March Madness and thoughts on removing the sentamentality of home.

We aren't talking basketball here.

It happens every March as the calendar flips to March 1.

My restlessness with preparing my thoughts for moving into our outdoor space at home start revving up. My finished-ness with being cooped up inside and a whole mess of new product arriving to start the next season in the store make me a non-relaxing mess.

My creative goes into hyperdrive.

This year combined with the cooped-up-ness of Covid has made me into a hamster spinning on a wheel.

Yes, this blog post is going to have a few made up words and part of it might take a turn to a rant. I think maybe it may also help speak a few true feelings that are circulating out there so let's have a chat.

The case of the March's took hold in our spare bedroom at home this past week.

I haven't done much to this room for some time. I use it mainly to read in and harbour my plant collections. We don't really have a need for a spare room for guests and there is a plan for the space involving our master bedroom in the future.

Knocking walls down plan. *As she rubs her hands together in excitement*

Therefore, my "want" to refresh the space also meant a "need" to not spend a pile of money on a space we don't heavily use just to make me feel like it is all refreshed and pretty.  Maybe others can relate to my need for a refresh.

And also to my request to keep it reasonable.

I have also really started feeling the shift in the social media circles. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some instagram scrolling and Pinterest is my new google but I have lately noticed and/or felt like I am scrolling through a white homogenous army of homes. It seems like an Olympic race to finish a space with the items you find that, immediately grant a home magazine worthy qualities. Probably also means I need to do a few silent unfollows if that is all my feed has turned into.

Living in a beautiful and comforting space is for many and  including myself an  aspiration.

To make house a home however, when the soul and creativity aspect of so many spaces is removed it feels like the space may have been created just for the gram and not the people who actually live there. Give me a spray gun and paint it white. I love white walls and white spaces but life is lived in colour as well and no hint of any life leaves me feeling a little sad for the spaces.

In discussing this with my "people", Jill made note of the fact that you just don't seem to see pieces in homes anymore that have any meaning. Like the meaning has just been wiped out or forgotten. A colander that belonged to a Grandma, a mixing bowl set passed down from an aunt, a throw blanket or trunk from travels, photos of family members current or past.

It just isn't something we often see ALONG with beautiful design.

It makes me wonder if that's really what we want?

Why are the two not linked somehow?

To make a beautiful well designed thought out space WITH meaning.

I swung the table to the other wall in this room. This table was a freebie from my grandfather-in-law.

He has really been my "grandfather" for most of my life because my husband and I have been together for so long. It reminds me of him and how he yelled at me I needed this lovely table he found for my plants. We were at a Christmas dinner (this was years ago) and here we were all dressed up and loading up this table so he would stop nagging me.  Now even though this table is faded beautifully, it is falling apart  and structurally a bit of a wreck but I am going to keep using it in this space because that memory makes me smile.

My love of design goes back a long way. I can remember my mom recreating spaces in our home. Painting at all hours of the night. Changing wallpaper, sewing window valances, painting wood dolls and adding faux flowers [late 80's early 90's everyone]

I would sneak her design magazines when she bought them and in high school saved to subscribe to them myself.

I quickly fell in love with Sarah Richardson as she started out. I still love her design. Aspects of her style speak to me more than others but I draw inspiration from her every time she publishes work.

I have been collecting shoe forms for years. No idea why I love them so much but in this room redo I culled the collection to just my favourites on the shelves for awhile. In the following photo you can see how the shelves used to look all jam packed. Editing and flipping things around that I love, is part of the fun. 

Getting inspiration and making it your own to create a space unique to you and your family if relevant, is the beauty of good design. Magazines require a less lived in look. I've been through the photo shoots. You wouldn't believe how much you need to remove to make a photo work in the eyes of the pages.

I definitely have a few favourite designers that I turn to and look at more often than not. The ones that give me ideas about how to create a gorgeous space but then tweak it to make it my own.

1. Made for Living by Amber Lewis.      2. Patina Farm by Brooke & Steve Giannetti.    3. Down to Earth by Lauren Liess

These designers have been either long standing loves or newer ones but all unique, keep their style consistent. I could pick them out of a lineup and not even wonder who made that space.

I guess that's really the point of today's conversation. 

As a shop owner constantly being asked to help complete a space [as we come in at the end with the textiles and decor], I (and my team) are also always asking what you are trying to achieve. What do you want your space to feel like?

When the phones come out and we are looking at inspiration, we are usually asking how it reflects what you want to see.

This chair is a commanding presence in green. It's one of a pair I move around the house all the time. I am always considering replacing them with something more neutral and matchy. Then I always remember how much I love the stinking things and make them work. The green is me. The vintage is us. The "us" picked up these chairs from a creepy house. We still laugh about all of our seriously questionable thrift home pickups over the years.

At the end of this post about inspiration, creating a real home for yourself, and not feeling like poop after being on social media, I am here to remind you that life isn't about how it looks to everyone else. It's about the joys, the sorrows, the feeling you get when you walk in the door. The laughter, the good food, the bad food, the nights of endless tv, the mornings of coffee, the heaps of laundry.

Post and look at the good stuff but don't forget everyone has bad stuff. Their good stuff shouldn't make you feel bad.

Home is not a race. It takes time to get the feel of a place especially a new build.

You are not less because your house isn't more. Your shabby chic doesn't need to be someone else's farmhouse modern. They don't live with you.

Take your time and make it yours.

Maybe you have a case of the March's as well.

Have a great day everyone,