealistic (*everything* in your house fits one color scheme? even inside hidden storage?), and the therapy aspect starts with psychology and ends heavily into crystals and other nonsense.

[Kristin Giese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love design books, but this one was more. It was a mix of design and real-life, actionable solutions for our homes. I loved the authors insights as a therapist and her ideas as a designer. I've already put some of her ideas into action and feel a change for my home and in myself. I'll be coming back to her ideas again and again.

[Abbygail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to give this book to every one I know. Anita Yokota’s work in this book is powerful and inspiring to create a home with therapeutic integrations. Over the course of the year, I have made successful changes around the home that have inspired me and helped me feel at home in a rental. Filled with therapy tools we all need & a focal point of letting your home serve you, this book is insightful and a power-house for interior design.

[Abeer Alamri · Rating 5 out of 5]

من احلى الكتب اللي قرأتها بعام٢٠٢٣، يتكلم عن اهمية تحويل البيت لمكان مريح للنفس، وش يناسبني وكيف اخلي روحي تحب البيت عن طريق التركير على اكثر من تكنيك وطريقه، حبيت مره وبالتأكيد تغيرت نظرتي لبيتي بعد قراءته ، انصح فيه وبقوه 🤍، طلبته من امازون

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this thoughtful way of looking at home design/decor. Really helped me nail down what's possible in my home and am excited to implement these ideas as the house remodel plods along at the speed of a tortoise in suspended animation.

[Relyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was waaaaay too Woo-Woo for me, but the eye candy was great and felt achievable without a huge amount of money.

[Jo-Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

'While this might seem luxurious, anyone with a laundry room directly below their entryway can construct a chute!' 🤣 there were some interesting pages in this, but not much I could use in my 1-bed apartment.

[Bridget Hanks · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn’t resonate with me at all. The pictures were pretty but the writing seemed really pretentious or something. It seemed to assume that the reader would have lots of disposable income to add skylights or furnish a room from the ground up. I want a design book where every stunning before and after is accomplished for under $1000 but I know that’s not realistic… design like this does cost money, but most of the tips felt inaccessible to me. The ‘therapy’ portion was really kinda woo woo too… it’s one thing to make sure you’re not allowing your devices to interfere with sleep or connection. It’s another to reference astrology and recommend crystals and essential oils. I guess what counts as wellness is definitely a spectrum, but I felt like the book wasn’t meant for someone like me, but rather for someone very wealthy with a lot of time on their hands.

[Cathleen Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interior Design books are often delightful to flip through, but I'm not sure I have ever actually read one before. Colour theory is more interesting to me now as a painter and artist, but it was Yokota's credentials as a Marriage and Family therapist prior to her Interior Design career that had me interested enough to borrow this book (hurray libraries!).
As with every other interior design book I've read, this is made for a different demographic (wealthier). The homes are bigger and budgets larger than my life has allowed. I do not have floor to ceiling windows looking out over a forest. I am lucky enough to have my own small home in the suburbs and have done some renovations. My kitchen looks quite like these with white walls, light wood and glass cabinets and white subway tiles with charcoal grout. The Scandi-modern chairs were a must have after a trip to Denmark had us sitting comfortably for hours at multiple houses (page 193 right). I did the intake questionnaire to examine Core Desires and Core Design. I found that I already have quite a few things that I have sorted out. A dining table in this kitchen must not be glass, marble or concrete, it needs to be wood and rectangular. Small enough for day to day in the space with expansion capacity. Ikea to the rescue. Where we live impacts our moods and wellbeing overall. Having the kitchen counter clear of dirty dishes allows meal prep to start so this needs to be done regularly which positively impacts health. I completely disagree with her kitchen organization. I have my baking supplies in one cabinet and the pantry holds the food items. I could not manage if I put flour, the mixing bowl and measuring scale in a common space. That's just anarchy to me, but it works for her and her family, so great. It may work for you. If there was only one way to organize then there would be no more Clutterbug page and videos.
Of the Interior design books I've seen this is actually worth a read. Create a plan for transforming your space into something that feels the way you want it to.

[Hanna Griffis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had really high hopes for this book based on the description, the author’s story/background as a therapist, and her approach to intentionality within your space. I think because I had such high hopes the disappointment I have in the book is more notable.

