I have a love-hate relationship with home shows and home magazines. I love to be inspired by people’s creativity and the artistic expression of their own personality, but I don’t want to be drawn into the trap of buying things because they are just so “now”. This meant that for a long time I swung to far to the “do nothing” side of things with my home decoration, but now I love to seek out things that are an expression of me and my family, and that create the space that we need. This is different for every family but for us it needs to be peaceful, welcoming and comfortable.
I recently helped my sister move house. She has moved a lot closer which is wonderful, and due to a number of trying circumstances she needed a good deal of assistance over moving weekend.
I love my sister’s sense of style, it is quirky and eclectic with lots of colour and a generous helping of fun and cheeky kitsch. While my house is more muted tones and my sense of style is different, I always feel happy to go to her place, not just for the company, somehow the decor cheers me too.
So it was very interesting to be involved in the deconstructing of her old home, and see it once more become just a house. Clinical and impersonal, devoid of the touches of life, and the colour that made it into a home. And conversely to experience the creation of a new home, from a blank canvas, to watch her things and her family fill the new space, and suddenly it gained that little something it was lacking, colour, life and vibrancy. Even though there are still boxes to unpack and rooms not yet arranged, it went in the space of that weekend from house to home.
It was a sobering reminder to me that home is about your people, it is about your expression of who you are as a family, and it becomes a place to welcome others.