Vintage adds warmth and patina to a room

home is the scrapbook of your life

To trend or not to trend, that is the question.

If you are following all the home decor trends, then is your space really you? Ask yourself, where is the evidence of a life well lived if the room was put together in a weekend?

What hints are there that trips have been taken, life has happened, and things have been tailored to accommodate family, when it all looks too perfect and staged?

May I suggest, rooms need your personal history to come alive. 

I have always professed that “home is the scrapbook of your life” and there is nothing I mean more in my work than that. Home needs your stuff, your story, your memories. And in my opinion, it also needs a little imperfection, and a bit of something weird.

To tell the story, let’s take a tour of the little living room in our old house (two houses ago) that became our first ’empty nest’ house.  I don’t profess that this room was perfectly decorated, but when I looked around, I could see an evidence of the history of our lives and it warmed my heart. It felt like home.

In the corner, sat a vintage table that my dad put together back in the late 60s. It was four legs from one table, and a top from another, that he married together to create an interesting look. On top of it sat some architectural salvage pieces I picked up over the decades, with a few small oil paintings hanging above that I found in an antique shop maybe 25 years ago. The scenes are of ships on the water, and for some reason, they reminded me of Boston (one of my favorite cities).

The curtains that hung in this room and throughout the house (and followed us to our next two houses) were made by my BFF Lisa. She is a seamstress extraordinaire and every morning when opening these, I think of her, how talented she is and how grateful I am that she is in my life.

There was a pedestal with a marble top that was from my parents house (which survived the 1971 earthquake in L.A.), with a bust of David sitting atop it that was a present acquired at a white elephant Christmas party over two decades ago (it started out terracotta and looked like a giant Chia Pet, but I painted it to look a little more mainstream but quirky, this is my something “weird”).

The bookshelves held my library of decorating books, collections of boxes, photo memories, and a collection of R’s (my husband asked once, “what’s with all the R’s?” Really? Our last name starts with that letter). Furniture consisted of a few nice upholstered pieces (totally non-matching at this point), too many pillows, two chairs that I bought at an estate sale for $5 each and reupholstered, and an ottoman that needed to be redone but had a cowhide currently covering it (more imperfection).

In the corner was the buffet we got from my husband’s grandmother when she died, with art work from my father’s collection that I inherited. Behind the couch was a table we bought at Ethan Allen back in 1984 (oops, I sold that a few years ago), with a wood box (which started my collection) that has the words “Cape Cod Sea Chest” stamped on the top, and Cape Cod happens to be my favorite place in the whole world.

When I looked around this room, I saw all these tokens of our life well lived. There are treasures from estate sales and flea markets visited, and unique items from trips we have taken. I get inspired remembering where each item was found, pondering their history, or looking at the beautiful faces of our children in photos. When we left that house I cried like a baby, even though we only moved like 3 blocks away, but that house got my heart and soul. Man, I miss this house!

It’s easy to buy ‘things’, but I appreciate when those items can have meaning, symbolize something, bring forth memories of good times, and be a cozy backdrop to the life we still love each day.

Stop and think, what are your greatest possessions? Do you have them out to enjoy or are they hidden away? I know also that there are different phases of life we go through, where we can have less breakables out when our children are busy toddling around, but a balance can be found. They need to have a space where their little lives can be lived also.

Whatever stage you are in, you can find a way to have your rooms ooze meaning. Rooms need layers, and we all have stuff, but hopefully I can share with you a way that you can create a space that is mostly YOU and not just a fast-moving trend. Sometimes, along the way, through more artful decorating, you might just discover a little bit more about yourself.

At least that has been my journey, but if we allow ourselves to buy what we love, what truly speaks to you, you will find a common thread after awhile and a bit of self discovery. Your story will come alive in your rooms, and you will see how home becomes the scrapbook of your life.