Lightening Has Struck AGAIN (and you can see the pictures here)

KA BLAM!

It was an honor to be featured on PhillyMag's property blog once--but twice?!? I am so honored and humbled...

You may remember that earlier in the summer my own beloved farmhouse was highlighted on the Property section of Philadelphia Magazine's blog (you can see that article here). 

And NOW I am SO THRILLED to share with you that the home of one of my very best clients has also been featured.

It is like an out-of-body experience both to see beautiful pictures of rooms I have designed as taken by Laura Kicey, as well as to read an article telling the story of the rebirth of this home, which I have been so lucky to be an integral part of for many years now.  (For those of you whom have received my emails for a long time, you will probably recognize many of the rooms… :)

If you would like to read the full article and view the amazing pictures, you can do so here. 

SO BLESSED! 

Keep It Together! (Just In Time For Fall)

It has been a while since we have tackled  a homework assignment… and with the end of summer speeding toward us (how did that happen already?),  "getting things together" is very, very important with the busy times that lay ahead for all of us this fall.

So what exactly do I mean when I say "getting things together??" 

Oftentimes when we are overwhelmed by our STUFF--all of our possessions, papers, pantry items, you name it--it is because of how we store them. We are scattered because they are scattered.

You see, it is really easy to make the mistake of storing similar or identical items in many different places all over our house. Things aren't together, like at all. 

Let me explain how this creates problems for us:

For example, you are a tea drinker & you have a stash of your favorite blend right next to the stove where you heat the kettle every day. You also have a few different boxes on 2 or 3 shelves in the pantry across the room....

OH! and there is also some that you bought a while back (just to be sure you wouldn't run out) on the shelves near the basement steps.

When your supply near the stove gets low, you find yourself at the grocery store buying more, because you aren't sure if you really have more in the pantry. You haven't checked in a while...

This scenario could be repeated for many, many different items we keep on hand in our homes. It seems especially true for food items, but it can also be the case for things like lightbulbs, cleaning supplies, sewing notions, scrapbooking items, office supplies....you name it! Not being able to see at a glance the total of what we have and not knowing there is a central location where they are kept leads to confusion, lack of clarity, the wasting of time, the wasting of money .....and, of course, clutter.

Your assignment this month is: 

1. PICK ONE category of things you know you have scattered in various places around your house
2. COMMIT to one central location where these things will now be kept (preferably very close to where they will be used) and 
3. PUT THEM ALL IN THE SAME PLACE.

This can be as simple as finding all of the cans of soup you have on different shelves in your pantry and making sure they are stacked together. Set a timer and devote just 15 minutes to this this weekend.

HOORAY!

Getting Your Ducks (Or Geese) In A Row

Just before I was about to reach the school driveway earlier this week (I was going to pick up my daughter from softball practice) I noticed the large flock of Canadian Geese that lives nearby, off to one side of the road. 

When I was only feet away from them, one silly goose who was closest to the road started to very casually wander into my path. YIKES!

I honked as I put on the brakes. 

But he paid me no mind.  He acted as if he hadn't even heard a sound, continuing to amble casually across the street. And then his buddy decided to follow him. 

And then another friend too...

Next thing I knew EVERYONE--all 15,000 geese (no, I am NOT exaggerating)--had decided to cross the road.  And I was going to get nowhere fast. 

So, WHY am I telling you about this?  It is because the way these geese crossed the road was meaningful, and we can learn something from it...

Really???!?

Really. 

At first, these birds were all over the place. The message that 'IT WAS TIME' to cross the road had not reached everyone, there was no order, rhyme, or reason to how they were moving--disorganized pairings of feathered friends went to and fro (what are we doing? ohhh right, we are crossing the road!), stopping to preen themselves in the middle of the road even--why rush?!? But within a few minutes, the whole operation gained momentum and purpose. Their ducks--ahem, *geese*--were in a row. And they were moving forward!

It is like this with our houses when we decide we want things to change for the better. It can be messy at first, and seem to lack a plan. The other people we live with don't really understand what is going on (what are we doing??), and they may question your resolve (Ohhh she has tried this whole "organization" thing before. Ignore her--it'll be over soon enough).

The important thing is to remember to slowly keep moving forward-- putting one cute little webbed foot in front of the other, decluttering one drawer, one pile of papers, one bag to Goodwill at a time. No shouting, cajoling, or fretting needed.

Ignore those that honk at you. You are on a mission. You are going to get to the other side.

The momentum and purpose that is created is powerful. Big changes can happen in little baby steps taken one after another. I see this all the time with my Keep Moving Forward clients. Our meetings of just two hours each month completely change their houses for the better, and I am amazed & filled with gratitude each time I experience it with them. 

SO, set your intention. Walk on. Keep moving forward! Your peaceful, nurturing home is SO CLOSE... just a few purposeful steps away.

My House On Philly Mag's Property Blog!

I am so excited to share something very exciting that happened while I was away in Maine last week on our family vacation...

You see, back in 1996 when my husband and I bought our house, it looked like this:

And I cooked our meals in a kitchen that looked like this:

At that time I was working as a psychiatric nurse, we had no children yet, and we bought our house knowing that both of us longed for a creative project (well, okay…especially me).  Little did we know that the purchase of this house would help me to launch a business a decade later and help me realize a dream. 

And now, 18 years later my home and my business is featured in Philadelphia Magazine's Property blog. Somebody pinch me. 

You can read the article and see all of Laura Kicey's amazing photographs here.

Spoiler alert: the kitchen looks a little different now. :)

What an amazing journey it has been, and continues to be. I am truly honored, humbled and so excited about the future helping YOU to create a nurturing and beautiful home that helps you to live your life to the fullest!