Our rooms are an outward projection of our personalities and our mental states. Just as we choose what clothes we wear based on what they say about us, so too do we choose our ornaments and our general decorating based on what we think will tell people something about who we are.

However, while we might choose our decorations to tell people something we want to broadcast about ourselves, what we might be less aware of is the fact that we’ll also be broadcasting a lot of other information about ourselves that perhaps we don’t want people to know, or that perhaps just wasn’t the kind of image we were hoping to give off.

When we choose items for our property you see, we don’t just do it based on the kind of thing we want to see, we also do it based on our gut feelings and our personalities – on generally things that we aren’t consciously controlling but that influence our decisions and tastes. Likewise the way we look after our property can offer an insight into our mental state both in the short term and over time. Here we will look at some things your property might be communicating about you…

Your Sense of Humour: When someone looks at your DVD and CD collection this doesn’t just tell them which films you like, it also tells them a bit about what kind of person you are in order to have those tastes. In other words people can see what makes you smile, what kind of action you like, and whether you prefer films to be intellectual or bombastic – which all tells them a lot about you.

Your Stress Levels: If your home is looking tidy and perfectly formed then chances are that this is a sign you’re on top of everything and you have lots of spare time. If it’s all over the place and you have piles of paper everywhere, this tells visitors that you’re just about too busy to keep up with your various commitments and have as such allowed things to literally pile up. There’s a reason for the prevailing image of the ‘scatterbrained’ professor.

Hobbies: If you have a hobby like weight lifting or like martial arts, then chances are that you’re going to have lots of related paraphernalia lying around the place. This then tells people something about how you spend your time, in this case it tells then about your physical fitness, and of course it also tells them again a little about your personality.

Colours: The colours we choose for our room can tell people a lot about us, right down to whether we prefer open feeling spaces with lots of light colours, or whether we prefer cosier dark spaces (and this is particularly telling when employed in the bedroom). There’s a good chance that someone who tries to create a more ‘closed’ and darker space in their room with deep browns and other darker colours is more likely to be introverted.

OCD: The anal personality is known for straightening pictures and lining up coasters and for not tolerating any mess. If your home is perfectly spotless and completely spick and span, then chances are that you will fulfil this description and are likely to be more anal in other areas of your life too.

Max Cavan is the author of the above guest post. He is fond of writing home improvement articles and provides interesting content to his readers. Visit www.magazinesubscriptions.com for browsing over 1700 magazines.