Making a Home
Making a Home
moments in-between
Hello there! I'm writing from our sun room, which is indeed bathed in gorgeous sunlight this afternoon. At the moment I'm in one of those cherished in-between moments where new projects are slowly incubating. In fact, I have recently removed most of the art (mine or otherwise) from the walls in our home to make room for new ideas to emerge. Do you ever do that? I love the "blank canvas" feel it creates, the sense of possibility...
And this has really made me want to focus on making our house a home. We’ve moved into this beautiful, old, yet still-new-to-us house almost two years ago, and the truth is that ever since, there have been repairs going on (and on and on…). Leaks to fix, the roof to change etc. After all, this is an old lady from 1901! Builders and plumbers have been coming and going for what feels like ages, and we've never really had the time to truly settle in and make this place a real, cozy little nest.
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”
the sun room, soon to get double-glazed windows and re-painted table and chairs.
The giant hole in the ceiling of our living room… At least the leak is fixed now.
nesting…
Repairs and upgrades are far from done: among other things, there’s still a big hole in the ceiling of our living room, and next week we're having the sun room windows changed (hello double glazing!). It’s still going to be a while before everything’s done, but I just can't wait any longer to give it some more personal, homy touches.
It’s probably quite symbolic that this morning I had the impulse to go out, gather a few twigs, and make this simple, nest-like wreath. Maybe it will adorn our front door for a while, or maybe I will find a spot for it inside, I don’t know yet but it's just so good to let creativity spill out of the studio and into the rest of our life.
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
step by step
I’ve also been painting this week! Not a canvas but… the stairs! I’m not fully done, but oh my goodness it makes me feel so much better. You see, what with moving the furniture in, then builders going up and down with heavy shoes and gear, the steps were all dented and scratched. Plus the previous owners had just applied a quick coat of white before selling, but it’s been cracking and chipping, revealing a dark gray underneath, and then an ugly brown under that… Thankfully they’ve left us a half-full can of the paint.
I love those stairs, they are beautiful, and they are the first thing you see when you enter the house. It really bothered me to see them deteriorate month after month: I couldn’t help thinking about it every day as I went down in the morning, and up to bed every night. Yet painting stairs is a big job and I kept thinking there was no point doing it as long as there was more building work to do upstairs. Well, I’ve just changed my mind!
“Home is where one starts from.”
don’t wait
A few days ago I purchased a lovely book called Cozy White Cottage. The author had a rather similar story with stairs, and one of the best tips she shares is: don’t wait! She also tells how much she loves chippy paint, and it just clicked: I love chippy paint too! I love distressed textures so much that I keep recreating them in my art and taking photos of them all the time. But there I was, complaining about chippy stairs?? No more!
Instead I decided to get creative and purposefully make this “chippiness” a long-term feature of the stairs. I sanded the edges of the steps even more, to get a cohesive look, and repaired only the worst parts. Then later next week when the kids are at school, I’ll just give the surface a fresh, smooth coat of paint, leaving the chippy edges exposed. It’s really an easy, budget-friendly and earth-friendly fix. And above all, I love the cozy feel of this worn and shabby look. From an artist’s point of view, I also love the way it brings the white stairs and the dark handrail together, and the contrast it creates with the shiny crystal globe!
“Home is the nicest word there is.”
a number’s game
Just as I was writing this, the doorbell rang and a lady from the town-hall delivered our new house number! We used to be number 3, and as of Monday, we get “upgraded” to number 9. In terms of Feng Shui and numerology, 3 is the number of creativity (great for artists) and now nine is three times three! Plus it’s a number of love and care, wisdom and inspiration, accomplishment and longevity. The perfect number for a true family home with many, many happy years ahead!
“... coziness — that soul-deep feeling of being at home.”
Wherever you live, I hope you can feel a sense of coziness, of being home. Very often, it’s all in the little things. Bringing nature inside, enjoying the smell of your favorite tea, and changing your perspective to make room for new ideas that feel like YOU.