Part 2 of my New Year Soulful Home Series: We’ve covered ‘Tidying up’ in order to declutter, as well as getting very clear, which included my process for connecting with what nurtures your heart. Now we move into ‘Making time to Dream.’ Here’s the link to part 1 if you missed it.

Let’s assume you’ve now cleared a space to do something new in your home. I don’t want to downplay the importance of clearing that space.  Often clients invite me into their homes and ask me to tell them what they should get rid of. How do I know? It’s all residing in your heart. And then they ask me to tell them what they should acquire next. Again, this is jumping a little ahead of things. To make this a meaningful move, you have to take stock of what is working for you, and what is not. 

My favorite way to unlock what’s truly within one’s heart is to rifle through design magazines and make a collage – a dream board. I am a dream board junkie and I can tell you, they are extremely heart-stirring. In fact, it’s what I do every time in my Soulful Home Retreats with my attendees. I have vision boards all over the place. This one below is one of my own.   

Marcelle’s Vision Board

Blown up vision board

Notice the fireplace on the lower left? Well, I created this board about a year ago, and I am in the process of making the house addition with the fireplace right now! Things not only get clear, but they come to you when you make these boards. But that is a topic for a later day. 

I do magazine exercise my clients important to include here. I bring all my favorite design shelter magazines, from Dwell to Traditional Home and even Elle Decoration from the UK. And then, I ask them to sift through whichever speak to them. We flag the images that speak to them from within.  With each image I ask them, “What is it that appeals to you in this image?”  Getting visual gets you out of your analytic, “get it done” side, and into your heart and aspiration.  It is only by expanding out the exercise, and really thinking big, even perhaps beyond the scope of the design project at hand, that we can begin to tap into what’s missing, what needs to happen. 

Example…

A couple of clients of mine moved into a gorgeous Mediterranean stone home about a year ago and lived in it for ‘a year’ before calling me. Talk about clearing a space!

They had left much of their furniture behind, as they were scaling up with a toddler in-toe. They were living with the furniture that came with the house until they were ready to redo it, one room at a time.

The dining room came first… We locked-in on a round chunky-wood, craftsman-made dining table pretty quickly to go with a Murano glass chandelier they already had. 

What was missing was the chairs…

We got fascinated with a few Traditional Home magazine images; Furniture with sculptural forms and luxurious fabrics, antique white chair frames, and “eggplant” – a variation on purple (or ultraviolet, the color of the year).

And here is where are going with those dining room chairs

We found these vintage French dining chairs, which we will be refinishing in a fresher antique white and recovering with a very similar fabric. Will this not be the most fabulous, unique and beautiful dining room you’ve ever seen? 

For me, creating a perfect design for your home is always through complete collaboration with my client!  But my point is – you have to dream first!  What follows? Defining your Soul Style.   

Next week: Clarifying What is in Your Heart, What You Want – Soul Style.  Subscribe below to be notified when published

 

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