Beauty All Around You?

Are you happy with your surroundings? Are you living where you want to be living? Does your home feel like a refuge? Inspiring? Are you surrounded by things that lift you up and make your heart sing?

I’m on a major nesting and “create a home that my soul loves” kick.

I have basically been living with a “this is just temporary” mindset for the past decade and I’m now craving a home.

My last home that I loved was in Washington DC a decade ago. We then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where our family of four was crammed into a tiny apartment with most of our stuff in storage for two years as we tried to buy a house in a crazy market that had ten bidders for each offering.

We finally bought that house just in time for the arrival of our third daughter only to decide to move to Colombia a few months later.

We have been living in rented houses or apartments with borrowed furniture ever since.

The thing is that I actually found this lifestyle very liberating for most of the decade. After years of heavy duty mothering and home caretaking while the kids were small, I felt total freedom to not have much stuff to care for and to travel as we pleased.

I didn’t care that the country style furniture wasn’t to my taste and that we ate off mismatched plates.

Until about a year ago when I found myself gravitating to decorating magazines at airports and fantasizing about having a home that was decorated in a way that inspired me. I wanted my art. I used to paint large abstract canvases that we have been keeping in our home in Massachusetts and I missed them. I wanted the things we had collected from our travels around the world. I wanted my girls’ childhood photos.

One of the things that I have learned about life is that we go through stages as we change and grow. What feels great during one period of life (“Yay! Freedom!”) may not feel good at another (“I’m sick of being surrounded by these ugly, drab things”).

It’s important to flow with those changes. To attend to the deepest yearnings of our souls that often manifest themselves in ordinary, everyday ways, but are nevertheless super important.

And my soul has been yearning to be surrounded by comfort and beauty.

So, I have been cleaning house – throwing away or donating clothing and objects that don’t make me feel beautiful, happy or inspired.

Reupholstering old couches, painting wooden furniture, buying some new beautiful pieces, upgrading lamps and rugs, buying plants.

And while in the US last month, I took all my artwork off the canvas stretchers and out of frames, until my knuckles literally bled, so I could bring them to Bogota and reframe them or restretch them. I brought my heavy singing bowl.

After years of carefree bouncing around the world, I now want to live with my history.

With every gesture, I feel like I am creating a home in which my family will feel loved and cared for and I will feel nourished and inspired.

And I am so deliriously happy.

This feels so right. And so, necessary. Something in my soul is craving these changes.

So, what about you? Do you love how you feel in your home? Are you inspired by what’s around you? Do you see beauty and love wherever your eye lands?

If not, what can you do about it?

It’s okay to start small. Clean out your closet and donate or throw away any clothing that doesn’t make you feel beautiful.

Do the same for all the knickknacks that clutter your home.

Consider reupholstering, repainting, or refurbishing any pieces of furniture that can be upgrades.

Get some beautiful plants and dishes that you enjoy eating from.

Maybe even get a few new pieces of furniture or art which you absolutely love.

It may all seem mundane yet I bet you will be surprised how it makes your heart sing.

And I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to reach out and leave me a comment below.

Happy Tuesday!

xoxo,