Lockdown has seen us spend more time than ever before stuck inside our homes, with the ongoing and seemingly never-ending coronavirus pandemic putting us under a literal house arrest. A stint in the Big Brother house has nothing on nearly 12 months stuck inside a tiny London flat, let me tell you.
But as we spend less time out in the pub and more of the day stuck festering in our living rooms, we’ve become increasingly aware of our interiors, and whether we live in our plush own homes or making do in our small bedrooms in rented accommodation, many of us are opting to spruce up our surroundings.
A quick flick through the pages of prominent influencers and reality TV stars shows us that what’s en vogue when it comes to interiors are the grey crushed velvet corner sofas (now so commonplace they’re almost cliché) and clean white furniture. While it certainly looks luxe, there’s something sadly monotone and repetitive about seeing the same silvery-grey living rooms pop up on Pinterest.
Instead, I’m calling for us to put the grey behind us and have a major resurgence of the brash neon colours of 90’s aesthetics to lift our moods for the foreseeable.
It’s about time we invited the 90’s into our homes – fashion has never been shy about flirting with the colourful, no holds-barred era. From thick chunky highlights with zig-zag partings (Bella Hadid showed off her take on the trend on Instagram last month), baggy jeans and tie-dye fabrics, a number of 90’s relics are on trend once again, with Gen Z in particular embracing the era on TikTok.
There were many aspects of 90’s home décor that we can remember from our childhood as we desperately try to place our own unique stamps on our bedrooms. While we longed for inflatable furniture, beaded curtains and a novelty telephone (complete with its own phone line), the ultimate in bedroom furniture from this more innocent era was the brightly coloured and mysterious lava lamp.
Invented and popularised in the 1960s by Edward Craven Walker, an accountant whose other claim to fame was making underwater nudist films, the lava lamp had a resurgent as a kitsch nod to all things counterculture and psychedelic, popular with students and children that were enamoured by their lurid glow.
But the lava lamp is more than just a cute throwback to a more innocent time in our life where all we had to worry about is missing Friends. Lava lamps are hugely beneficial to those who struggle with their mental health.
It’s not a traditional form of therapy, but the slow movement of a lava lamp, watching buoyant waxy blobs float up and down, can be very relaxing and therapeutic. With their calming hues of blues, greens and violets, and soft light, it can be beneficial for those with sensitivity to light or insomnia.
Lava lamps are also thought to be beneficial for children who are autistic, as a part of creating a sensory room that can aid to stimulate, develop and balance a person’s sensory system.
They can be used to encourage relaxation and provide a point of focus for eye-tracking work to improve visual development. The ever-changing shapes can also help stimulate the visual sensory system activating different perception areas.
Others have spoken about the benefits they’ve seen while using a lava lamp to aid with their anxiety. Again, while not a replacement for medication and therapy, one anxiety sufferer has spoken positively about how a lava lamp has kept her calm when she has felt overwhelmed.
Writing on her blog My Mud Life, Joanie Wanamaker said: “I felt like I was going to faint. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Just as I was about to pick up my phone and call my husband, a little voice said to me, ‘Look at the lava lamp.’ So I did.
“I laid there, watching the wax magically dance. Up and down. Breathe in. Breathe out. And within a few seconds, I started to feel calmer. I just focused on the Lava Lamp and it was amazing how quickly it helped to diffuse my anxious feelings.
“It’s really amazing how a Lava Lamp isn’t just a novelty item. It can also be used as a meditation/anxiety reliever. They aren’t expensive. They are beautiful. And they are easy to set up. Sometimes it’s the smallest little thing that can make a huge difference.”
So before you roll your eyes and sigh at the thought of putting a lava lamp in your bedroom, we should maybe show some more love to the gaudy appliance. It could very well help you one day.