Chapter 8: Exploring Psychological Dimensions of Comfort in the
Home
Chapter 9: Capturing Comfort in Context
Chapter 10: Discussion: A Classification of Domestic Comfort
Chapter 11: Conclusions and Future Work
Chapter 12: References
Chapter 13: Appendices
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Household Profiles
6
Following study 1, which explored the breadth of domestic comfort from the householders’ perspective, studies 2, 3 and 4, will take an in-depth approach to exploring comfort within the homes of twelve participants. This chapter will give a snapshot of the twelve participants and their households which will be involved in the following three studies.
Participant 1: Maria
Maria is 29 years old and shares a flat with her partner in Luton. She works within housing and describes her job role as an associate professional and technical occupation. She has lived in her top floor flat for 2½ years and in this time she has been able to decorate and furnish the property to her taste. Maria finds warmth a particularly important part of her comfort at home, however she finds warmth difficult to maintain with single-glazed windows throughout the flat and electric storage heaters.
Rooms: 1 bedroom, bathroom, spare/study room, living/dining room, kitchen.
Participant 2: Eva
Eva is 48 years old and lives in a semi-detached house in Luton with her husband and three children. She has two children under twelve and 1 daughter away at University. She works as a teacher and is also completing a postgraduate course part-time. Eva and her family have lived in their semi-detached house for 16 years, in that time they have extended the property so that the bedrooms upstairs were larger and a WC could be fitted downstairs. Family is important to Eva and she enjoys spending quality time with the family.
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Participant 3: Pauline
Pauline is 57 years old and lives in an end-terraced house with her husband in Luton. Pauline works at a local school in an administrative role. They've lived in the property for 35 years, raising two children who now have young families of their own. She enjoys spending time at home with her children and grandchildren when they visit and uses all rooms to accommodate their stay. She also enjoys arts and crafts projects and now uses her son's old bedroom as a craft room. Pauline and her husband were able add a conservatory to their property which has given them more space to entertain.
Rooms: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, dining/computer/spare room, living room, conservatory
Participants 4: Sarah
Sarah is 51 years old she shares a ground floor flat with her husband in Luton. She has lived in the property for two years; her husband also owns a flat in the same building which is how they met. Sarah works for the local council in a technical role. She would ideally like a bigger property with one more room to allow her to have family around to stay.
Rooms: 1 bedroom, bathroom, living/dining room
Participant 5: Sade
Sade is 29 years old; she shares a semi-detached house with her mother and brother in Luton. She has lived there for 9 years although her brother has only recently moved in. She works as a teacher at a junior school over an hours commute away, with long days she especially enjoys sitting down and relaxing after work. With 3 adults living in a 2 bedroom property, space is limited. Ideally Sade would like to move out to have a place she can call her own.
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Participant 6: Walter
Walter is 59 years old and works as an engineer in a skill trades occupation. He lives with his wife in their four bedroom detached house in Luton. They have lived in the property for six years and have two children who have moved out but still have bedrooms at the family home. Walter has a garden shed to store tools and materials to carry out DIY projects around the home. DIY projects have included redecorating the house, laying loft insulation and creating extra storage space by laying floorboards in the loft. Warmth is an important part of comfort to Walter and he will often relax in the living room with a blanket.
Rooms: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room, dining room, garden shed
Participant 7: Kevin
Kevin is 45 years old who works in a professional occupation. He lives in Leicester with his wife and two children under 14 years old. Kevin and his family have lived in their linked terraced house for 11 years in this time they have renovated throughout, including new flooring and new windows. Where possible Kevin has completed the renovation work himself. He has tried to put his own stamp on the property by using personal items to make the property more unique. Kevin enjoys being active and doing something completely different from his job when he is at home; he is particularly passionate about biking.
Rooms: 3 bedrooms, study, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen/dining room, back room, (garden) games room
Participant 8: Mike
Mike is a 63 years old administrative worker in Loughborough. He lives in a detached house in Leicester with his wife. They have lived in the property for 32 years, raising two children who have grown up and since moved out. In the time Mike has been in the property he has had a conservatory added to the property, which he frequently uses especially in the summer to sit and complete crosswords
123 and Sudoku’s. Mike has conducted various DIY projects at the property; he has re- designed his study to feature some his favourite artwork, and also re-built the roof of the garage to create extra storage space.
