Filling Your Home With Meaningful Things
If you’ve read my 4 Quotes of Inspiration, you’ll know I follow William Morris’ approach to home décor: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” I would, however, add one more criteria – useful, beautiful, and meaningful.Whether you’ve just moved in or fancy a refresh, it’s very tempting to go on an almighty homeware shopping spree, swiping whole shelves with one arm as you charge your trolley around Ikea. And hey, it's fun and Ikea is great and has brilliant design. But when you sit in your living room amidst all your shiny new stuff, there is nothing there which feels like, well, you.
So how do you marry your need for change with your need for cosy?I use the new to enhance the meaningful. All the shells and pebbles I’ve collected on our travels are displayed in a cute scalloped dish from Ikea, and the Kallax shelving unit is home to prints, pots from Iceland (the country), and a handmade china penguin from my dad.I’ve also never really been one for having photos around the place – that’s the Facebook generation for you. I can see friends and family with the touch of a button and have never felt the need to have them on the wall. They are represented in other ways though. I found an old bottle in a junk shop with Dan’s birthplace on, and a print at a fair of Oxford, my birthplace. We bought a 1950s map of North Wales, a special place for Dan's family, from an old man at a cricket pitch. Our families and pasts are in these things, rather than in frames.
Especially when you rent these things are so important. You’re in somebody else’s house, and there’s very little you can do to make it yours. You can’t re-plaster the peeling walls or knock through that wall into the kitchen, you can’t have any say over the colour scheme or even the type of boiler you have. Meaningful things, more than just beautiful things, make your house a home.My one take away? Take your time filling your home – don’t feel it has to be perfectly styled straight from the off. If you can't wait to get Instagramming, style and shoot little corners or the mantelpiece like I did. Don't rush your home-making. Build it organically, authentically, and it won’t be long before you have a beautiful, meaningful space you love.