From a style perspective, everything was pretty but very few things stood out from what’s just generally trendy/aesthetically pleasing. Very few spaces stood out or inspired me to want to keep the picture for inspiration in my space, which is mostly the appeal of coffee table books like these.

From mental health standpoint, I still like the theory of the approach she used, however as far as tangible takeaways I feel like she mostly shared what has worked for her personally/her family and the phase of life they’re in and left little alternatives or ideas for people who aren’t in that phase or mindset. The lifestyle she shows is very admirable, but it very much felt like just one lane of a highway, and with her therapist background I would’ve expected a little more.

It also felt like either the editors didn’t pair the correct photos with the text, or just some of her choices weren’t very functional for the family described (1 example included expanding a kitchen island to facilitate a family of 5 connecting together, but the picture was of a large island with space for only 2 chairs due to the layout). Also there were parts where she said “for this client… xyz” and then later referenced the same photo or space as her/her families which made me have doubts and think that 70% of the “clients” were really just her and her household which gave me the ick. That could be completely unfounded and incorrect, but it’s the vibe that I picked up on so if it’s not the case then it was really poor editing which is unfortunate.

At the end I almost DNFd and gave 1 star, but instead found myself counting pages and hoping for a strong conclusion that just never came.

[Juliet McLean · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! Out of the 1k+ books I have read over the past 35+ years this book has made it into my 'top 3' list. Although it is non-fiction and a design book it never occurred to me that the way I decorate each room within my house could logically have such a mental impact on my day-to-day moods and thoughts. My local library just purchased a group of new books and set up a display in the foyer, this was among them. I flipped through the pictures and decided to take it home to to look at the pictures but, then I began reading. I'm impressed. I happen to be a life long Laura Ashley woman, I own many of their books and my house is 'sort of' decorated in that style. However, this book has inspired me to make the odd change, here and there. The only complaint I have about this book is on page 140 where Anita says, "I often design bathrooms the Japanese way,imagining the homeowner will want to take an exfoliating bath before a shower". I am posting from Colorado. This statement is a MAJOR problem because California gets the largest share of water from the Colorado River. The Colorado River is now DRY and virtually no one should be taking 'a exfoliating bath before a shower'! Given that 9 other states are desperate for water and can no longer grow crops to feed America's population I am shocked that Anita said this. All the more reason why the great state of Colorado should cut California off from their share of our water. With that said, I highly recommend this book to everyone for every other issue that Anita addressed in this book but water. Thank you Anita for taking the time to write it.

[Em · Rating 1 out of 5]

As others have said, it's stupid that the "intake form" wasn't included in this book. You have to use your phone to access a QR code and then it takes you to a PDF. Seriously? This is a $35 hardcover book, and you can't insert three pages for the intake form? I looked up her site, and you download the form from there, but still, that's ridiculous.

As for the photos in the book, they feature gray, white, and beige with lots and lots of white. Boring, and I'm a person who loves neutrals and beige for a home.

I thought I'd love this book because it's written by a former licensed therapist turned decorator. I suspect she's a hobby decorator and doesn't have a formal design background or a license (many states don't require it to hang a shingle).

The pictures in this book feature modern influences by HGTV, Target, etc. Boring. No real flair or style. The pictures are like Ikea set displays, but more boring.

One of the things that irritates me most about this book is that is not concise with her words. She blathers on and on.

Skip this. Look elsewhere.

[Heidi Thorsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The advice and designs featured in this book seem very accessible. A lot of the information is not groundbreaking stuff, But still a good reminder about how to make your rooms both functional and beautiful. This book goes into how to discern your feelings about various rooms in your home more than other design books, and use that information to make changes so that you can feel better in your own home.

I give it three star rating mostly because of the genre-- I enjoy a lot of home decorating books but it's difficult for any particular one to stand out in a fabulous way for me. Like most, this had a lot of information I already knew but also a few nuggets of new information that I found really useful.

I think someone who is a new homeowner or has a place or places in their home where they just don't feel quite right but don't know why could really benefit from using this book, it could be a 4- or 5-star book for them.

