Recently, I was looking at pictures of someone's lovely home. Tiny details caught my eye; I wanted to know more about them, I wanted to see them close-up. Suddenly he saw his home how I saw it. I guess we take a lot of things for granted in our living spaces, he replied, when I asked him about things.
Writing for this blog, I'm constantly exposed to beautiful interiors and covetable objects. I have a picture in my head of the loft I'd love to live in one day, I've got tons of home improvement projects going. I'd like change this or that; that makes me vaguely dissatisfied, I'm envious that many of my colleagues have recently moved and are getting the opportunity to reimagine their livng spaces. I'm bored of mine, I hate it, I wish it were different, I...Then someone comes over who's never been in my home or hasn't been in my home in a long time -- my landlord's daughter, the building inspector, the locksmith, my brother who lives in NY -- and they say something about my home "I love the colour of your living room walls," or "Your couches are so comfortable," or "Until I saw yours, I never realized black was a good colour for a kitchen," and suddenly I see my home differently. Oh yeah, I think. I remember how much effort went into finding the exact right yellow or how many couches I tested or how excited I was to have a blackboard wall in my kitchen. Suddenly, I like my home again. I'm back in the present. This week, at least, I'm happy with where I live.
Have you ever had this experience?
[image from Living, etc.]
Apartment Therapy's Sofa Shopping Guide
Nikki’s Sweet and Cheery Print Studio
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sprout Side Table
5 Things Paris Taught Me About Travel
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
Yes, I have had that experience. When I get bored with my home or find myself thinking I want to move I often rearrange my furniture or take artwork from one room and put it in another. You can gain new appreciation for both your favorite belongings and your home by doing this.
ALL the time! I frequently get depressed over the layout of our living room(there is only ONE WAY our couch fits and its not my favorite) and yearn for a change. My boyfriend and I are in our early 20's, so we have friends over frequently, and whenever someone comes for the first time they always rave about how impressed they are with our space! It makes me feel so good, and I have to remember that at 21 years old I can't expect much more than that!
I certainly know what you mean about how wanting to improve things = vague dissatisfaction. And it's usually my boyfriend who keeps me in check a bit and says, "Our apartment is really nice! I like it how it is."
And, I find the reverse experience to almost be more helpful for appreciating your space - not having others come into it, but going to other people's spaces. Sometimes it is going to someone else's home that makes me appreciate how much I have been able to accomplish, and how comfortable I am with my own space. And it makes me glad that even though I work with a very small budget and my apartment is far from perfect, I'm at least trying to make my space the best it can be, and working at it fitting my needs.
We're been living in a construction zone for a while and it's been easy to get caught up in what not done. We had a bunch of friends over last weekend and it was great. Each person was surprised to see how put together the house was and each person had something different they loved about the house.
I'm always proud when pizza or thai delivery guys rave over our high ceilings, light/view of our interior compared to the relatively depressing exterior.
I'm sorry, this is off-topic, but I have been dying to find a starburst mirror like the one in this photo. Any ideas where to find one? :)
I had an experience like that yesterday. I got a new (vintage) couch delivered and the two delivery men said, "Wow, you have really cool furniture." And I thought, "Oh, yeah, it IS really cool." It made me remember why I bought particular pieces that have fit really well in my last and current home. And hopefully any future homes.
I'm with livc - I really get an appreciation for my place when I am visiting other apartments, particularly the ones in my building. I haven't seen one apartment neighbour who has ventured beyond the builder beige (I believe the actual name for this one is called "seed pearl," and I remember all the effort I made to get that perfect shade of watery green up on the walls....
I had a friend tell me that when she gets her own place (she rents with roommates) she wants me to decorate it for her. I was so flattered because I look around my place and think what all I would do differently if I had an unlimited budget and time! I've worked so hard to make my "beige box" unique and comfortable, I hate it when I see places that have great bone that are completely wasted.
This happens to me all the time. My house was built in 1957, admittedly a simpler time. There are three bedrooms and the larger two I took for myself and the guest bedroom, the third is rather small is a great office.
I think now in 2010 and in recent years we are used to having so many options and most have little appreciation for anything permanent. When my house was built I am sure they were thrilled to have three bedrooms let alone ones of size that could be configured in multiple ways. I am learning to live with the fact that my bed really only works in one direction in my bedroom and the same is true for the guestbedroom.
Recently I decided I had had enough and I was going to shake things up. I took both rooms completely apart and was going to swap and rearrange and change it all. After about 6 hours I realized that the best solution was the one I had to begin with and I am working at accepting that.
Oh how hard life can be....... ha!
There's a theme going on around the home decor sites today it seems. Censational Girl hit on this with an entry on her site today:
http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2010/01/what-makes-a-house-a-home/
Funny how our mindset is that somehow our homes aren't pretty enough, stylish enough, hip enough so we sulk in our inability to decorate like the pages of a magazine...yet if you take it apart piece by piece, those things usually have a meaning so they make the whole look like home again even if you may never see your home on the pages of a mag or even places like AT.
If what makes your home a place that you can invite friends over or just close out the world works for you, then I say you are the best designer you know. After all it's just you and your family that have to live with the contents and if it makes you happy, then so be it.
Sites and mags on home decor are for inspiration. What you take away from it may bring a whole new thought process to your home but ultimately it comes down to personal style, comfort and the constraints of budget or the walls containing your "stuff".
Go you and you and you (whoever you are) for making your home what it is.
Yes -- I just posted pictures of our living room:
mid-century living room
My problem is that I've accumulated all of the pieces in my living space so gradually, that I never got to appreciate them in a sudden reveal sort of way. Because of that, I forget about their impact. All I can see is what I want to fix next. I'm not done yet, but it is getting close.
Some vintage furniture from my husband's grandma has really helped move things along.
Ditto apf, I need to find that mirror or something like it. Can anyone help us?
I second (err... third?) apf and jlyn. dying for that mirror... any leads?