Un-Decorating, and Why your Home is a Path, not a Place

This room might be a bit too cluttered for my taste, but I love how it oozes with personality!

The owner of this space isn't afraid to show the world who she is, what her interests are, what is meaningful to her. She is unique, fun and whimsical. She doesn't care about some expert's cookie-cutter approach to decorating or staging....wait, maybe she's un-decorating. Hmmmm, I see the beginnings of a new trend happening!

People are starting to tire of the blandness that often passes for tasteful interior design. In this high tech world we often feel the need for a high touch sanctuary to come home to.

We want to put our feet up, not worry about cookie crumbs on the floor. We want our homes to have the feel of a sun-faded beach house, where the timeworn, scratched,weather beaten look is oh so inviting, where we can have fun and be playful.

The picture shown here is from Michelle McCormick's "The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces".

Here is an excerpt from her book:

"Stuff comes and goes, as do styles, but the creation of home is something that we develop over time. Those skills stay with us. Which is to say that your home is a path, not a place. It’s something that you do with aspiration, it's an activity that never stops. It will help you learn, grow and change over the course of your life."

Yes it's so true...there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.....

My Interview with Tom Lucas of Radio Real Estate and Graeme Huguet of My House Design/Build

In this latest interview I talk about the best flooring to use if you want lasting quality and style and are staying in your home for 10 years or more.

What Everyone Else is Doing, or Not?

I'm hooked on the steady stream of information from the design sources I follow on Twitter.

Twitter is stimulating and informative, but it never ends! After a while I can no longer absorb it all. There's only so much inspiration one can glean from it, or any other outside source of information for that matter. After a while it's important to sit quietly, look within, and figure out what's really going to work.

We usually know what works for us. We know in our gut when it feels right. When we look to exterior sources for inspiration we sometimes get caught up with what's in, what's trendy, what everyone else is doing, instead of listening to our own voice and extracting what it is we really want.

The kitchen in this picture is beautiful; it's stylish, trendy and sophisticated. It would look great in a showhome. Would it function well for the average person? Would it work for me? I don't think so.

This kitchen has hardwood flooring. Hardwood will cup if exposed to water, and will scratch and dent with regular wear and tear. Hardwood in a dark tone shows dust and dirt more than a lighter tone will, so requires constant cleaning to look 'showhome' perfect.

Marble countertops such as the ones in this picture, stain easily and need to be frequently sealed. Also, this particular colour and veining of marble is trendy, so will look dated in a few years.

The average person doesn't want the high maintenance this kitchen involves; but it's easy to get seduced by the emotional impact of the pretty picture, rather than asking what's really going to work for our own needs and lifestyle. I'm sometimes guilty of this myself. Are you?

photo credit: contemporist.com; Brentwood residence by MLK Studio.