Rooms: 3 bedrooms, bathroom, study, conservatory, kitchen, utility room
Participant 9: Rachael
Rachael is 35 years old; she lives in a detached house in Loughborough with her husband and two children. They have lived in the house for 6 years which is local to the university where Rachael works in a professional occupation. With two children under 10 years old, Rachael finds a majority of her time at home is filled with childcare, however when she finds time she enjoys relaxing in the bath and also snuggling with the cat. They have recently added a conservatory to the property where Rachael enjoys reading and looking out at the garden.
Rooms: 3 bedrooms, living/dining room, study, kitchen, conservatory
Participant 10: Lewis
Lewis is a 25 years old researcher at a local university. He is single and shares his mid-terraced house with two housemates in Loughborough. He moved into the house a year and a half ago; renovated and decorated in a neutral style as he had intended to rent out the spare bedrooms. It was originally a two bedroom property but Lewis has converted the front room into a third bedroom. The home now has two main communal areas the kitchen and the living/dining room whilst 2 of the bedrooms are rented out to friends. In his spare time, Lewis enjoys doing something challenging and different from his job, such as learning a language or playing the guitar.
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Participant 11: Jessica
Jessica is 28 years old; she lives in a semi-detached house with two housemates in Loughborough. She has lived in the house for two years. During this time Jessica has had the attic converted into her bedroom and bathroom, and the front room has been changed into a fourth bedroom whilst the conservatory is used as the living/dining room. Jessica is a researcher at her local university and currently shares her home with two fellow researchers and friends. The kitchen is a hub of the house since Jessica frequently enjoys cooking and it is often where housemates gather to catch-up.
Rooms: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living/dining (conservatory), kitchen, garden
Participants 12: Olivia
Olivia is a 26 years old researcher at a local university; she shares a two bedroom mid-terraced house with a fellow researcher and friend. Having had the property for two and a half years she has decorated the home to her taste with photographs and keepsakes from travelling. After work, Olivia enjoys lying on the sofa and relaxing in front a movie or in the summer reading outside in the garden.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Paradigm
Chapter 4: Methodology
Chapter 5: Exploring Householders’ Perspective of Comfort in the
Home
Chapter 6: Household Profiles
Chapter 7: Insights into Comfort and
Daily Routines
Chapter 8: Exploring Psychological Dimensions of Comfort in the
Home
Chapter 9: Capturing Comfort in Context
Chapter 10: Discussion: A Classification of Domestic Comfort
Chapter 11: Conclusions and Future Work
Chapter 12: References
Chapter 13: Appendices
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Insights into Comfort and Daily Routines
7
Introduction
7.1
So far, the research has identified the scope of dimensions which are associated with comfort in the home. The first study identified many attributes which were categorised into four main themes of comfort: environmental and physical comfort,
aesthetics and perception of space and order, psychological wellbeing and interactions and activities. The scope of attributes which contributed to
householders’ experience of comfort included those which were traditional and extensively researched, such as warmth or sitting comfort, and others which were are uncommonly attributed to comfort, such as home security or the adaption of space. The first study identified a need to conduct an in-depth exploration of the experience of comfort in the home in order to identify and understand these uncommon aspects further and also gain an understanding of how comfort fits into the daily lives of householders.
This chapter describes a study that begins to uncover these features of comfort in more detail, with a sample of householders who also participate in the following studies 3 and 4 (reported in Chapters 8 and 9). With the anticipated scope of data and the multiple self-reporting methods being used through the data collection process; this study also served the purpose of briefing participants for studies 3 and 4.
Therefore this study was conducted for the purpose of:
Engaging participants in the topic of comfort, encouraging them to explore the multiple dimensions of their own comfort experiences at home, and establishing how comfort fits into their everyday routines.
Introducing participants to the tools and techniques they will be using during the data collection process for studies 3 and 4.
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Study Aims
7.2
This study was conducted to facilitate a dialogue amongst householders on the topics of comfort and everyday home life. The aim was to establish the comfort and unwinding activities householders carry out in their everyday lives.