Adding A Little Life

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adding life.jpg

It is always an exciting time at Revealing Redesign when we are preparing to have our finished rooms professionally photographed--as we just did a short time ago...

As I do the last minute preparations for the Big Day, I am reminded of how important life is in a room. By life, I mean plants, fruit, flowers...things alive and green and leafy. Almost everything on my 'to do' list the week before is something along the lines of "buy flowers for blue vase," or "get branches for urn," since a room never feels finished to me without a little bit of Mother Nature's help. 

Many clients over the years have given me pushback when I suggest buying plants for a space. Real plants and cut flowers--not fake ones.  :) Thankfully, I have used my persuasive ways to convince them to try rounding out their rooms with some indoor gardening (why not? less than $20 for a plant is not a huge investment), and I have experienced time and again their delight and surprise at what it has added to their spaces. 

SO, whether or not you have a green thumb, take a small risk and incorporate a living thing or two into your spaces.  I know it will help your rooms come alive and nurture your soul with natural beauty. :)

It can take a little while...and that's ok.

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Yep. That was the wall above the little sofa in my sitting room here in my house. 

The blank wall. 

What was sometimes known as the blankety-blank wall.

The room had been finished for months. Well, mostly finished, except for whatever was meant to be hanging over that damn loveseat. 

For the holidays there was a lovely fresh wreath there that made my heart sing.  Everything I tried hanging on that lonely, empty nail after that beautiful evergreen thing faded and browned...well, not so much. 

You know, sometimes when putting a room together things can take a little while and this. is. okay. Rooms are built over time, after all, and I have learned that when an element in a space (or in my life, for that matter) isn't falling into place the way I would like it to, I just have to have faith and wait.

As frustrating and boring as sitting around may seem, most often I find in these situations something really great--a creative idea, an ingenious solution, an "oh WOW" element-- is waiting to be born...and it just isn't time yet. 

Rooms and houses that really say something about their inhabitants, and the ones that truly nurture the people that live there, rarely happen all at once or on a strictly imposed schedule. Spaces that are forced into being finished can look more like contrived furniture store vignettes, and nothing at all like a home that is alive with soul and personality. 

So, if something doesn't feel right in your house--you aren't sure how to proceed & nothing seems to be clicking into place right now--just wait a tick. Something amazing is sure to be around the next corner, a complete "YES!" that was totally worth waiting for.  

Back when my house needed therapy...(can you relate?)

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This week I thought it would be fun to talk about how the rooms in your house get along--both with each other and with you.  

If your rooms flow one to the next, and feel fantastic to spend time in, then that is wonderful. Congrats! You have a relationship that many would envy! 

But, if your rooms are small, halting spaces that are disjointed and closed off from one another-- and you feel frustrated and cramped when in them-- then it may be time to think about how we can improve this very important relationship in your life. :)

One solution for a home that feels cramped is to investigate ways to open up interior views from one room to the next. Long sight lines, especially diagonal ones, give the feeling of more space without changing the footprint of the rooms involved at all. 

Before I did this for a living, in my own house a small front hall had frustrated me for years.  I had a feeling that the room's original layout had been tampered with because it just felt wrong. 

Instead of a graceful, Victorian-era entrance, it seemed like a pokey space-- an afterthought with very little elbow room and no charm at all. 

Sure enough, after closer inspection, we realized that the wall was not original but probably had been added in the 1970's...(by the way, this discovery was more exciting for me than if I had won the lottery. There was a lot of jumping up and down and clapping as I took these pictures back in 2005. :) True story).

The small doorway that had been added, with its low header and cramped feeling, completely blocked the view of one of the nicest architectural features of our home--the staircase--and made both spaces feel so much smaller. 

SO, you know that wall had to go! 

With the wall removed, the dining room and front hall were able to relate to each other once again and share light, space, and a feeling of openness--all hallmarks of a healthy relationship. 

 

As you can see, nothing has changed in the dimensions of these spaces, but your perception of the amount of space that there is, is very, very different.

Widening doorways, opening portions of walls for interior "windows," or removing portions of walls altogether are all great ways to help your home live larger (with the help of a knowledgable contractor and designer, of course!). Certainly this is more involved than just moving a few pieces of furniture, but if you are frustrated by what feels like a cramped abode, then this option is far less expensive than adding on.

Remember, no room in your home ever acts alone, but interacts and converses with the other areas around it, and what kind of dialog they have has a huge impact on how your house feels to you.  Encouraging a good relationship between the rooms in your house can make your house live so much larger than the number of square feet between your walls!