HEALTH & HOME

ABOUT HEALTH & HOME

We Believe Your Home Should Be Created With You & Your Family's Health At The Forefront

ABOUT HEALTH & HOME

We Believe Your Home Should Be Created With You & Your Family's Health At The Forefront

Health & Home is an interior design-based business that seeks to help others create healthy homes by minimizing toxins, optimizing design and maximizing health.

We do so by addressing the design of the space, the decor and the products used, so our clients can live their healthiest life!

Design isn’t all we do though! The heartbeat of Health & Home is you! It’s your wellness. It’s the stories you have to share. It’s about creating accessible, non-overwhelming ways to help support you on your journey to creating a healthier home and living a healthier life!

Our mission at Health & Home is to support and empower others to live their healthiest lives by keeping people at the heart of our work and providing person-centered design services, accessible health education, and advocacy at home and beyond!

That’s why we go further than just beautifying spaces by offering a variety of ways to support you on your journey! Whether it’s through our services, public speaking and teaching, e-courses, freebies, our podcast, youtube, instagram, or blog – whatever you are looking for, we have got you covered!

We hope you feel at home here with us ♡

GET TO KNOW ME

Designer, Podcaster, YouTuber And Woman On A Mission To Make A Difference

Hi there! I’m Haley James and I should probably start off by saying that I am not your typical interior designer.

While I love and am passionate about being creative and cultivating beautiful spaces for people to live in, more than anything I would say my first passion lies in loving on and helping other people.

So when I learned firsthand getting sick due to my college housing, the negative impact that our living environments have on our health AND also the positive role they can play in optimizing our health, I knew I had to specialize in creating homes that were not only beautiful and functional – but also minimize risk for disease and support the health and healthy habits of those living there.

A BIT MORE ABOUT ME & HOW HEALTH & HOME CAME TO BE

I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and as far back as I can remember, even as a little girl, I always knew I wanted to do interior design.  So when it came time to pick a college and a major, it was a no-brainer; I chose to get my bachelors in Interior Design at San Jose State University.

During my time in design school though, I struggled with figuring out if I wanted to stay with my major, not because I didn’t love it (because I absolutely did!) but because, if I’m honest – I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to tangibly help people. Don’t get me wrong! I think designers absolutely can help people through their work, it’s just that it wasn’t going to be able to on the level or in the way my heart had always wanted to.

It felt superficial to a degree for me and I really had to consider if design without helping others in ways I had imagined, would be enough for me. My parents encouraged me to continue on, having full confidence I would figure out a way to help others using what I learned later on; so I did. I began dreaming and brainstorming all the ways I could give back to others in the future and began to get excited about it again!

It was towards the end of my senior year at SJSU though, that my life, plans, vision, and dreams were flipped upside down. 

I started feeling sick every now and again, then it began happening more and more often until it was all the time. I had to move home and begin trying to figure out what was happening. This turned into years of being undiagnosed, dismissed, misdiagnosed, and more to finally get an answer, only to find out 5 years later, that I had somehow gotten heavy metal poisoning from my college living environment which caused damage to my nervous system and me to develop a bunch of chronic conditions.

While I was grateful to finally know what was going on with my body, I found I had even more questions than answers.

How did this happen? Why did this happen? And who else is it happening to?

As someone who had a:

  • Bachelors in Interior Design from San Jose State University
  • Diploma and License in Decorating from Ashworth College
  • Multiple Certificates in Real Estate 

I can tell you not a single one of these educational paths ever talked about the direct impact our homes can have on our health.

After learning about this health and home connection, I decided to continue my studies by getting my:

  • Masters in Interior Design from The National Design Academy at Staffordshire University

Here, I spent 2 years doing every project and my thesis on how the interior environment can impact health. At this same time, I was also studying it from a medical perspective as I tried to put the pieces of my experience and my life back together.

Doing these, really got me interested in learning more about how exactly someone can get sick from their environment and what happens to their body when they do, so after graduating, I went on to take certificate courses in the more broader topics of:

  • Environmental Health: An Integrative Approach through the University of Arizona College of Medicine 
  • Environmental Law & Policy through North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Chemicals & Health through Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Environmental Toxins and Health through Talking Toxins
  • Evidence Based Toxicology through Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Doing these diploma & certificate courses truly opened my eyes and gave even more meaning and purpose to the career path I was on.

I Saw A Need For:

…and so much more!

