The Essence Of Turning A House Into A Home....

Image from Lonny Magaxine via Pinterest

When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life. ~ Jean Shinoda Bolen.

I think the above quote gets to the essence of how to turn a house into a true home for the heart and soul.

Oh how I love butterflies. Having them around me in my home brings me joy. I have quite a few fake feathery ones on my walls, and I adore them. They make me feel good, and they remind me of a dearly missed loved one.

Do you have things around you that nourish your soul and bring you joy?

Linda. xox

A Path Through The Forest........My Room Fantasy....

Whilst rummaging around my inspiration folders a few days ago, I came across these photographs.

I think they'd look amazing as large canvas prints or photographs on the walls of a single room.

I find them to be intriguing, mysterious, thought provoking, ethereal.... just beautiful!

I can just imagine the space I would use them in if I had the room! I'd have them hanging in my dining room...... the room would have a table in it something like the one in this pic.....

... a wooden, organic, earthy, spontaneous feeling sort of table.

The walls wouldn't be white though.... they'd be a soft grey green, or a medium warm grey, and the colour would wrap around on the ceiling to cocoon the room.

The ceiling may even be a darker colour like a soft charcoal... a little like putting a 'night sky' into the room, adding to the overall 'foresty' effect.

The floor would have beautiful dark wooden boards to ground the whole scene, and also a huge rug with forest tones in it...... greens, golds, muted autumn reds, rusts, light greys.... symbolising the forest floor.

There'd be some lovely organically shaped vases of opaque coloured glass to bring some accent (both colour and textural) to the room, and in them or around them some objects collected from nature displayed in various ways...... twisted wood, pine cones, smooth rocks, beautiful flowers of all colours.

Image from Honey and Jam on Etsy

Maybe some 'touchy-feely' felted bowls like these....very textural and natural...

Image from Papaververt on Etsy

Image from Papaververt on Etsy

And, some curvy, flowing, wooden bowls like these...

Image from Holzfurhaus on Etsy

Image from Holzfurhaus on Etsy

And the light would be some sort of free form 'branch' light with little fairy lights sprinkled through it,

And, I'd use that room as a place for dinner parties or late night get togethers where deep discussion would take place! The photos could prompt us to talk about where our lives are taking us, what's leading us along, the path we're taking, what we're working towards, what we can use to 'light' our way, the goals we can make to illuminate our journey.

The crockery would be delightful, rich hues of green, golden yellow, cherry red, tans, maybe even some aubergine thrown in!

Image from Atelier

There'd be lots of beautiful beeswax candles, votives burning in gorgeous glass holders, and some earthy essential oil like ylang ylang or patchouli with a dash of sweet orange burning in my vapourizer.

My favourite Northern Light Beeswax Candles

A room of warm, soft light; forest colours, beautiful textures, grounding scents.

Sigh.

How nice to be able to have a room like that. It'd really take care of my 'thing for trees' and my love of soft glowing light.

Oh well........ it's nice to dream!

Linda. xox

P.S: I've had the top 6 pics in my inspiration folders for so long I've forgotten where I found them. Apologies to the owners. If anyone recognises them, please let me know and I'll link them up asap.

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Feeling Nostalgic and Re-visiting A Classic...

It's Friday night here, it's cold, and I'm feeling a tad nostalgic.

I just changed the desktop wallpaper on my computer from a lovely lush green forest to a close up of autumn leaves with a beautiful muted red background. All my favourite colours are featured, golds, reds, oranges, rusts, bronze.

And, it reminded me of one of the first ever articles I wrote for this blog talking about one of the reasons I think I like some of these colours so much. It's an important key to the philosophy of my decorating style, so I'm giving the post a new lease of life and rescuing it from my deepest archives.

I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks also to Liv Lane for letting me link up this post with other blissful posts.

What've Two Fields Of Wheat Got To Do With Interior Design?

One of the most distinct memories I have of my youth centres around fields of wheat. I lived in an agricultural area, and spent an awful lot of time riding my bike.

On holidays I'd pack a lunch, disappear for the day, and ride for miles.

Bliss!

Near where I lived were lots of pine tree plantations, orchards, and huge fields of wheat. A real mish mash of plant life! I'd ride down the rutted dirt tracks the tractors used to take, get off my bike and explore.

Wander through the trees and breathe in their scent.

Pick up pine cones.

