Friday Focus: March 26

GET THE LOOK

Every room needs a bit of texture and it’s even more fun when the lighting brings the interest! Shop some of my recent favorite woven sconces, chandeliers, pendants and table lamps:

LATELY

Mercer Roll Arm Chair

Q: Is design becoming too watered down?

For the past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about trends, finding personal style, why we decorate our homes the way we do. I’ve been seeing this question pop up on Instagram more and more: Is Instagram [or most home decor] starting to all look the same? Does everyone have their trim and walls dipped in white, with the same approachable layered look of neutral + earth tones? Does everyone have the same “found” pots and lamps and rugs and pillows and tabletop decor? I’ve been wrestling with this idea while also scrutinizing my personal style in an attempt to unearth what it really is. There’s no doubt – I love a bright, happy feeling home. When I saw other people bathing their walls and trim in white paint years ago, I felt liberated! But how did I arrive to my current personal style? Piece by piece, no doubt – but where did my inspiration come from? What was the determining factor when I brought something new into our home? When I look around, is our home full of pieces that bring me joy and reflect the family that lives here?

Recently, I stood in our quiet, clean house (my kids weren’t home that day) and I thought, “well, this looks picture pretty. But I’m underwhelmed.” What about it felt unexciting, impersonal, and even flat? I realized that I (we) spend so much time visually consuming professionally photographed spaces, the perfectly curated vignette frozen in time, by which the standards are set for my own home. I was focusing on getting “picture perfect” rather than an accurate representation of the things I truly love and how much style is probably much more broad than my home is letting on.

I think there will always be a mainstream style that is palatable and easily transferrable to most homes. But rather than subscribing whole-heartedly to the newest trend, I want to pick and choose what I love about it and weave it into the foundations of what I already love. I want our home to evoke a feeling when you’re here with the visual appeal as an afterthought. So I’m making a concerted effort to fully embrace elements of my true style that don’t feel quite as “safe”- more pattern, color and personal pieces, rooted in traditional style.

TRENDS I’M LOVING

I’m planning on my summer uniform to be easy dresses and platform sandals. Shop a few that I have my eye on:

You might not know it, but my favorite part of our house is the magnolia tree right next to our front porch. This tree wraps up and over the side of our house, enveloping the porch in pink blooms in the spring and thick green leaves through the summer. Whenever these flowers start to peek out it marks the end of winter for me – and this week I finally got a glimpse of these gorgeous blooms!!