My Morning Ritual

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I was preparing my cup of coffee the other morning, just as I do every day,  and I realized why this daily ritual makes me so happy.

First,  l love coffee.

Second, everything I need to get my cup of joe ready is all within an arms reach of my coffeepot. So satisfying.

This got me thinking about all the tasks we do on a daily or weekly basis, and how they can either be annoying and time-consuming, or satisfying and efficient.  Which side of things they come down on has everything to do with the way we set the whole thing up--this is the very heart of good design.

It sounds almost silly to say that you should store items where you use them, but the truth is often we don't.  The tools and items we need for daily life can be scattered about and we make getting throught he day so much harder as a result.

With a little planning, these day to day things can be almost effortless. Here are some ideas that you may already have put in place, but if you haven't, they can save you hours of aggravation each week:

  • A "landing strip" for your arrivals and departures--car keys, purse, jacket, work bag all stored together, as well as other daily incidentals--preferably right by the door you exit and enter the house.

  • A homework bin kept near the kitchen table containing sharpened pencils, erasers, markers, crayons, colored pencils, and glue sticks. (I did this last September just using the left overs from the previous school year. That bin came in so handy each afternoon, and easily went back in the cabinet when the work was done.)

  • A single place for all the tools you need to pay your bills each month--perhaps a drawer near your computer with stamps, calculator, pens, any bills that come in by mail, along with a list of your bills and when they are due.

  • For the pup--leash, waste bags, walking shoes, umbrella, biscuits all together at the ready for the daily walk.

A good test to see if a task area is set up efficiently is to see how little you need to move your feet to gather the things you need to complete it.

If you can stand in one place and get your hands on all the components, you win!

A Coffee Bar In Your Bedroom, And Other Design Desires...

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One of the wonderful benefits of working with the same family for many years is the ability to help them intentionally shape their house, room by room, and see how the house transforms so totally in how it looks, how it feels, and how it helps them to live in a whole new way. 

This is just the case with the Townsends, one of my clients with whom I have worked since I started my business back in 2006.  What an amazing journey it has been, and just this week we began work on the last room in their house that hasn't yet gotten the full Revealing Redesign treatment. Wow.

Last year at this time their house was featured in Philadelphia Magazine's Property Blog, and the importance of a coffee bar in the bedroom--one of the first design details we worked on when we recreated their master suite--made for an eye-catching headline. :) 

Overall, we have worked together to create a home for them and their family that is welcoming, beautiful, honors their personal style, facilitates how they really want to live, and highlights the stunning setting where their abode is located. 

You can read the whole article here, and take a tour through their house via the gallery of photos.

Enjoy! 

You will know what to do.

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These were three of the four fortunes my family received at dinner the other evening.  Hmmmmm.

I knew I wanted to write about this pointed message from the fortune cookie gods (ha ha), but ironically I had a tough time deciding what I wanted to say. I know, I know. Too funny. 

I recently watched one of my kids wrestle with a gut-wrenching decision, desperately wanting to pick a 'yes' or a 'no'--but the choice just wasn't clear...and still isn't. Ultimately, it seems this decision is one that doesn't need to be decided upon yet. 

In contrast, a few years ago, I had clients ask me if I could help them make major, involved changes to a house they were just purchasing and had never lived in before. Their goal was to have everything renovated, painted, placed and perfect the day they moved in. No decision left unturned. No messy in-between time. No waiting. Just go for it. Get 'er done. 

So--what is the right decision in terms of making the right decision? What style are you? Wait and see? Forge ahead? 

I have to say that in terms of my offspring, I am proud that they are moving forward, although the question/decision is still lingering. While it would be easier to know for sure one way or the other, they know that they have to keep engaging with themselves and their world until things become more clear. Pretty cool. Pretty brave. 

With my clients who wanted to go forward guns blazing, headlong into a huge renovation, I felt it was best to politely decline the opportunity to work with them--something that surprised even me. 

While this sort of soup-to-nuts re-do makes for great entertainment (I, too, love those shows with the overnight transformations on HGTV), and major renovations are something I live for in my work, in this specific case I felt my clients were rushing into renovations that may or may not have made sense for them over time--especially since their family was going through many earth-shattering changes already. I felt they were trying to side-step the very important process of getting to know their house and how they really would live in it, and as a result most likely sabotaging the results we would have created. 

We all want to do that little side-step move when working on our house, or making other big shifts in our lives. It is a way to try and outrun the discomfort of being in limbo, being in the process of making decisions, which can be very uncomfortable. That place where we aren't quite at ease is just where we need to be sometimes if we want to create meaningful change. Being "done" with our houses is a seductive idea, but ultimately what we truly want is a place to live that supports and nurtures the life we want to lead. That doesn't happen overnight. That doesn't happen by just wanting it to be done. 

Finishing a house is a very different thing from just getting it done. If you engage in this process, it is involved, but when the time is right, you will know what to do. And the results will show it. 

Working with clients on their houses is such a joy to me. I love helping to make the many required decisions easier, helping my clients to see the choices clearly that will get them the result they long for, helping them to finish each space in a meaningful way. Rather than just imposing my ideas onto a space, for me it is most important that I enter into a conversation with you and your house, and then help you to create a home that is finished, peaceful, beautiful, and truly yours. 

 

p.s. Seems like a lot of people have had decision making on their minds lately. One of my favorite writers, Martha Beck, has put up a great piece this week on making the right decision. You can find it here. I highly recommend it! :)

 

 

 

 

Today's Dose of Beautiful Simplicity

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It is really easy to think that creating beauty is hard. That's what keeps us from even trying most of the time, I think. 

I love all the sunlight, the clean off-white trim, the soft grey walls in the photo above.  This is the "maid's hall," a previously forgotten area of the cottage I have been working on in Maine. This area was always meant to be plain and utilitarian, and I feel proud that the new paint colors we chose for the space have highlighted and enhanced all that beautiful simplicity. 

I feel like it just glows. 

What simplicity can you embrace and highlight in your home this week?  Think of things that are easy to do and will put a smile on your face right away (i.e. add a vase of flowers in your entryway, take down a picture you've never really liked, put five things away in a room of your choice, put a gorgeous bowl of seasonal fruit on the kitchen table, etc...) And then do them.

Believe me, you deserve a dose of beautiful simplicity each day. :)