[Elizabeth Schlatter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at the library because I'm in the midst of integrating an old office's contents into my home, and it seemed like it would be useful to be very thoughtful about how to do this. The text in the book is helpful, with lots of questions to consider, where are spaces that work for you, don't work for you, inhabitant flows, etc. But the entire book largely has a color palette of nature-based neutrals. Which, you know, is lovely. But some more variety would've made the suggestions a lot more applicable and visually interesting. The "sameness" of all the examples didn't support using the ideas in the book in contexts that weren't cream, beige, wood, sage, etc., Closets had very few items in them, ditto bathrooms and kitchens. It just seemed a bit defeating to see such idyllic interiors knowing that even just on my bookshelf I must have over 100 colors.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even as an apartment renter, I got a lot of valuable to dos, insights, and information from this book. Even as some was the reinforcement of already self-established practices, I feel this book was quite worth my time and focus. I have set up year-end habits of assessment that I’ll add some of this to. I am certain this will be a go-to book if I ever move.

With that said, there are whole sections I skipped over. Homeopathic suggestions at the end that go beyond the scope of scientific psychology and interior design. And, I emphasize my renting status because this is definitely intended for an upper-middle class audience as the lowest financial level (which I guess most books like this are for but I kept wanting some examples that were less grand).

[Karen Carnabucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kind of book. As a therapist who loves decor and considers spaces as a way to create, express and nourish, Home Therapy: Interior Design for Increasing Happiness, Boosting Confidence, and Creating Calm: An Interior Design Book offers the viewpoint and ideas of Anita Yokota, an interior designer and who has also worked as a marriage and family therapist. Although many of the actual structural designs may or may not be affordable to the average reader, she shows everyone how our homes may a place of nurturing, place and inspiration.

[Mardee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine but a bit disappointing

I was hoping for a serious discussion on how home design impacts mental health and how to change your home to increase your feelings of safety and wellbeing. What the book actually provides is a lighter treatment including mostly some design tips and tricks along with common techniques for stress reduction and a few ideas drawn from traditional Chinese medicine. If you have spent time in therapy, you'll probably already know most of those techniques. One positive is that it's a very quick read - I finished it in a couple of hours - although if I had paid for the book rather than checking it out from the library, that might have been disappointing too.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author worked first as a marriage and family therapist before turning to interior design. She begins the book with a link to an "intake form" which surfaces your past and current living situations, how they function/ed and how they made/make you feel. Then she looks at the domains of individual, organization, communal, and renewal. Core desires, intention trays, questions (how does this space serve who you are? who you want to be?), lovely photographs, design tips, lots of options for various rooms in the house, all find a place. Probably the most helpful for me was the intake form, to begin to break loose some old paradigms.

[Claudia Cheyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anita Yokota pursued two careers - marriage counselor and interior designer - which makes this book quite different than any others adressing the topic of creating a comfortable, livable home. She packed a lot of good advice, as well as plenty of pictures between the covers of this easy to read book. I felt that she was more realistic than Marie Kondo when it came to keeping vs throwing away items. Yokota often refers to her own experiences creating her home, and dealings she's had with clients to come up with a helpful and informative book.

[Mary Lynn]

Some interesting ideas for making your house more comfortable and livable. For those interested in mind-body and wellness topics. The photos illustrating the topics are of a modern boho style. No new decorating or design tips here.

[Tammy C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the pictures and like the ideas in this book. Nothing too new, but some stuff about how I've decorated my homes (or not) now and in the past have made me think about why I do things the way I do.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect! It’s a mindful combination of therapy and home design. I love the Intention Trays and am high key implementing them for myself and will encourage my therapy clients to try them!

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains useful tips for mentally connecting with your space. What gets to me after awhile is that every space showcased has the same monotonous cream, warm wood, vintage-esque look. It would've been nice to see a variety of spaces in different tastes using the home therapy techniques.

[Deb (Bee) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas for developing a style of coziness.

[m · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Cessna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, visually appealing, easy read. Bought it more for the inspiring apartment images than the therapeutic advice, but some easy design tips for ultimate noobs (ie, me). Good coffee table book.

[Jean Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love design books but I do wish this one had more color. I liked the idea of creating connections with your family through design and the idea of intention trays; I want to create one for writing.

[Gina]

This book needs an index!