Several posts ago now I promised you help with decluttering. I’m reneging…I cannot get interested in this topic here. Buuuuhhh-lah. So here is a weekend bonus: Caroline Winkler has got us covered. There are a few tips here, and I will also offer this thought: don’t think about organization. In my experience this takes care of itself when you declutter. Now I happen to love clutter. CONTAINED clutter. This is how you visually calm your interior: you contain the clutter in, you know, containers. Trays are my friend; never too many trays…and baskets, and when all else fails, decorative boxes. Hooks everywhere. Wrangle all the tiny little detritus of life into some semblance of order by categorizing it, like with like.
Here is Caroline Winkler to let you know what you’re doing wrong…hahhaaaaaaaa….and yes, I love my Magic Eraser. It’s probably full of chemicals and not environmentally friendly – but it’s MENTALLY friendly. You will have to pry the Magic Eraser out of my cold, dead hands.
the chairs she named after her Grandmother’s sisters. We wish they could talk, too, Monique. In this exuberant home we see fearless use of color. Again, a theme I call “follow your heart” decorating. Buy what you love – unapologetically. Your home IS your altar, the proclamation of your tenacity and of true faith – in life. Was it Picasso who said “artists live out loud?” Live like you mean it.
I was as glad for a new year as anyone. But I experienced a weird phenomenon: there was a deep sadness, too. I felt like I was leaving someone behind. My younger brother died unexpectedly in his sleep eight months ago. Somehow acknowledging the passing of the year felt as though I was abandoning him. I had to say goodbye all over again. Yet I had not thought of that or felt that way on the new year following either of my parents deaths; had not felt like I was leaving them…what was that? I dreamt of Ward on New Years eve, we said goodbye with love and affection, and some type of awareness that this was it for us. I don’t feel his spirit around me anymore.
I have come to appreciate the gift of grief, not to recoil from it. I appreciate my anger. Surely any healing requires acceptance of the full range of our emotion. Gratitude waits on the other side of allowing for it all. I’m so grateful he was my brother.
What has this got to do with decoration? If you haven’t gleaned a theme in this blog yet, it is the fact that I do not know how to separate interior design from interior experience…it’s all the same for me, as within, so without…I FEEL colors. I feel everything. I absolutely GIVE UP trying not to. Because at nearly 70 years of age, I utterly and completely give up trying to be anything other than who I am.
AND – here’s the thing: I just want to grow up. I want to mature spiritually, mentally, emotionally. I want to heal this year, finally, from a lifetime in survival mode. From multi-generational abuse and mental illness, and from living defensively. I’m finally willing to be vulnerable. And the fact is, probably much like you, I have been on a lifelong search for truth, for the cure for this human condition, for “enlightenment” (deliver me.) I want nothing to do with that quest any longer. It holds no value. We both know it’s an INTERIOR issue.
Instead I will seek joy. In every little nook and cranny. I will sing at the top of my lungs off key! I will paint anything that stands still long enough – any color I feel. I might even name my furniture. I want to be warm and cozy and fat and sassy (so far, so good…) I will not abide beige.
My sweet brother never had a chance at any quality of life or happiness. But that’s a story for another time and place. Meanwhile I will not back down from living my life as an artist, in full living color.
“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” – May Sarton
Okay you – yes, you. Here’s a bandwagon I can jump on! Wendy Knox is on a campaign to re-brand aging. She’s turning muck into magic. Let’s support her any way we can. For starters, let’s subscribe to her YouTube channel and like her videos and let her know we are listening:
…is a quote often credited to Einstein. He was on to something. Neuroscience has now been able to map the brain and observe the neurons firing, the brain lighting up, when certain functions occur. Thanks to this we now know that intuition and imagination are the same neurological function. If you can’t imagine it, you can’t manifest it (the old red car theory.) What if earth is God’s playground?
Take the issue of intuition, then. Without it, we literally would not have survived as a species. Your gut tightens and your thoughts prompt you in a different direction: don’t take off when the light turns green, that kind of thing. I’ll bet we don’t know how many times our intuition has saved our life. I can think of a few that I know of, but how many more am I not so aware of?
As it happens the way to develop a strong trust in our intuition is to play with our imagination. To play at creativity. That does not necessarily require making art – baking bread for a neighbor is creative. Have you ever read to a child and made up voices? How do we literally “come unto him as little children?” Open-hearted, empty-minded, both sides of the brain engaged? The answer is: WE PLAY.
The woman in this film actually looks a lot like the younger me. Oh how I miss her. She’s still inside of the wrinkled old me and I’m going to let her play today. I will simply follow her lead. Won’t you join me?
Always Maira. She will show us the way to the absurd and glorious in life. She reminds us to revel in our inconsistencies. She is my pastor this Sunday morning. Welcome to my church:
While we embrace the beauty of our shared humanity this week, let’s add some brevity to help decompress from the holidays. So, all you human (and also magical) beings struggling with life in the human world…who can’t seem to figure out the technology, and certainly don’t need any more cable…this is your reminder to find some humor and delight in the little things we all take for granted. In the coming weeks we will explore creative ways to corral your clutter. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that make it easier. Meanwhile, I don’t know about you, but I need to explore my inner Elizabeth Bigelow…
“There is no such thing as a mere mortal.” – C.S. Lewis
…give up all the other worlds except the one to which you belong…ANYTHING or ANYONE that does not bring you alive is too small for you.” Happy New Year!
Jenny Jackson is my superhero. She is “four years away from ninety.” She has a red refrigerator. She is an expert at making wrong moves in life. She sews buttons on her shoes. She lives on the edge of terror. And she is grateful. I love her. I love you, too. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
“I have been absolutely terrified every moment of my life, and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I’ve wanted to do.” – Georgia O’Keefe
At 240 square feet – you read that right, 240 – this space holds everything this designer needs. Here we see a great example of how a space must provide not only physical comfort, but visual comfort as well. What would you need to feel comfortable here?
“A house is made with walls and beams, a home is made with love and dreams.” – Emerson
This friendly young designer is just delightful, as is his home. He has nailed the attention to detail. Here in his small 2 bedroom bungalow he demonstrates maximalist style exquisitely.
I do love black walls. Pair them with natural textures like rattan, greenery, and velvet (oh, my!) and you have just created warmth and drama. Trust me, you’ll love living with this classic design. Put some pattern on your fifth wall and we are talkin’…
Javier’s bathroom is my favorite of all time. I’m planning to steal this idea and paint a mural in mine. If you’re curious, it shows much better in the original tour a year ago (link below video.)
Grab a cup of your favorite holiday beverage and take a little break…XOXO
“Good artists copy; great atrists steal.” – Pablo Picasso
The original tour. Check out the mural walls in the primary bathroom.
A Painterly Home 