It’s a quote about education, but I think it applies to the person as a whole. To life overall. What does it have to do with design? Why is interior design & decorating so important?
It’s the same reason that your wardrobe, your hair, & your overall external appearance is important. It’s your first impression. When you look good, you feel good. You walk a little taller, smile a little brighter, and look people in the eye when you feel good because you look good. For me personally, heels make me feel powerful & sexy.
Having a home that reflects your style, in the same way, has the same effect but on a larger scale. Your home affects so many things from your personal well-being to your family’s well-being to how you feel about inviting people in.
So it is said to invest in yourself. Investing in your home means investing in yourself and your family.
Your home is your sanctuary. When you walk in it should feel like you are walking into a big fluffy blanket that’s going to surround you with love and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Because it’s your space and because it makes you & your family feel happy.
A lot of people think they can’t afford to have beautiful functional homes they love. I say you can’t afford NOT to.
It affects everything from your mood, how you feel about everyone & everything around you, to how you interact with people.
When you love home, you want everyone else to experience that as well. When you love home, you invite the world in. When you love home your soul feels nourished and that makes you want to nourish others.
We hardly ever think about how our homes make us feel unless we really love it or really hate it. We think about our feelings, yes. But typically we think about how external factors affect our feelings – things like our jobs (employees, co-workers, clients, contractors, etc), traffic, friends and extended family.
We don’t think about how our homes could affect our feelings – things like clutter, less than loved furniture, a poor layout, the wrong colors for a specific room. All of these things have been researched & are known to contribute to our moods, attitudes, outlook & well-being.
Think about this… when you don’t feel comfortable with the way your home looks and feels, you tend to not have people over because of how you think they may perceive your home.
People come to see you, not your home. But if you don’t feel great about it, you tend to do 2 things:
- Isolate yourself when you’re at home and/or
- Stay away from your home, going out as much as possible
But the thing is that no one has to live in your home but you and your family. So when you accept & nurture that, you can design & decorate your home for you & your lifestyle.
Your home is uniquely yours. When you accept & nurture that, you can design & decorate for you & your lifestyle.
Instead of throwing money at trends & things to put in your home, you can focus on your goals for your home. Then you and your family will love coming home & staying home.
Trends exist to make people feel bad about what they don’t have.
You will start to find that you’ll go out to eat less & want to stay in for dinner more. You’ll cook together, eat together, & ultimately become healthier & happier as a result.
You will find that you would rather have movie night at home than movie night at the theater. You will find that the family is spending more time together because everyone loves being together at home. In the spaces they love. You will find that you entertain more – or at least want to.
It is true that there are people who do not have a place to call home, even more than “usual” in the aftermath of so many recent natural disasters including Hurricane Harvey here in Houston & Southeast Texas.
Those people would be happy simply to have a roof over their heads and that would be a start. But how much better would it be to have a roof over their heads and have it feel like the sanctuary we all so deserve.
With the holidays coming I am always thinking of ways that we can think of those less fortunate than ourselves. Everyone has a gift & to be able to use our gifts to give back to others is a true blessing.
The gift I love to share is the ability to plan & decorate homes & offices working within any budget because everyone truly does deserve a place they love to come home to. And that’s why interior design is so important.
