Welcome Home: Local Living Episode 4: “Just Feels Right”

Rich and Elizabeth Landry of Kensington Design House combine architecture and psychology to explore the choices that make a space feel safe, comfortable, and personal on a subconscious level.

Audio Interview and Story by Josh Walker | Photograph by Kelly Parrish

Listen to the interview

All the interviews in this Welcome Home series explore how intentionality shapes how spaces feel, and Rich and Elizabeth Landry of Kensington Design House start with that idea for every project. What actually makes a house feel like home? Rich brings an architect’s perspective to the conversation, while Elizabeth draws from her background in psychology. Together, they explore something we’ve all experienced: walking into a room and immediately sensing that it feels right, or that it doesn’t.

According to Elizabeth, our brains start making those assessments before we consciously understand the spaces around us. She traces that response to what she calls the “ancient brain,” a part of our subconscious shaped long before the modern built environments in which we now live.

“When we walk into a room, our brains immediately scan for, ‘Is this safe? Is this comfortable? Is there movement?’” she said. “Our brains begin responding to a space before we consciously recognize what is influencing us.”

What feels comfortable and safe varies for everyone. Elizabeth points to her instinct to choose particular seats in restaurants that let her see the room while keeping something solid behind her. Psychology calls the concept “prospect and refuge,” which is the idea that people tend to feel most comfortable in environments that offer both prospect: a clear view of their surroundings, and refuge: a sense of protection or enclosure.

Rich also looks specifically for those clues when working with clients. Rather than simply asking what they like, he might ask where they prefer to sit in their living room and why. Those seemingly small preferences reveal how someone actually senses and experiences a space beyond what they might consciously comprehend. “It’s how you can kind of discover someone’s way of thinking and what makes them comfortable,” he said.

That understanding also helps explain why a beautifully designed room doesn’t necessarily make a comfortable one. Too many competing focal points can leave the brain buzzing with nowhere to rest. It can be thrilling, but it can also cause anxiety and clutter any sense of prospect and refuge. The Landrys approach striking balance through what they call the 80/20 guide: roughly 80 percent of a space should encourage calm and familiarity, while reserving the other 20 percent for interest and surprise.

“You need the calm, but you also need that excitement, pleasure, and interest,” Elizabeth said. “There has to be a balance between the two.”

That 20 percent might come from a striking light arrangement, an architectural detail, an arresting piece of art, or another element that naturally draws the eye. The rest should support that piece like a subtle soundtrack: softly present to set the mood, continue the story, and provide harmony, without fighting for center stage.

In their own home, Elizabeth and Rich surround themselves with reminders of what makes them proud, starting with their own family. That includes monochrome photographs of their children as babies, as well as a cutting board bearing Elizabeth’s grandmother’s apple bread recipe. They’re just some of the objects that carry the family’s story forward.

Ultimately, for the Landrys, a house doesn’t feel like home because every element looks perfect. It happens when the space is balanced enough to give the people inside it room to settle, connect, remember, and live as themselves. We might not consciously notice every detail in a space, but when a space is designed with these ideas in mind, we can feel it.

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Welcome Home: Local Living is a Charleston Home + Design series that explores what makes a house feel like home through conversations with the people who shape the way we live. Each installment goes beyond products and projects to uncover the experiences, ideas, and personal connections that influence how we design, furnish, and experience our homes. For more information or to participate in the series, contact josh@newhomecharleston.com.