Hear the twigs crack beneath my feet as I walked.

But some of the moments I loved the most involved two particular fields of wheat.

Either one, if caught at just the right moment, at the right time of year, would reveal the most breathtaking view. They were both massive, and on a day with a warm gentle breeze, at sunset, it was as if the world had stopped and life couldn't get any better.

Magic.

I'd usually be on the way home from my day of adventuring.

I'd ride up, stop my bike, lean on it, and gaze.

The sunset would slowly spread with the most glorious colours, and light would glint, and sparkle, and roll off the slowly nodding heads of wheat.

And across the whole field an undulating ripple affect would happen, and it would look like an ocean of wisely bobbing heads all swaying to some beautiful, orchestrated, symphony of movement.

There would often be insects humming in the air, and the scent of the wheat, the pine trees nearby (planted as an edge along the other side of the road), and the not too far-away orchards would waft around me.

I'd stay for 10 minutes or so.... breathing deeply, just thinking how brilliant and beautiful the world was. And, then I'd ride on home, feeling uplifted, content, and just plain old happy!

And I often wonder.....

...if those fields of wheat, and the glinting gold, the warm pinks, yellows, oranges, and reds of the sunset, are a big part of the reason I love to use all those colours in my personal interiors.

For many years a sort of buttery yellow colour, or a wheaten sort of colour, were my favourites for walls! I craved the warm, cozy, uplifting, alive, happy feeling they brought me. I'd wrap myself in the colours that brought me joy!

Photos from Country Living

Photo from BHG

Walking into a room with those colours on the walls, plus accents of red, pink, orange, and apple green gave me feelings of happiness akin to drinking in those fields of wheat.

Only a simple field of wheat and a sunset...

From Caranxcaranx via Flickr

and over 30 years ago...

but if I shut my eyes I can see, smell, and feel it like it was yesterday.

A memory that matters - to me.

Ask yourself: 'Are there any uplifting, joyous, simple memories from my childhood that remain as vibrant today as they were then?'

Which leads to: Is there anything (colours, scents, textures) you can take from your memories and entwine in your home's interiors?

Because: Memories matter. Including a reminder of things that matter will comfort and uplift you in a way nothing else can.

Cheers,

Linda.

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Linda. xox

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How NOT To Decorate A Beautiful Room - Revisited...

I'm still on holidays at the moment, and will be for another few weeks yet. Woohoo!

The weather's been lovely, and I've found quite a few bargains at the after Christmas sales - life is good!

Whilst delving back into the depths of my previous posts recently, I found this little treasure! I've always loved this post, so decided to bring it back to the present for a new viewing. (And, it saves me time while I'm in holiday mode).

Hope you enjoy it!

How NOT To Decorate A Beautiful Room...

This is not an example of 'how not to decorate', this is to soothe you

before we get to the headache inducing pics below!!

A beautiful, soft, gorgeous, dreamy bedroom

from The House of Turquoise via Phoebe Howard.

My design philosophy is all about following your heart and going with the colours, patterns, objects, textures, scents, materials, art, furniture, and pieces that mean the most to you.

However, and this is a really BIG HOWEVER, that doesn't mean going absolutely beserk in ways with no organisation, logical reasoning, or rational thought behind them.

Nor does it mean squashing as many of the things you love as possible into one space, or making sure everywhere you turn there's an oversized representation of whatever it is you love that would be better suited as a prop in some weird movie.

Proportion, symmetry, colour theory, editing (decluttering) and the appropriate use of space are guidelines to follow in any room, all of the time.

Be warned.... if you don't allow for some modicum of sense, if you let your head go whilst following your heart.... things that aren't nice ARE going to happen......

I understand bears are cute.... I really do... but...

Image Ugly House Photos

....ENOUGH already!

Image from Lovely Listing

Too much..... everything! Bleh!

Image from Lovely Listing

I know deer heads are in fashion, but I don't like 'em.

I especially don't like a whole herd of them or their cousins.

Image from Lovely Listing

Busy wallpaper, plastic fruit on top of the cupboards,

and bear cookie jars. Headache approaching.

Image from Ugly House Photos

Cows..... what cows?

Image from Amazon

Now, I love owls. I collect them myself. And whilst I agree

with the author on Apartment Therapy that this is a

cool collection of owls (displayed facing out from an

apartment window), I think it'd be too much for an interior.

