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.
341: The First 15 Key Elements I Included in My English Cottage-inspired Home, Part Un
340: What If Today Is Going to Be the Best Day of Your Life? How to Let Such a Day Unfold
339: The Paradox of True Contentment
338: Tips on Taking the Eurostar between Paris and London
337: 10 Everyday French Details I Incorporate Into My Routine
336: How to Live a Life that Nourishes Your Brain, Thereby Elevating the Quality of Your Entire Life
335: How to Savor Staying Home During the Summer Holiday, 17 Ideas
334: 25 Ideas for Celebrating Le Quatorze Juillet (Bastille Day!)
333: What I Do to Lessen Jet Lag (flying from the West Coast to Western Europe)
The French Way: How to Create a Luxurious Everyday Life
332: The Power and Necessity of Regular and Frequent Reflection
331: How to Notice the Awesomeness in Your Life and the World
330: 25 Ideas for Enjoying British Culture in Your Everyday Life
329: 20 Life Lessons Learned on My Recent Trip to England
328: 15 Ideas to Savor Paris
327: How to Change Your Brain So Your Mind (and thus you!) Can Thrive
326: A Life of Abundant Bliss: A Natural State of True Contentment
325: 10 Ideas for Reveling in the Spring Season
324: 13 Ideas for Being Extraordinary at the Ordinary
323: The Art of Savoring: 6 Everyday Moments to Savor, Part Deux
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