The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
Education:Self-Improvement
"The fastest way to a good life, is to slow down." —World Institute of Slowness in Norway
Walking into a beautifully decorated home, an abode that welcomes you, gives you a hug and invites you to stay without saying a word takes time to curate. And even those homes that someone else has curated and we feel this way when we walk across the threshold into their home, it is their home, and not our own, filled with choices, items and details that they will appreciate more deeply than we ever could, even if we can understand why they appreciate it.
All of which is to say, curating a home for ourselves that gives us a hug each time we return home will take time, and so it is in our practice of patience and trust that the house will reveal what we need in time so long as we live consciously and feel our way honesty through living well in our homes, that we gradually begin to see and then feel how wonderfully loving and comforting a slowly decorated home can be to elevate our days and thus our lives.
Now, if you when you see the term ‘slow decorating’ you think to yourself, but I want to feel comfortable in my home now. I cannot live without basic comforts. I hear you and I completely concur. Which is why it is important to keep this approach of slow decorating in mind even more. Suzanne Imre from Neptune shares, “Slow decorating is about planning, considering, refining. It’s about having a strategy. A direction of travel, which helps clarify those decorating decisions (light or dark? Nickel or brass? Wood or tiles?). And it’s about enjoying the process as much as the results.”
And so it is with today's episode/post, I would like to give you 10 tips to provide exactly that, your strategy moving forward.
Choosing to go the route of slow decorating is also a planet-friendly approach. Imre goes on to say, “This slower method also supports the desire for sustainability and preservation. If you have an unhurried approach to furnishing your home, you’ll likely buy less but better. And those pieces will have longevity.” This concept of quality over quantity has been the founding principle of living simply luxuriously and what inspired the TSLL blog coming to be, and it is just this concept that will serve us well, but also the planet should we choose to trust that with time, many benefits for many entities, ourselves, talented artisans, and the environment will be enjoyed.
While I have known this concept to be worth putting into practice and have put it into practice with the three year journey of customization of Le Papillon as shared in this episode, I saw with my own eyes how choosing such an approach over years can create an amazingly special place when I had the opportunity to stay for a week at British interior designer Rita Konig's North Farm in Durham, England.
363: Elizabeth Bougerol talks about The Hot Sardines' new jazz album C'est La Vie
362: The Fundamental Ingredient in a Well-Lived (and long) Life: Honor What Makes Your Heart Sing, 13 life lessons from Dr. Gladys McGarey
361: 33 Decorating & Construction Lessons I Learned Customizing Le Papillon (a 3-year journey)
360: How to Find Love: Be Love Instead of Look for Love, as taught by Jay Shetty
359: Author and Philosopher Alexandra Stoddard on Living Well, Sharing Her Wisdom of 81 years
358: Anna Murphy Talks About Finding Your Way to the Best You Yet as Each Year Passes in her New Book, Destination Fabulous
357: The Gift of Being HSP, author Jenn Granneman talks about her New Book Sensitive
356: What I've Learned So Far in French Class, Part Cinq
355: Talking Paris, Flowers and Elevating the Everyday with Sandra Sigman about her new book French Blooms
354: How to Find Your Financial Freedom: The Importance of Understanding, Writing and LIVING Your Love Story with Money
353: A Stress-Reducing Year-Round Schedule for House Cleaning and Maintenance for a Small Household
352: How to Experience more Aha Moments in Your Life
351: 8 Strategies for Curating a Spring Capsule Wardrobe That Sings without the Excess
350: The Skill of Presence and Why It is at the Core of True Contentment
349: What I Have Learned in French Class, So Far . . . , Partie Quatre
348: The Paradox of Manifesting the Life You Have Envisioned
347: How to Savor Christmas at Home, Alone, Simply Luxuriously
346: Parisian by Design and the Gifts of trusting the Stirrings of Your Heart, my conversation with David Jimenez
345: 13 Simple Ideas for Adding Luxury to Your Home, Part Deux
344: The Importance of Investing in Key Décor Items and What Items Are Worth Investing In
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