It's Personal
Today we're talking Making a House a Home! This is all about heart.
A good place to start if you're totally floundering is to consider which sense is your strongest. "That's a weird thing to say Hazel, what the chuff do you mean?!" OK take me: I'm a very VISUAL person, so what makes ME happy is seeing things: art, colour, pattern, DISPLAY!
You however might be a TACTILE person, so texture, fabrics, grain, soft things and a variety of those things would make your senses glad. Or maybe SMELL is your thing - flowers, candles, diffusers, even fragrant woods - oh my you'd be in HEAVEN! Maybe you've got a combo of senses that bring you PEAK happiness, pick two, I'm not the Sensory Police!
Next, choose 2-3 things that make you REALLY happy. Literally anything in the world - the whole point is that YOU are unique, and your home should be a reflection of YOU: not Homes & Gardens, not Her off Real Housewives, YOU! Classic cars? Taxidermy? My Little Pony? Whatever it is OWN IT and give your passion space in your home. Sure you can't fit a Ferrari Testarossa in your lounge - but can you find a really awesome print of one? Or an abstract painting?! Maybe when you're building that bookshelf you make sure the shelves are spaced just right for your collection of stuffed birds - whatever floats your boat!
Let's look at this room as a case study:
Primary sense: sight
Secondary sense: touch
Things that make me joyful:
oceana
plushy fabrics
my Stephen King collection
Put it together and what have you got?! Bibbity bobbity HOME! My home will be very different from your home, so make a cup of your favourite tea, push pause for a second and consider what's on YOUR list. The answers should come to you naturally, and I encourage you to embrace them whatever they may be, without worrying whether or not they're en vogue or du jour. The editor of ELLE Decoration doesn't live in your home, YOU DO, so if you want to be weird, I fully endorse that!
"But Hazel I GOTTA HAVE that CUSHION!!" Ok ok, here's what's what in my house:
I collect Polish theatre posters, and if you love unusual art then you'll get lost in polishposter.com You'll see a few throughout the house, this particular one is called "The Pearl Fishers" and it's one of my absolute favourites. I framed it myself as very large frames are like hens teeth - a good tip when looking at buying artwork is to check the sizes first: will it fit a standard-sized frame or mount? If not you could be in for a world of hurt as custom framing is expensive (and rightly so as it's a bugger of a job!)
My Top find of the Month has to be kuriosis.com - amazing quality prints, great service and incredible choice. This jellyfish print is by Ernst Haeckel and it's called Medusa, again I mounted and framed it myself but you'll find that their artwork comes in standardised sizes for easy mounting and framing.
The centrepiece of the room has got to be this original mixed media painting by Kate Leiper called The Ballad of Sule Skerry - if you're ever going to splurge then I highly recommend that you do it investing in art which you LOVE.
Doesn't matter if it's popular, doesn't matter if they're well-known. If it speaks to you and you have the funds then support an artist by giving their work a home - for me there's no better feeling, and I know how it feels from the other side too as it touches my heart every time a client chooses my work.
Those cushions now: made by me from Divine Savages linens and Clarke and Clarke velvets with some lush navy velvet piping. I've been scared of taking on piped cushions for years as I just couldn't get my head around it, but this tutorial was brilliant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vplzazSuzBU&t=487s
Lastly, our beautiful Wee Folk make OUR house a home - I had these gorgeous wee figures made as wedding cake toppers and the level of detail is phenomenal, they make beautiful keepsakes and incredibly thoughtful gifts.
Next time we'll be exploring a whole new room - what's waiting for you behind Door No. 2?!