On one of my mom’s recent trips to see me in Charlottesville, she brought along a copy of Shannon Fricke’s book How to Decorate to share with me. Recently I’ve been investigated the “why” behind some of the things I love, and have not found a better example than Shannon’s words:

“Decorating is a form of creativity, an opportunity to express our unique style of seeing things in a legitimate way. I say legitimate because sometimes the world can look upon the act of being creative as a pastime, an indulgence of sorts, for those who have too much time on their hands and little else in the way of ‘real work’. What a shame, I say, that we don’t give the act of being creative the credit it so definitely deserves. Creativity in any form is a clear window into our soul, into who we are and how we see things. It inspires us to know ourselves — from our head all the way through to our heart. The experience of using our minds, our hands and our inner spirit in tandem is an opportunity to achieve a kind of peace. To just be…How lovely to have such a chance in this crazy, fast-moving, ever-evolving world!

The lovely thing about engaging with decorating as a form of creativity is that the outcome can be both functional and beautiful. It’s easier to navigate the footprint of a well-decorated house, and all who live among its virtues feel its influence on an aesthetic and spiritual level. And on top of all this, good decoration adds value to the property, which for some people is reason enough. For me, however, the true joy of decorating, the heart of the experience, will always lie in the act of creativity itself.”

I couldn’t agree more. Thank you Shannon for your words of wisdom and validating why decorating is so important to us.

I was lucky enough to grow up with two amazing women in my life. Some of my fondest memories as a young person were spending my weekends with my mom and my aunt. A typical Saturday might find us starting the morning over a long breakfast at a local brunch spot in order to fuel our souls and our bellies for the rest of the day. Our afternoons might be spent browsing local boutiques, re-arranging our furniture for the 12th time, playing in my aunt’s closet that also housed her collection of vintage clothes that once belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother, getting our nails done, pouring over our favorite shelter magazines, or going to an estate sale. These activities might seem somewhat indulgent, but they were not. For us, it was more about the creative process, about thinking about how we wanted to dress and the environment that we wanted to live in and also sharing these things with each other. Now that we all live in separate cities, thousands of miles apart, I find myself craving those Saturdays that were just our own where we could be creative and explore the world around us together. For me, this blog is a way to continue the conversation with these amazing ladies who mean so much to me even though I can’t spend every Saturday with them and hopefully to widen the circle to include other women who are also craving the same kind of creativity and connection in their lives.

Consistency. It’s one word that I’m not very good at using. One day I love the minimalist designed house in the country, and the next the house in the city with the baroque influence. Sometimes I really think I have design schizophrenia. However, my struggle with consistency is ultimately good because it reminds me how important it is to be consistent.

Well, what is consistency exactly? Consistency is a noun meaning conformity in the application of something, typically that which is necessary for the sake of logic, accuracy or fairness. From the definition, we can assume that consistency is important because it gives a sense of logic to the space and helps us understand it. When there is consistency a house, collection, wardrobe or outfit feels pulled together. It can be said to have a ‘style’.

I really noticed the importance of consistency when I was looking at Mark. D. Sikes’ work. In fact, in a blog post he wrote about his feature in House Beautiful, he mentions that it’s part of his design philosophy. He says: “The Design Philosophy was based on carrying consistent threads throughout to create a flow.” He mentions that in his house, these threads are “beautiful lighting, symmetry balanced with scale, and an eclectic, artful arrangement of furniture.”

Whether you call it consistency, common threads, or good bones, in order to have a successfully executed space, wardrobe, or collection you need sameness. You need something that pulls it all together. In today’s day and age, it can be very hard to settle on sameness as there is so much new and different to be had. Yet it is picking consistency over schizophrenia that ultimately allows one to be stylish.

Every so often I fall in love with a designer’s aesthetic. Usually when I do, there’s something that resonates with my own style, while also elevating my own design thinking. I stumbled on Mark D. Sikes’ home that was featured in an article on the new traditional in House Beautiful, which did just that. One of the things that resonated with me in the article was that Mark mentioned that “the interior is almost a literal translation of my wardrobe.” This spoke to me on a number of levels. First, my own design thinking comes out of my experience of working in a retail environment. When I worked in a retail store, and first started blogging about style, I realized I had the formula all wrong. I had always bought things I loved, but there was no consistency or common thread that ran through what I was buying. One day it might be bohemian, and the next lady-like and formal. I soon learned that while disparate elements were a part of creating a great style, they could not be the only elements — these disparate elements needed a base, something to hold on to. While most people view classic, traditional style as something your grandmother might aspire to, I see it as something else. I see it as creating a home base from where you can work. If the bones of your wardrobe or your room are simple, classic, and understated than you can easily incorporate elements of the exotic, bohemian, or lady-like without it appearing like you are wearing a costume or designing a theme house. As Mark says it’s all about the formula. The formula that I see in Mark’s work is classic bones, suffused with common threads, and adorned with unique, personal objects. It is this layered approach that creates a stylish wardrobe or interior.

Sometimes I am so attracted to color, like this indigo that I saw in a recent issue of Elle Decor. Yet its not very realistic to redesign my kitchen or move to Patmos just so I can use this color. But I can still incorporate the color into my life. I went to my local CVS and bought this Essie nailpolish — not too far off, right? How do you incorporate the things that are inspiring you in your life?

I’m in the process of repainting and recovering my dining room chairs. Step 1 in this process is to keep the chairs from breaking apart and making them less squeaky. My usual MO is to try to do everything perfectly, but I wasn’t ready to learn woodworking and complete take the chairs apart or make the trip to Lowe’s and spend a lot of time and money buying a drill to repair them with a syringe like Martha suggests in this hilarious video. So I used what I had lying around — wood glue, q-tips, hammer, and straps. While maybe not perfect, the chair isn’t about to completely fall apart. Lesson of this endeavor — while the say the good is the enemy of the great. In home chair repair, good is great.

We headed to Richmond for my popa-in-law’s birthday this weekend. My in-laws live in between Carytown and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. We took a walk down Cary Street, and while Tom was wrangling Mosby, I snapped a few quick shots of some of the details that I think really make Carytown unique. Right next to some street art and a vintage movie theatre there are high-end eateries and boutique shops. I love that everything is jumbled in together. Yet, without these aspects – vintage signs, peeling paint, the obvious hand of the artist, this street could be anywhere, but these aspects make it Carytown. Some might think these are imperfections, but it’s exactly these imperfections that give Carytown it’s vibrant personality. Where are some of your favorite streets? What gives them personality?