Can You Feel The Heat

 Summer. Love It. Love the long days. Love the heat. Love the water.  It just puts me in a good mood.

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Luxury at Home

lux·u·ry  

/ˈləkSH(ə)rē

n. pl. lux·u·ries

1. Something inessential but conducive to pleasure and comfort.

2. Something expensive or hard to obtain.

3. Sumptuous living or surroundings: lives in luxury.

Synonyms: luxury, extravagance, frill

[Middle English luxurie, lust, from Old French, from Latin luxuria, excess, luxury, from luxus.]

{Simple Luxury: House Beautiful}

Luxury is a word that seems to get thrown around a lot. It seems someone's always asking, "What is luxury?" or telling us what's luxurious.  I think luxury has become something other than what it was once thought of...  It used to be more associated with money and expense rather than simplicity and comfort.  In the above definition, you can see its different meanings.  The first definition is the closest meaning to how I view it now, but reading further down the list, the definition goes back to money and "extravagance" and excess, all of which are typically viewed fairly negatively in our culture, even if it's what people really want.  (Meaning, if you're a billionaire and you don't spend a lot of money and live modestly, people commend you....   if you "waste" it and are a drunken sailor about it, or surround yourself with extravagance and "excess," it's not very respected.) These days, luxury seems to be more about small details and comfort and quality and time.  The phrase "the luxury of time" has been around a while so we have always put value on that but I think the idea that "luxury" can be simple and meaningful has really taken a hold of our society.  Also, I've noticed that when people are asked what "luxury" is to them, "luxury" seems to become more about what it is they want most...  the best part of their lives: the unexpected details and wonderful things that pop up & happen.  In an Australian Vogue article I was reading recently, one person interviewed said the best luxury was when a friend picked her up from the airport with a bouquet of fresh picked flowers.  It was an unexpected surprise, but really just one of life's simple pleasures that made her feel pampered and special.  

When asked what my "greatest luxury" is, my first answer is automatically "time with my family."  To me, it's something that I don't get enough of and it makes me happier than anything else.  

{Me with Justin, photo by Vy Koenig}Along with having the time, part of what helps me enjoy being with my family is simple, good living.  An ease to daily life.  Not being surrounded by "stuff" and things that take my attention away from life and enjoy being with my family at home. A comfortable house.  Good simple food.  (Does Whole Foods count as a luxury??)   Just simply enjoying life with the people I love...  

See how "luxury" seems to become what it is a person wants most?  I'm not sure the definition of luxury includes "little things that make life feel special" but it really does seem like that's what it's becoming, or at least how I've started to view it: Clean Sheets on a newly made bed, open windows, fresh flowers on the nightstand, time with the people you love, an unexpected note on nice paper, space, al fresco dining, a place for everything, reading leisurely, an exceptionally comfortable sofa, a mudroom, a fire in the fireplace, a simple yet beautiful meal, candlelight, an organized closet, time, time & more time.

{Linens drying on a clothesline...  image via pinterest}To me, a life with "luxury" would be a life where things are uncomplicated and simple yet exciting.  Special little somethings come into it and there's really just a general ease of life.  Waking up and feeling free and ready to go.  Rested.  Having the time to hang with the ones you love before the craziness of the day begins. Going into your closet and seeing everything at a glance and easily pulling together something that's already pressed and ready to go and looks perfect.  (Doesn't happen for me!! ;)  Leaving a clean house and getting into a clean car.  (My ride of choice these days is either a milk-encrusted minivan or a pick-up truck with over 300,000 miles on it and no AC!! That's luxury baby!!  ;) ;)  It really is the little things though.  Things that make you feel more comfortable, both physically & emotionally.  Since my work is about home, I find myself thinking about how "home" can be luxurious, in the simple, comfortable context.  Redoing my home from the ground up has been eye opening.  I wouldn't have done what I did without having lived in my previous homes & having observed so much while we were there about how we lived.  A lot of what I do is "decorating" but in the past year or so, we've started taking on more & more projects that involve new homes, renovations and space planning.  When you get to really think through what's going to be where, you can plan a home so that it is exactly the way the people who live there need it to be for the easiest living, the most simple (or most "luxurious") living.  Things can be where they need to be and special little details can be incorporated that don't cost much but that make the home feel luxurious to the people who live there.  In our home, we enclosed a small, unloved rocky area just outside of our master bedroom and created a private special little garden patio with an outdoor shower.  We shower outside every day and to me, it's one of those "luxuries" that isn't about money or frills, but just about enjoying something small but incredibly good.  I get to look up at the sky and just think while I'm showering in the morning.  In the evenings, I can rinse off before bed and really appreciate being outside in the night when it's quiet.  Outdoor towel hooks are just where we need them to be.  There's a pair of chairs out there where Dave & I can sit and talk.  The boys love showering out there too- even the baby.  It wasn't hard to do, but creating this little secret garden in our bedroom has made such a difference in our life.   

