The Good Life

I know this is the last topic that you want a designer to talk about. Stick with color, balance, scale and selection, right? Well I get alot of questions about how to balance living in a space and spending money on expensive pieces that will actually be worth passing down to your children when it is your turn to live abroad, or in that high rise in New York City to watch Broadway plays as you stop working as hard.

The inexpensive furniture that has flooded the market does not lend itself to being moved many times, much less refinished, and passed on to future generations. We have become a "throwaway generation" of non fixable appliances, "art" that is not really art, accessories made of some kind of paste formed into shapes and painted to look like something that we should recognize from some ancient dig somewhere. We all see these pieces of faux something in the
TJ Max's, the World Markets, and the Pier One Imports that surround us outside the mall.
It is fun to see what can be done in China, Pakistan, or the Phillipines with this paste, molds,
and paint. It is not fun to see what happens to these items if they get bumped, dropped, or somehow disturbed in our active homes. Or heaven forbid, if we try to wash them in a dishwasher, use a cleaning product on them, or pack them away with bubble wrap that ends up adhering to the paint while stored and makes some kind of indistinguishable mess.

I think that our quest to do everything inexpensively is our own failing. We think that there must be a way to get that designer look without enlisting the help of our own senses, much less the help of a true designer that has access to the real deal, at wholesale prices. I always think of it as a step in the design process. An educated client is the best client. One who just plain "gets it", is so much more fun to work with.

So now in this time of great real estate deals, we have finally purchased a house that has areas that really need to be coordinated, old owners taste that needs to be eradicated, and a pallette of space that is fun to imagine as our own. So now enters the designer with a studio full of great products (purchased at wholesale), area rugs that are antique, custom made, or just plain hard to get your hands on without the right connections, furniture that works and is worth purchasing, lighting that brightens and serves a purpose, accessories that not only complete, but are worth owning, art that appreciates in value, and custom made draperies, bedding, and accents that pull all of it together. We are starting to glimpse The Good Life, right from our own windows looking out on the rest of the world.

It is not just our trappings that make it an intoxicating goal. It is the feeling of coming home to something that fits our lifestyle. Storage for our stuff (and that of our children, our pets, and our hobbies), room to stretch out, lighting that solves problems, and lights our way. I believe that The Good Life happens to be more about the people that we fill that real estate find with, rather than the color of its walls. But isn't it lovely when the whole interior just kind of honors the people that we pull together to be a part of our world.

The Good Life can be high contrast, low lighting, architectural detailing, a home on the edge of the sea, or a cabin nestled in the trees. But one thing it must do, is cherish those that fill it with love, care, and being together. To do this we begin by thinking of them while we make choices and fundamental decisions lead to comfort, ease of maintenance, and long term life.