Why Sensory Interior Design?

Wax & Wane Interiors’ brand story.

Hello and welcome to the inaugural blog post from Wax & Wane Interiors.

I’m excited to share with you my story about how this business came to be and why specifically I have focused on the area of sensory processing and not sought a broader clientele.

I have sensory processing difficulties. Looking back, it seems obvious, but 30 years ago during my childhood it just wasn’t a thing. I was picky, fussy, over-reactive to noise and unable to follow uniform regulations – I always wore a t-shirt under my school shirt to avoid the thin polyester against my skin, and the tie was a constant irritation around my neck.

Fast forward to today and I have three young children, two of whom have sensory processing difficulties. Both have sensory behaviours that differ from each other, and quite often, their needs clash. To complicate things further, their opposing needs also clash with mine. They both crave vestibular and proprioceptive input (balance, movement and deep pressure), yet they do so differently. One is a real sensory seeker; jumping and crashing on the furniture; sliding down the stairs on a gym mat at high speed and dangling upside down precariously from a pull up bar. The other needs more subtle input: walking on the Lego sprawled across the floor to get to the other side rather than walking around it, as well as standing on box lids, toys and teddies that seemingly spend their lives between little toes. Objects are held onto with so much force that they snap and break; spinning wildly in circles in the kitchen to much loved 80’s anthems: Bon Jovi and Ghostbusters are the current favourites.

Every day is like a party in our house, but not for my ears.

The expensive sofa, more than one bed and a couple of tables (along with countless Lego pieces and box lids) have been broken from this insatiable need for input and it drives me nuts.   

Our entry into the world of sensory processing difficulties as parents came about in 2020. I vividly remember being with the paediatrician who diagnosed my eldest with Sensory Processing Disorder (I feel the icing on the cake was when my shoes were licked during the appointment). From then on I made it my mission to find out everything I could about how sensory processing abilities varied, how they worked and how to increase tolerance for sensory stimuli whilst coming to realise that the sensory seeking behaviours in my kids was the same sensory stimuli that was not just draining me, but leaving me feeling exhausted and on the edge all the time from being highly sensory avoiding.

Internally, I was stressed about how the landscape of our home had changed since having kids who were hyposensitive – that is, they needed more input to feel regulated. I felt that I was being deleted out of our home, one broken possession at a time.

I put away the most sentimental items that I really couldn’t bear to be damaged and somewhat grieved the loss of furnishings that grounded me yet were being treated with perceived disrespect due to the value they held for me and my regulation.

Nevertheless, being a Military family, I decided the best approach was to foster the adage: overcome and adapt. I joined a gym and got back into running and strength training and decided on a high of endorphins that now was the time to apply for the online diploma in interior design to try and get my home back to feeling like it was mine – a huge feat when one lives in Service Families Accommodation (SFA) where the walls are magnolia and windowsills are terracotta red. Still sweaty and full of dopamine, I clicked apply, paid a deposit and then gave myself a huge high five to think no more about it for a few weeks. Then the email came through saying that I was to start on Monday.

Turns out, it was (one of) the best decisions I made. Whilst deepening my knowledge of design, scale, colour and shape, I noticed that even though a room and space can be considered “good” design, it doesn’t mean its fit for purpose. It assumes how you will feel using the space when the design is based on the designer’s way of interacting with the world, not how it makes you feel as an individual with unique sensory processing requirements.

Although designing spaces with the tick box of the five senses: touch, taste, sight, smell and sound, was important to complete the space, it wasn’t the prime focus of interior design.

I want instead to create homes that are made for the client and their family in a way that meets their diverse sensory needs of each family member, not just to be aesthetically beautiful. I want to delve into why a love of faux fur gives my child such grounding, yet for me, I need rough, surfaces like Jute to get the same regulation.

Having sensory processing difficulties means that whilst the sensory avoiding behaviours are stressful and at times, painful, we experience sensory seeking behaviours with such a high and such a joy that is hard for neurotypical friends to relate. My home, whilst it is chaotic and military magnolia thanks to SFA, is full of furnishings that are small touches or tweaks that provide so much positive sensory input -  I’ll now take my regulating hummus coloured home over the latest trend that doesn’t fit my needs - though I hear they do plan on replacing the magnolia in SFA with white which is a huge bonus.  

