Friends…they are the insight into ourselves that, if we are willing to be open and really listen, allow us to reveal who we are. Friend, in the broader sense isn’t exclusive to those who know us intimately, but to those that pass through our lives daily, briefly and those that settle in for the long haul. They are our closest confidant, our partner, our lover. A colleague, a client, a friend we meet for lunch. Someone we wouldn’t dream of throwing a party without. Someone we see daily in the street, at the market or while walking the dog. I believe that each of the people that come into our lives and stay for a bit, possess an element of who we are and who we aspire to be. If we took our circle of friends and made them one person, that person would be us. Each of our friends is a snapshot of our self, and brings to the friendship a reflection of who we see in the mirror. And if nurtured, that friendship brings out the best in us.
This is a story about an extraordinary journey of just how I got to the here and now. In the absence of a journal, I think the tale is best told backwards. This past weekend was the House Tour hosted by the Lambertville Historical Society. That board came to me months ago and asked if I would be willing to participate, as a host home. Both flabbergasted and flattered, I did what any self-respecting citizen would do…promptly said yes. New to town, with a fledgling business, life and home of just shy of two years, I couldn’t possibly anticipate the insight this endeavor would give me. Like any designer, the space I live in is laboratory for experimentation and a highly personal project if you will. The most important thing to me when I am designing for a client is to personalize their space to them. To make it warm, inviting and livable. To make it uniquely theirs. Quite frankly, a beautiful space, while essential, is second to this philosophy. In that, I found myself faced with the task to truly finish my space. See it to completion, and implement all of the ideas that I had for my apartment in the past two years. I partook in a very interesting exercise. In the final hours of tweaking and purging and brutal editing, I enlisted the help of friends, designers and clients to tell me what they saw in my space and in me. Weather it was a debate over a ratty old bench, or a wonderful piece of art. Whether a pile of trim bought on impulse should be transformed into a beautiful tieback or hoisted into a bin for an inevitable project down the road. Taking a carload, literally, of flowers and arranging them for hours, with a friend, in favorite vases and vessels and gracing every room with their beauty and fragrance. The debate over whether a painting was hanging too high or too low. The debate over whether my collection of hundreds books was a tad obsessive, and a décor challenge. The art that I love had to be edited and arranged to showcase each piece in its best light. (I am happy to say most made the cut, while others will be rotated in for fresh perspective down the road) I had all the tools. The art, furniture, books, accessories, antiques and ephemera that I have collected over a lifetime. Add to the mix the things in each of theses categories that I have culled being here in Lambertville over the past several years. Anyone who is in any way what I refer to as an aesthetic and a collector is well suited to live or play in this beautiful town; a virtual treasure trove of all things fabulous. To personally know the artists and dealers and the like, makes each of those things we bring into our homes so much more meaningful. This is perhaps what I enjoy most about working with clients. Blending the old and the newly collected to curate a space that is personal, to them. So here I am…staging my space, to stay. And so the formula is simple. Live with what you love and it all works together. Look at your home and those things in it with a fresh perspective. As a professional, and a friend, my responsibility is to guide you, and to make your space speak volumes about who you are. It is an objective perspective through the eyes of someone who seeks to know you that creates a beautiful home.
We too often wait for our homes to be on the market to finish what we started the day we moved in. We stage it, so that when it’s polished and perfect it truly says who we are, and were all the time we lived there. I propose that we stage….and stay. Live in your home. Make it beautiful, and personal and uniquely yours. Entertain there. Play there. Work. Hide. Nest. If that’s what brings you pleasure. But live there. Be there. Everyday.
