Over the years I’ve enjoyed many a beautifully decorated home, but wondered to myself where the heart and soul of the owner was truly residing. When it comes to home-style I am firmly convinced that the best home design, the one that really works for YOU will come from your own inspirations. That’s why I always recommend to my clients that they do a bit of internal interior prep work themselves and then bring in a designer who can bring their visions to life! A little time spent discovering how you truly want your home to look and feel will guarantee that the results are a home that you and everyone who comes into it will really love. This is all about learning to speak the language of your style.
It is easy and fun to do just that and my favorite way is by creating handmade vision boards or because I do love the latest technologies , a vision board on a Pinterest account. For those of you not familiar with PInterest.com, it is an online scrapbooking application that’s fun and easy to use. On Pinterest you can create pages of photographs that you love, that will reflect different styles and interests and it’s a very easy way to create rooms that you love without any financial commitment at all!
Traditionally a vision board is crafted from a piece of poster board that you paste images and words that you’ve torn out from various magazines, newspapers and books. It’s a fun way to learn about what you really desire in a home environment and it’s easy and fun project to do. You could also get a large leather bound sketchbook and keep an evolving vision journal for your home.
This is really an effective tool to use anytime you are beginning a renovation or decorating project. We all want our homes to reflect who we are and who we are becoming because that’s when we truly feel comfortable in them. I’ve done this exercise often with people who are redecorating or building important rooms in their homes like kitchens and bedrooms. It’s amazing what happens when they allow themselves to dream outside of the box for a bit. Suddenly a ultra-modern kitchen turns into a beautiful chateau with a trompe l’oeil wall and a bedroom that was originally lacy and traditional becomes a 50’s style movie star set!
The idea behind creating a vision board of any sort is that when you begin to surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or travel to, your inner life begins to change and the world can expand to manifest your desires. I feel that there’s no better place to do this than in your home , in the rooms where you live, work and love everyday.
I’ve been doing this for years and often my vision boards have brought me clear access to the thingsthat I have outgrown and the new ways that I have wanted to live. Our current home looks very different than our previous home which was a reflection of the things that I had and that I thought that I should use, but not necessarily that I loved nor wanted. Creating a vision for our new home allowed us to know that what we really wanted to create was a home that felt like our beloved Southern California, with diffused light and bright color everywhere with some very traditional accents instead of the Colonial style of home that we had before. Looking at the blueprint we created allowed us to give away a lot of items and recycle some that we hadn’t looked at in awhile because we realized that we’d grown into another style. I know that it’s because I created a visual reference of exactly what we wanted that our friends often remark that that they are so comfortable in our space because it feels just like us. We walk into it even on the toughest days and it always welcomes us home.
No matter what type of vision board you’re creating be sure to take a moment to relax and focus on your desired outcome for your home. You may be very surprised by what you see. Just take a moment to breathe and be inspired by with whatever appears next.
Put on music that you love. It could be Sinatra or Stravinsky, anything that helps you get clearand creative. Next go through magazines (or if it’s Pinterest that you’re using through websites!) and cut or tear words that you love and images that speak to the kind of spaces that you want to create in your home. Enjoy the process and don’t worry about having too many! Be sure to have a photo of yourself and your family because you’ll want to put it somewhere on your board for inspiration! Lay your favorite images out onto a piece of poster board in whatever way that you want. Begin to glue everything that you’ve chosen onto the board and add paint, ink or marker wherever and however you’d like. There is no right or wrong approach to this exercise, only the approach that makes you happy. Use your intuition as a guide and you’ll begin to see patterns and styles that you’ll love that may really surprise you and I promise that if you do this exercise, that you'll end up with rooms that you'll really love. Just trust yourself and have fun!
This was originally written for and printed in Currents!
Gorgeous example of Vision Boarding Photo courtesy of SBryant