{Not our outdoor shower.. image via pinterest}As I plan our home (and the homes of clients) I try to think about how to design & decorate a home so that it works for us...  So that things are where they need to be and there's just enough space to do what needs to be done... and I try to think about where unexpected little things or luxuries that can be added to make the house special: shelves for books, a window seat, a place to display collected treasures, a massive sofa outside...  For some people, it's an extra sink in the kitchen for washing garden vegetables, french doors that open to the outside in every room, curtains blowing in the breeze, a bathroom where everyone has enough room, a meaningful photograph displayed prominently, a large nightstand in the bedroom for storage, a porch swing, a place to hide the mess, a sentimental painting, a perfectly worn farmhouse table in the kitchen that doesn't need to be worried about, a soaking tub in their bathroom, a fabric that brings on the memories, an herb garden in the kitchen, the perfect reading chair, or a guest room large enough to fit a slew of grand kids.  It's different for everyone.  

{Bunk room via pinterest}

There are so many simple opportunities for us to inject a little luxury into our homes, even after they've already been built.  I'm finding that it's becoming one of my favorite aspects of my job: Figuring out what that little something in a home or room that makes the people who live there and visit there feel special & comfortable...   A little bit of luxury.  The simple kind.How can you add a little in your home?

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.*Definition of luxury from dictionary.com

Recent Inspiration

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Quiet Time

Happy Father's Day!

Via

Pretty Little Friday

One of my favorite simple pleasures is picking flowers & putting them around the house.  I snipped the last standing blooming delphinium from my garden this morning for our foyer and they make me so happy.  Hope you get some time this weekend to enjoy your own simple pleasure!!  

ps- go Duuuuuuuukes! (the colors were too perfect not to mention my JMU roots ;) ;)
If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

If You Are Out & About....

Stop by Interiors & Antiques....there has been a shake up in my booth- new additions and sale items!

Working on the other space at Interiors @ Pepper Place today so if you are at the Farmer's Market be sure to stop by!

Loft Progress

We're knee-deep in construction again over here but we're almost there!!!  The guys from CarrMichael Construction have been moving quickly and I'm so excited about the progress they've made this week!!  Our  big final project is the loft, which is basically our family room.  Here's what it looked like before we moved in:

Before we moved in, we added wall-to-wall seagrass to the entire upstairs so we had to take down the existing built-ins and have been living with it completely torn up (see pic below) since September.  In the pic below, you can also see how pink the "beige" was compared to our ivory/cream on the right.  The entire house was freshly painted that color when we bought it.

You might remember me telling you this, but we actually lived in our upstairs for a few months.  In the pic above, you can see our "kitchen" (ie microwave on a dresser = true luxury!!! ;) ;) ... But living up there was a actually a really good opportunity for me to get to know the space.  I'd spend every morning feeding the baby in the chair (a super comfy rocker/ glider by Lee) and looking out the window:

But we could only really see out the windows when we were in the rocker or standing up actually looking out the windows.  It made me realize that I wanted that entire wall OUT so that it would feel like you were almost outside from every part of the room. (including the sofa where we watch movies from and might possibly spend waaay too much time on!!)

Searching for the right window took months, honestly.  (Which is the main reason it's taken so long to get to this part of our project.) I wanted steel but we looked into more affordable aluminum look-alikes.  We finally found what we were looking for at the Window Man where we settled on an aluminum window by Universal Window.  Getting drawings and a quote took a long time as the team from the Window Man had to persuade Universal to sell just 1 window.  But we finally got it!!  It went in Monday:

{eeeeeeek!!}

And it's completely transformed the loft!!!  It feels like you're outside up there!!

The guys are now working on creating the drywall framework for our bookshelves and window seat.  Electrical is going in today.  Here's a quick sketch of how the shelves and window seat will look:

We've modified some of the dimensions a bit to meet code (gotta love it ;) and I've sacrificed a couple inches of window seat space to make the entire thing feel a bit more seamless.

Here's a sketch I did of the back wall, where our sofa will go:

I internally debated for a while on whether I wanted a larger center set of shelves or if we should go equidistant and I finally settled in equidistant, which is different from the sketch above:

I decided to go equidistant because I felt that there was so much variation from the rest of the room with the window seat, that I wanted the rest of the walls to sort of fall in line and be consistent.

Here's the left wall, which is being worked on today:

The built-ins will actually be made out of drywall, similar to the shelves in this pic...

...except the shelves themselves will be made from reclaimed wood planks.

The window seat cushion will also sit right on a drywall ledge, similar to the one in the photo below.  When you lift up the cushions, there will be hidden storage beneath.

I'll keep you posted as more things happen.  Also, we are having our house photographed during the first week of August so it's pretty much just design mayhem in my head right now.  All of those decisions I felt like I had so much time to make are pretty much overdue. :/

And finally, my friend Jill Sorenson of Live Like You is moving and she is having a moving sale on her blog and there are some amazing deals!!!  To check out the things for sale click here.  I'll miss being near Jill but am really happy for her & her son.  She's a truly special person and has a beautiful bold sense of style:

I'm off for the day into the rain but hope you enjoyed peeking into our trashed in-progess place today!!

 
ps- For anyone worried, just wanted to let you know that we did use tempered glass and the windows do open well above where the kids can reach.  
Also, I think I got an upset comment about saying this last time (and I hope that you know me well enough to know by now to know when I'm joking BUT) it's not a very far fall if they do make it out the window because although it's an upstairs loft, the ground below the window has been raised for a large garden bed.  I'll be putting in the fluffiest of bushes ;) ;)  (joke.)

have a good one!!
If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.