THE REAL COMFORTS OF HOME

I’ll be honest - I’ve been a bit unsure about whether anyone wants to hear about “decorating” during a time like this. But since we’re all basically grounded close to home, I figured that sharing some of what I’ve learned about living well (or at least “living better”) in my own captivity might spark some ideas for you too. So here goes!

Our dining table here in New Hampshire - seems to be occupied 24/7 these days….

Form Follows Function

How many times have I heard this, but in truth, never practice it. My first instinct is to make something more beautiful - using color, art, paint, decorative items... Only once that’s done do I think about whether my scheme is too complicated to maintain or serves its true function. Argh!! But nothing like a pandemic & having adult children trapped at home to get me to really seeing how things WORK - or not.

The dreamy pic above is courtesy of style maven Emily Henderson, who redid this laundry room for a client. I cheaped out on my own laundry room here in New Hampshire with some janky hampers that had liners which never really fit, so laundry was always spilling out….But with new perspective during this time, I realized it would be wiser to invest in solutions that really work. SO the Steele laundry bins above are en route to me now from Rejuvenation! I’ll show you them soon.

One of the guest rooms, where my younger daughter has been living since college closed last March, is coming along nicely for decorating (it’s too messy now to show you however:) but it has no A/C (like many houses in Northern New England). We’ve had several of these sleek overhead fans in past houses but I’ve been trying to use budget for more interesting decorating items here (decorative pillows via Etsy, framing my dad’s paintings, etc.) & not willing to spend for creature comforts….got to rethink that!

Image of Rita Konig courtesy of Architectural Digest

Part of my realization to put actual COMFORT at top of my decorating agenda is because I am trying to channel British designer Rita Konig, pictured above. Her online course for Create Academy is so helpful!! The daughter of doyenne Nina Campbell, Rita certainly knows all about high-end decorating with extravagant budgets, but in this series of video lessons she emphasizes comfort & practicality - being REALISTIC about how you actually use your space.

This Instagram-famous image of a project she did in Mill Valley CA shows some of her practical & comforting obsessions: a drinks table near every seat….a cozy throw blanket for warmth….extra pull-up seating or a place to put your feet up….good lighting for reading. All these little creature comforts add immeasurably to how the room will FEEL, not just look. I’m learning!:)

Do you know what these are? They are fabric doorstops via Etsy —another little British kind of thing, made from fabric scraps, that keeps a door propped for a nice breeze. I had a super heavy one that was kind of annoying & clunky (& could easily break someone’s foot!)— but now that I’m all about ease & comfort, I thought these were much better:)

Another decidedly utilitarian item in my new arsenal is these bedskirt pins, above, which I found thanks to the wonder of Pinterest when I googled way to keep the darn bed skirt from sloshing & sliding off! You can order them from Amazon & it will save you from having to readjust the bedskirt every time you change the sheets. Brilliant.

By Jon Olsen - White River Junction VT

While I’m always looking for a NEW project to tackle, I seem to gloss over the last 10% of finishing existing ones. To wit, I bought some photographs last summer by a well-known New England photographer, Jon Olsen, but couldn’t figure out how I wanted to frame/display them...

By Jon Olsen

With my favorite framing shop here closed now, I had to turn to some online sources — Frame It Easy for custom size mats & Tar-jay for the black frames. The little finishing details like this add a sense of calm in the overall scheme, which is what I’m very much after these days…

By Jon Olsen

Speaking of calm - tell me these lovely labeled spice jars are not pure meditation! Ahhhh….thanks to Pinterest again, I found Jen Woodhouse’s sources (Etsy + Amazon) & am in process of redoing mine. This is form AND function - & makes me think Rita Konig would be very proud of me.

I don’t know how to explain the “comfort” I get from this sleek bread box, but it is real. We only have 1 fridge here & are eating at home constantly now, so we have to save room & keep bread on the counter — which is a magnet for ants here in the boondocks. To the rescue, a tidy, modern-looking bread box (if only it came with talking command to CLOSE it - I’m looking at you my dear daughters!).

I did finally finish getting the floating shelves installed - very happy with these! Great marriage of form & function.

Well, back to my perfectly imperfect sitting room to ponder MORE ways to make things more comfortable….

Hope you all are doing well & comfortable in your homes! If you want to follow my “Modern Farmhouse” board on Pinterest, I’m constantly updating it with new items and scenes of a comforting & hopefully beautiful home. In that order.

Cheers & thx for reading!!

Lee