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.
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155: 6 Life Lessons for Living Well from Julia Child (a top episode from season 3)
256: 72 Hours in San Francisco - Where to Eat, Sleep, and How Get About
255: 34 Inspiring Daily Rituals to Ignite Your Creativity
254: 26 Ways to Ensure Happy Singledom at Any Stage of Our Life's Journey
253: 36 Ways to Welcome Joie de Vivre into Your Everyday Life
6: Authenticity: The Courage to Be Yourself, Top Post from the Archives
252: The Characteristics of Being a Late Bloomer, and How Embracing This Gift Could Change the World for Everyone
97: Small & Simple = A Grand & Full Life - Top Post from 2016
32: The French Capsule Wardrobe: the 14 essentials
251: Celebrating the JOMO and Enjoying Your Unique Chosen Journey of Life
250: How to Create a Beckoning Sanctuary That Reflects Your Journey
249: A Lesson, for Women Especially, to Learn Sooner
248: 12 French or (Set in France) Feel-Good Films I Love (having premiered in the past 10 years)
247: My Interview with Stylist Scarlet Chamberlin
246: Why Not . . . Tailor Your Life to Fit You?
245: 10 Ways Resilence During Good Times Can Elevate Your Everydays
244: Give Yourself the Gift of Contentment Everyday, All Day
243: 12 Ways to Make Mornings Magical, Mindful and the Foundation of a Great Day and Great Success
242: 31 Ways to Practice True Self-Care and Exponentially Improve the Quality of Your Daily Life
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