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Interior design and planning has long since been a passion of mine.  Conversely it has also been a source of many disputes, negotiations and stand-offs around our homes over the years.  We’ve done a few renovations and moved a handful of times as well.  Each move brought new artistic opportunities and challenges as well.  With the renovations, we found a great deal of inspiration from Houzz (https://www.houzz.com) and even coordinated shared albums etc. with our designers and builders.  I used to have a subscription to DWELL Magazine but now find myself perusing their website at https://www.dwell.com for inspiration.

Today, I turn to Instagram as well to follow all sorts of design accounts and hashtags.

The first thing many consultants say when they are analyzing a home is that the owner should declutter and organize.  If you’re considering putting your home on the market in the near future then you may want to consider taking advantage of this time at home and invest in getting tidied up and decluttered.

When it comes to our house, we have a few pieces that strike a certain, shall-we-say ‘sensitive’ chord (which sometimes seems like it’s connected to a nuclear launch button).

1. The infamous red chair.  I love it.  Wife hates it.  It sits front and centre in our house.  Every single person who walks through the door comments on it, loves it, wishes they could have it, and compliments us (me) on our exquisite taste in design.

2. Oversized portrait by Lee Jeffries “Manchester”.  I tracked down the artist Lee Jeffries many years ago and bought this print among a couple others directly from him.  It was always my dream to have this blown up in a floor-to-celing piece and put in my man-cave.  We settled for 48 x 48 and I, and everyone who sees it instantly falls in love with it.  Niki still can’t stand it and says it creeps her out but the people have spoken and it’s probably the greatest thing on the walls of our home.  I still get grief for it daily and negotiated my life away to hang this one but the other two (found here) were only allowed to be hung at my office, out of the house.

3. The “crinkle vase”.  I’m flinching and ducking and looking over my shoulder even bringing this subject up.  Years ago I fell in love with a ceramic vase that looked like crinkled up paper.  My wife hated it.  Again, negotiations ensued and the vase was allowed in a dark corner where no one could see it, but exposed to kids playing of course.  They smashed it by accident, to my wife’s elation.  I scoured the earth trying to find a replacement and was unsuccessful, but, my sweet, sweet neighbour found one in England while travelling and bought it for me.  To this day I still try and bring my dear crinkle vase out for display when my wife leaves for work and later that day when she comes home i’ll find it stuffed in the back of a closet somewhere in the house.  She’s polled friends and strangers online to get opinions on this vase and whether it should be allowed in the house at all.

I digress (sorry, its a touchy subject apparently). The point of all of this is to find pieces that you become passionate about and incorporate your own style, if you prefer, to help plan your living spaces.  There are professionals who are much better at this than I am but if it interests you, it can be a great way to spend time during quarantine and help improve the value of your home and your enjoyment of it while you’re in it.  Unless you dispute like my wife and I over some items. 😉