Interview with Jeanette Fisher by Gary Anderson, of www.abciowa.com

GA: Jeanette, just what is Design Psychology?

JJF: Simply put, Design Psychology empowers you to create a fabulous home that sustains your emotions, using techniques based on science. Design Psychology turns spaces into happy places.

GA: How is Design Psychology different from "traditional" interior design?

JJF: Our senses react to many other factors besides those of basic interior design, even though those factors can profoundly affect our emotions and happiness. Design Psychology addresses elements that interior design doesn't take into consideration.

GA: What's the difference between Design Psychology and Feng Shui?

JJF: The two concepts are compatible, and homeowners can use both Feng Shui and Design Psychology to enhance their homes. However, I believe that Design Psychology is superior to Feng Shui, because Feng Shui is based on superstition, while Design Psychology draws its concepts from science.

GA: How did you discover Design Psychology?

JJF: In 1985, my husband and I purchased an 1878 Queen Anne Victorian and began a major renovation. After tearing everything out of the kitchen, all the way down to the dirt, we rebuilt the entire space, using concepts I'd learned while studying interior design in college. But when we were done, it FELT all wrong! So, I went to the University of Florida Architectural Library and began a fifteen-year search to learn about how design details influence our emotions.

GA: How do you use Design Psychology to increase your profits as a real estate investor?

JJF: We create an Overall Design Plan, based on our target market and selling season. By using particular colors, patterns, props, and staging methods, we're able to sell our homes in as little as three hours, and for thousands more than our competition.

GA: Do you use landscape as part of your overall Design Plan?

JJF: We certainly do! We start with the emotions and feelings we want to bring into a space, and over the years, we've come to realize that Mother Nature knows best about blending light, shadows, colors, patterns, textures, and form. So we always choose our design details to support our buyers' emotions, based on ideas inspired by the greatest Design Psychologist of them all, Mother Earth.

GA: Do you have any final thoughts for folks who may not be familiar with Design Psychology?

JJF: After going through a major renovation fiasco, I discovered that all of our senses react to the design choices we make. Picking the wrong color and pattern in a wallpaper, fabric, or paint will negatively impact our senses. But if you take a little extra time to avoid design mistakes, you'll save time, hard work, and MONEY, which will all have a profound effect on your bottom line at closing time!

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher and Gary Anderson. All rights reserved.

Jeanette Fisher, Design Psychology Professor, is the author of "Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars: Using Design Psychology to Increase Real Estate Profits," the only book to reveal interior design secrets on how to make top dollar investing in real estate. For real estate and interior design psychology books, articles, tips, and newsletters: http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com.