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The Luxury of Enough
I wrote my first blog, called “The Luxury of Enough,” way back in 2011. Back then, we were post-2008 housing crash, and the once “must have” McMansions had become our white elephants. Self-storage units and pod use exploded, and our homes, garages, basements, and attics were bursting at the seams with all the things we just had to have. Soon we realized that the accumulation was choking us out, and maintaining, insuring, servicing, and cleaning our “stuff” was sucking our valuable life energy.
The Goodbye
The 18th-century French poet and novelist Anatole France said “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” Those words rang so true as I spent the past few weeks saying a bittersweet goodbye to the place I have called home for the last 22 years.
The Nest Test
Fall is a beloved season of transition when the highly charged summer months are behind us and we ease into the change of pace that comes with winter. A walk out of doors, through rustling leaves and browning plants, we are reminded of the bounty of the natural world. The flora and fauna that selflessly showed up for duty in spring, and stayed to delight our senses in summer, have completed their cycle and are now bowing their autumnal adieu.
On a recent afternoon of putting gardens to bed, I came across a beautiful bird's nest. Carefully crafted from twigs, mud, and pine needles it had been built with the singular purpose of sheltering its newly hatched inhabitants. Vacated months ago, it had completed its mission and was readying its return to the elements of the earth. I started thinking of the parallels between the nests of twigs and mud and the homes we make from lumber and cement.
Who’s Style is it Anyway?
Welcome back, friends. I hope you all had a few relaxing months off the hamster wheel. I know I did. Bidding farewell to summer is always tough for me. It takes me until August to finally get into the groove and then, poof, the world snaps back to what seems more fast-paced and less playful.
Just when I was feeling the atrophy that comes from summer brain, a friend asked me a very interesting question, which fired me right back up again. She said she’d been thinking of a way to arrange her thoughts into words that formed just the right question to pose to me. She was finally able to distill a pretty complex question into a few simple words…”How do I find my style?”
Tell Me A Story
We’ve all been watching a lot more television lately, and going to see films once more has been a real joy for me. While most people are interested in the handsome hero or the shocking cliffhanger in the storyline, I am paying greater attention to the character that is present in every scene, yet never speaks. To me, the background interior sets are the loudest storytellers and speak volumes about the characters that reside there.
I Need a Magic Wand
As an interior designer, one of the worst parts of my job is having to tell someone that there are some problems that just can’t be fixed, or if they can be, the costs will be sky-high. Since pulling back from my full-service design business I have concentrated solely on doing consultation work. Last month alone, I had the unfortunate job of telling three lovely homeowners that same bad news. They all said the very same thing, “I wish I would have known to call you first”.
The Proportion Principle
I’m often asked where most design mistakes are made. Many come to mind, like latching on to quickly outdated trends, forcing furnishings or a design style that is incongruous to a home’s architecture, or doing DIY when a skilled professional is required. But one of the biggest mistakes a trained design eye will catch right away is the wrong proportion.