Uplift With Design - Reclaim Your space

Our interior spaces and belongings hold energy from the past.  Happiness, sadness, and grief stay inside our objects.  When the energy within our home is unsupportive, it can feel like quicksand that is holding you back from moving forward and cause you to feel like a never-ending run of bad luck, but it might be a simple case of energy flow.  As we encourage self-improvement through spiritual and mental work for manifestation, we cannot dismiss dealing with the environment energetically, as they go hand in hand.  Just as we move our bodies to release stagnant energy, we can do the same for our homes and living spaces.  When you heal yourself along with your home, you can then manifest of which you dream. 

Release the stagnant energy and bring a fresh, new love into your home with small changes.

Our homes are a reflection of who we are and our experiences - past and present.  As we change the energy within our homes, our perspectives will begin to change.  I recently started working with a new client who lives in the apartment she once shared with her ex-husband - a home that embodies their relationship.  Since her divorce, she has reclaimed her relationship with herself and motherhood and wants her space to mirror her transformation - a home that speaks to her femininity, independence, balance, and love.

This phase of the design focused on her entry, living room, and dining room.  Her goal was to have the three rooms feel inviting, warm, and transported.  During the initial walk-through, the flow and layouts were strong, with only minor tweaks.   The updates were small but significantly altered the atmosphere by unifying these three rooms and creating the desired warmth.

Entry

When I looked to the top of her entry, I saw this opportunity to create a welcoming display rather than its current purpose of storage for the items that couldn’t find a home. Every inch filled, and it wasn’t until I started taking the objects down that I noticed many family heirlooms tucked and hidden away. As soon as I discovered these gems, I knew they would need to be showcased on this shelf and throughout her home. I handpicked a few items - choosing based on size and color to complement each other - and displayed them towards the front so they no longer disappeared but could be appreciated below. 

Living Room

(Before)

(Before)

As soon as you enter her home, you will notice her love of art, which includes paintings she’s purchased throughout the years, as well as her own artwork lining the perimeter of her entire apartment. She is a warm, vibrant person, so it is no surprise that she loves color, which is evident in her paintings but absent on her wall space and furniture. To give the walls an immediate refresh, we changed the current artwork and added some additional pieces. Rather than hanging the paintings at the same height and filling all the open wall space, I selected canvases of different sizes, hung them in groupings to create compositions on the wall, so the paintings didn’t all stand alone.

Due to her quantity of paintings and her love of creating art, I decided to select a few so they could dress some of the open floor space and creatively conceal her wires.

The one essential furniture piece I noticed missing from her layout was a coffee table, but she noted that she had one stored in her closet as soon as I asked. She felt it was too large for the room. As she pulled it out, it was the perfect size and aesthetic. There was enough space to comfortably move between the sofa and flow from the entry into the dining room. While unpacking the coffee table, she mentioned that she had a large wall clock and was unsure where to display it, but her art claimed all the available wall space. I noticed this bare wood coffee table sitting next to me, picked up the clock, and made it the grounding centerpiece of her coffee table. The gold frame of the clock also highlighted the new art that we hung above the sofa.

The final step was to soften and warm the sofa. We went on a Homes Good run to source the pillows and supplemental decor. She was overwhelmed with where to begin, so I started slowly by asking her what colors she would like to incorporate into this space. As soon as she mentioned yellow, I immediately grabbed the first yellow pillow. The easiest way to begin is to start pulling. As you shop or source for items, you will soon see what is and isn't working, thus allowing you to narrow down and create your desired look.

Dining Room

(Before)

The energy flow stopped when we entered the dining room as the table's horizontal position created this rigid divide. Learning that my client's father built the table, purchasing a table wasn't an option, so I came up with an unconventional idea for reconfiguring this layout. I moved the table and area rug onto an angle to help open the space, and as the layout softened, we felt the energy begin to flow smoothly throughout the space.

Small changes can produce dramatic and transformative results. Never underestimate the power of one small change.