I have quite a few owls at my place, but no more than 3 in any one spot. That way they each retain their individuality and can be seen and appreciated. I find grouping them in one large collection may look great from a colour perspective, but detracts from their individual attributes (just my thoughts!).

Ask yourself: 'Am I letting my head go too much? Have I lost sight of common sense where my decorating is concerned? Am I paying attention to not only what I love, but also the principles of design that stand true no matter what?'

Which leads to: 'Is there some re-arranging, decluttering, eye-sore removing, colour harmonizing, balance restoring action I need to take anywhere?'

Because: Whilst our homes should be full of things we love and decorated in a way that means something to us personally, common sense should still prevail lest we devalue and disrespect the things we love by turning their display into a headache inducing mess.

And now, to re-adjust and harmonise everything once more....... here's another beautiful, serene, gorgeous bedroom from The House of Turquoise via House to Home.

I feel better already! :)

Cheers,

Linda.

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Bedroom Beauties.... Or Not?

Our bedrooms are our special places of rest, sanctuary, and hiding away from the ravages our daily life sometimes brings us.

I found this bunch of bedrooms on Home Designing the other day, and thought some of them looked interesting and quite nice.

They all have some aspect in them I love... books, a great rug, gorgeous colour, glowing light, terrific artwork, a quote on the wall (you know how I love quotes everywhere)....

All pics via Home Designing

But, I also know myself well enough to look at them all and admire them from afar.

I can recognise what's good about them, I can see why lots of people would love to be in their spacious, roomy, and light filled surrounds, and at the same time, I can know that none of them are for me.

I like my bedrooms smaller, like a cocoon, and not quite so cavernous. I'm not saying I want to live in a cave, and I'm not saying I like my room to be the size of a matchbox... but I need 'cozy' in my bedroom.

I could almost survive for an extended period of time in the one with the brown wall containing books... nice lamps (although being a 'symmetrical girl' I'd need the lamps to match - but that's just me), great floor, some feel of coziness... but, the bed's too modern for me.

I've learned over time that it's quite normal and ok for me to oooh and aahhh over pictures in magazines that I can tell are beautifully designed and look terrific in almost every way (not talking about these pics here).... and yet just 'know' they wouldn't work for me.

I have to 'feel' it, I have to know I'd connect with it in MY way, not just dig it with my eyes and brain for a  room to be right.

Atmosphere is everything in my book.... and sometimes it's the hardest thing to manufacture.

Linda. xox

P.S. To see more bedrooms similar to these, pop over to Home Designing. I only picked a few!

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A Study Of 'The Study'! Some Beautiful Rooms To Admire...

I'm in a bit of a 'studious' mood today.... and this little collection of office/study photos is a great example of how different people work best in different surrounds.

Whatever gets your creative/work juices flowing is what's best to have around you. For some, minimalism helps calm their mind and create focus, whilst others need colour and comfort to settle in and let loose on their workload.

Bunny Williams room from Elle Look Book

Martha's Vineyard Home from Elle Look Book

Eric Gartner Study from Elle Look Book

Patrick Printy Office from Elle Look Book

Candice Olson Study from Elle Look Book

Nate Berkus Study from Elle Look Book

Steven Gambrel Study from Elle Look Book

Jeffrey Weisman and Andrew Fisher via Elle Look Book

Rafael De Cardenas Study from Elle Look Book

I tend to feel the need to be cocooned in my work space so everything else becomes 'stuff' on the outside of my little world, and therefore doesn't get in the way and distract me. To that end I love lots of texture, fabric and richer colours where possible.

What do you need to work/create best?

Linda. xox

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Monday Mojo - Do You 'See' With Your Heart?

I loved this quote when I first found it...

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye.   (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)

The real core of a beautiful room for me is its atmosphere.

Its soul.

The vibe it gives off and how it makes you feel.

What it does to you on the inside.

Image from the Marion House Book

Image from SF Girl By Bay

Image from SF Girl By Bay

Image from Tig Fashion

Rooms like those above may look gorgeous visually, (or not, depending on your preferred style), but it's how they make you FEEL that's the true test of whether or not the room is a success.

It's not until I get that satisfied and content feeling right in my core that I know I've got it just 'right' in a room.

So.... happy Monday everyone!! I hope you get to 'see' lots of things you love with not only your eyes but your heart this week.

And, as always on a Monday.... may your mojo be with you!

Linda. xox

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