Year End Thoughts
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Healthy, Safe and Prosperous New Year! Feeling grateful to spend time with my family, and feeling glad that my immediate family has remained healthy. Feeling sympathy for friends and family who lost loved ones due to COVID or due...Read more“Kindness is a gift everyone can afford to give.”
– Unknown
Kindness in Challenging Times
How true! Kindness is so easy and so rewarding for both giver and receiver. Simple acts of kindness these days – holding the door for someone, calling a relative to say hello, baking cookies for neighbors, telling someone how much their efforts mean to you, giving an extra warm thank you to store owners or clerks – mean so much in these difficult times. And kindness is a gift to ones’ self. It feels good to be kind and generous, and it can make a big difference in someone’s life and outlook on things.
No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted – Aesop
Happy Holidays! Be Kind to One Another in 2021!
Thoughts About Working from Home
Many of us are now working from home and making the best of it. Not everyone has dedicated office space but it’s important to create a comfortable and functional work area. Some tips: if sitting at a desk or table, be sure to use your PC or laptop at a height and...Read more“May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility.”
– Mary Anne Radmacher
Thoughts for the Holiday Season
During the hectic holiday season, I value the “simple things.” Cooking nice meals, baking cookies, seeing friends, and shopping for meaningful and thoughtful gifts all take on a special meaning. I’ve learned to scale back on the excess and commercialization of Christmas. I’m blessed with a wonderful family that enjoys getting together, and with friends who take time to share holiday cheer. In terms of holiday decorating, I lean towards classic decorations with live spruce boughs, sprigs of holly and boxwood, plaid ribbon and lots of candles. And I love Scandinavian Nisse, Tomte and gnomes! They add a festive and humorous note to the holidays.
I hope everyone enjoys a peaceful holiday season filled with laughter and love.
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Wishing you happiness.” Helen Keller
A Wonderful Boston Staycation
Recently, my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful “staycation” in Boston, including taking in a couple of Red Sox games at Fenway Park, a day at the Museum of Fine Arts, a whale watch that took us up to Gloucester to see humpback whales, viewing the July 4 fireworks from...
Braided Rugs
I have a fondness for braided rugs. Growing up in a traditional, rural home with lots of country accents, my parents had several braided rugs in various rooms and I felt like they were the obvious choice for area rugs. My brother and sister and I used to play right on...Read more“Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”
– Frank Lloyd Wright, 1908
Frank Lloyd Wright Quote
To me, I’ve always interpreted the phrase “form follows function” as meaning that the shape of something should come from its intended purpose and utility, usually as it relates to architecture, interior design, industrial design and the like. According to what I’ve read, the phrase originated from another famous (Chicago-based) architect, Louis Sullivan.
In my practice, I’ve generally always made design decisions based on how I think my clients will interact with an object. What will their reactions be upon first seeing it? What about each time they walk into the room? How will they use an object throughout the years, across different seasons, when at home alone, when entertaining guests? How does the object fit with the rest of the furnishings in the room?
My number one focus when selecting furnishings for a room is “Will my clients be comfortable and want to use the items I’ve selected?” After all, what’s the point of creating a beautiful design if it won’t be regularly used and enjoyed?
Boston Design Week
I’m excited about the calendar of events for Boston Design Week, starting on March 30, 2106. Now in its third year, Boston Design Week keeps getting better and better. Per the Boston Design week web site: “Boston Design Week seeks to increase public awareness and...Read more“Some think a decorator should change a house. I try to give permanence to a house, to bring out the experiences, the memories, the feelings that make it a home.”
– Sister Parish
A Quote About House and Home
Residential designers or decorators definitely help clients change their homes for the better in terms of function and appearance, but ideally also help support and enhance the experiences, memories, emotions, wishes and goals that make a house a home.
Boston Home Décor Show
Looking forward to participating in “The Designer Is In” with the American Society of Interior Designers New England Chapter, at the Boston Home Décor Show, November 19-22 2015. Held at The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts, the show will feature guest...