I created health & home as a way to share all that I have learned with you as we explore ways to minimize toxins and optimize the design in our homes in order to maximize health for ourselves and our loved ones.

I hope that through the health & home freebies, courses, resources, podcast, blog, recommended products, services and social media pages, we are able to help you start to create the healthy home and life you have been dreaming of having. 

Together, we will learn, grow and create healthier homes for healthier lives! 

WHY THE NATURE VIDEOS ON AN INTERIOR DESIGN SITE?

At Health & Home, we’re all about creating a healthy home by minimizing toxins and optimizing the design to maximize your health! And you know what? The easiest way to do that is to look to nature! Research has shown time and time again that using more natural and non-toxic products as well as incorporating elements of nature into our spaces, can both have a really positive impact on your overall health & wellness!

Now, don’t worry – you don’t have to turn your family room into a forest to get those benefits! Actually, you don’t have to change your aesthetic at all if you don’t want to! No matter what your personal style may be, we can work with you to create an environment that supports your health and wellness goals. We do this by looking at nature for things like colors, textures, and sounds to determine how they can positively or negatively impact your well-being based on the latest research, and then we use that information to create a space that’s just right for you & what you want from your space!

So why are there these videos at the top of the pages? Well, we put these here to help set the tone for the page and give you a taste of how exposure to elements of nature can impact your mood, your perception, and even your physical health! Below you will find an in-depth explanation as to why we chose the video we did for the page you are on and the research that we used to decide on that. Our hope is that this can help you see how you can intentionally take this kind of research and apply it to the design of your home so you can naturally get all the amazing benefits AND have a beautiful home at the same time!

HOW DID THIS PAGE MAKE YOU FEEL?

We wanted you to feel welcomed, invited, & warm as you get to know a bit about us and what we do! The video featured on our About page shows white daisies with vibrant yellow centers against a lush green backdrop, embodying a sense of newness, friendliness, and warmth which is what we want you to feel when getting to know us! The video aims to create an inviting and welcoming atmosphere, emphasizing our commitment to providing a friendly and inclusive environment!

The white daisies symbolize purity, innocence, and new beginnings, while the lush green backdrop represents growth, harmony, and vitality. Research suggests that the color white is associated with feelings of cleanliness, purity, and simplicity (Mahnke, 1996; Ou et al., 2017), while yellow is known to evoke positivity, happiness, and friendliness (Elliot et al., 2007; Schloss & Palmer, 2011). The lush green backdrop reflects the natural world and is associated with feelings of calmness, balance, and rejuvenation (Kaplan, 1995; Korpela et al., 2010). Together, they convey a sense of approachability and openness, inviting you to come and get to know us and what we do!

When applied to interior design, incorporating white and yellow elements can contribute to a welcoming and friendly home environment! Consider using white as a dominant color or as accents in furniture, textiles, or decor to create a clean and fresh atmosphere. Yellow can be introduced through accessories, such as pillows, artwork, or flowers, to infuse a sense of warmth and cheerfulness (Mahnke, 1996; Schloss & Palmer, 2011). Incorporating natural green elements, such as plants or green-hued decor, can enhance the sense of harmony and tranquility within the space (Kaplan, 1995; Korpela et al., 2010). By utilizing these colors and elements, you can create an environment that radiates friendliness, welcomes guests, and promotes a sense of well-being!

References:

  • Elliot, A. J., Maier, M. A., Moller, A. C., Friedman, R., & Meinhardt, J. (2007). Color and psychological functioning: The effect of red on performance attainment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136(1), 154-168.
  • Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169-182.
  • Korpela, K. M., Ylén, M. P., Tyrväinen, L., & Silvennoinen, H. (2010). Determinants of restorative experiences in everyday favorite places. Health & Place, 16(3), 457-465.
  • Mahnke, F. H. (1996). Color, environment, and human response: An interdisciplinary understanding of color and its use as a beneficial element in the design of the architectural environment. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
  • Ou, L. C., Luo, M. R., Woodcock, A., & Wright, A. (2017). A study of colour emotion and colour preference. Part II: Colour emotions for single colours. Color Research & Application, 42(2), 183-194.
  • Schloss, K. B., & Palmer, S. E. (2011). Aesthetic response to color

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Health and Home

Health & Home is an interior design-based business that seeks to help others create healthy homes through minimizing toxins, optimizing design and maximizing health. We do so by addressing the build of the home, the design of the space, the decor and even the products used in the home, so our clients can live their healthiest life!

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