Yesterday, I posted about sensual photography, which is the art of capturing images that touch our senses in very visceral ways. In today’s post, I look a related theme: the sensual home, via images that vividly shows how with a bit of imagination, even humble homes can be transformed into havens of sensuality.

You may ask: why is it important to make our living spaces sensual? The answer is simple – we know the world through our senses, all five or them (sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing), and how we live with our senses either enriches or impoverishes us.

Our ancestors who lived before the time of big, impersonal cities had a richer contact with all these senses. For one thing, nature was not far when where they lived; indeed, many lived right in the midst of nature, with all the earthly sights and sounds that nature provides. Not only are most of us separated from nature, most of our time we inhabit a flat digital world that does not remotely connect us with our senses in the way it has been for much of human history. That is why I think sensual living spaces are soul-enriching.

I learnt the calming effects of “sensualizing” my own home last year when I bit the bullet by spending a modest sum to makeover the house. Long story short, out went the clutter, and all manner of brute and soulless functionality, and in came art on the walls, sculptures large and small, in unpolished wood and stone, a small garden planted with creepers, flowering plants and aromatic herbs, a souped-up kitchen scented with freshly baked breads, olive and truffle oils, and importantly, the magic of lighting to create the mood for quiet contemplation. My house is now a more embracing and poetic space, one which I makes me feel I’m enfolded by a world within a world.

Back to photography – below are sumptuous photos of homes around the world, with the styling – decor, accent, objects – that go into the making of sensual living spaces. Take a look, and judge for yourself!