Whilst still in the process of adapting my own home to my family’s needs, I started to become more attuned to the sensory needs of those with traumatic brain injuries (TBI’s) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Spending time with veterans and in military environments over the last decade and more, I have listened to stories regarding the sensory changes that such life altering events have on one’s sensory differences. Whilst these challenges differ from the sensory processing difficulties that occur alongside a neurodiversity such as Autism, Dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), there is much overlap. Stimuli such as noise and lighting that wouldn’t have been a problem before active service, trauma and injury, now cause strain and emotional stress in similar ways to those with lifelong sensory needs.

Education around sensory processing has become increasingly important to me, and whilst my business focus is on the interiors of homes, this runs in partnership with a strong sense of advocacy for raising awareness and understanding of sensory processing difficulties. This business will also highlight new research, inform and edify.

My goal is for sensory processing difficulties to be understood, considered and readily accepted. And for this increased know-how and acceptance to impact our design choices so that homes are exactly what they ought to be: safe, restorative and enjoyed to the full. Homes that ground, regulate and restore our regulation and centre our equilibrium.   

Since tying my flag to the mast of advocacy, I have redrawn my perspective on our possessions. The powder blue corner sofa that “childless, cat-lady” me bought because of the perfect ergonomic feeling of “sit and lean” just like the cat, now has now a rather saggy bottom from being used as a trampoline.

The six inch thick, flat arms that were an ideal landing spot for a ceramic coaster and a Cath Kidston mug of hot, steaming tea, turned out to be the perfect launch pad for kids to do flips onto the thick cushions and the multiple, multiple throw pillows that adorn it.

This sofa still sits in our living room (the sofa’s fourth SFA adventure, our sixth). I’ve had to sturdy the base up a little, but for all the little friends who have come to play and been told “Yes, you can do a flip on the sofa, take all the cushions off to make a foam pit and play gladiators”, the joy of their faces lighting up and the memories they make have been worth it. I think back to my own childhood, doing forward rolls on a long burgundy sofa, practicing my back bends and handsprings, meeting the vestibular (balance and movement) and proprioceptive senses (coordination & force) grounding and regulating me, allowed me to relax more than I would have done otherwise if I still saw my sofa as “my sofa” when the kids jump and flip all over it.

Another possession of mine was a white, metal day bed that, pre-kids, was decked with fairy lights and was my reading nook.

I took advantage one day of my husband being away on exercise to purchase this thing that I knew he wouldn’t like with giddy school-girl excitement. It was my own coup d’état, and I was all for it. The downside was, I hadn’t paid for delivery, so realisation dawned on me when I got to the shop in my little Vauxhall Corsa and realised it wouldn’t fit in the car. I had to admit I had brought a day bed in the style he hated (metal – too Victorian for his liking) and needed his help (the big car) to retrieve it. Anyway, I loved this day bed. For a few years it was my spot where I hid from the world and curled up with a book and had my naps with the cats.

Four years later, it got adopted by the child that craves the most physical movement and a strong innate and insatiable desire to climb and jump. I watched it get jumped on, climbed all over and slowly fall apart by someone who loved it for all it was. For them, it met their sensory needs in a way that I had never imagined it would be used. Though it had met my own need for sensory input (alongside the white, Laura Ashley 100% cotton, lace trim duvet cover that adorned it) for the years it had been my own, it was ready to head into retirement with a soul who loved it just as much as me, yet for different reasons.

The beloved metal day bed lasted another three years and two house moves before succumbing to rust and ruin.  It was a monumental day in our home when it got taken apart for the last time and a new, white, high cabin sleeper was installed in its place. You’ll find out more about this bed’s journey in future blogs, for the cabin bed also has a few stories to tell of its own.

And that my friends is what I believe our homes should be doing.

Our homes should be telling stories through the furniture and memories that celebrate and uphold the sensory differences between us.

Stories of progress and of growth, adaptation and of grace. Stories where we can look back at moments of chaos and despair with fresh eyes at the journey that we’ve been on to just to get to where we are.  

At Wax & Wane Interiors, my aim is to ensure that the design choices we make should be multipurpose enough to meet all our needs, especially when they clash. The sensory input that draws you as the consumer to a piece of furniture, type of material and colour will be different to what someone else is drawn to. When we respond to these insights within our families, with the sensory insights that I can help you uncover, understand and master, we can create a home that grounds, regulates and restores for all of those who call your house a home.

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Wax & Wane Interiors focuses holistically on the family’s sensory needs so that everyone thrives.

Welcome, to the home you need.