Journal Prompts #10: On Home
We spend a lot more time in our houses these days than ever before, have we invested in them to make them feel like ... home?
Today is a guest share from interior designer, mother and nature lover, Colleen Tobey of Home Craft Design. Colleen and I just celebrated our 1-year anniversary of coaching together and the goals she has accomplished are beyond inspiring - like relaunching her entire brand, throwing an incredible launch party, hiring a team and honing her powerful voice -spoken and written … to name only a few. Take some time with her journal prompts about creating an environment that looks AND feels like home.
Surprise yourself with your answers in your journal. As always, so optional.
From Colleen:
As Paul Rand says, "Design is so simple -- that is why it is so complicated." When it comes to interior design, it should be more than beautiful aesthetics. It should be a feeling and provide a positive emotional response when you walk into a room. And my favorite, you should be setting an intention for the room/for your house. Each room should be crafted to its own "need" while collectively making the whole house a home.
According to IIDA, Interior Design is defined as the professional and comprehensive practice of creating an interior environment that addresses, protects, and responds to human need(s). It is the art, science, and business planning of a creative, technical, sustainable, and functional interior solution that corresponds to the architecture of a space, while incorporating process and strategy, a mandate for well-being, safety, and health, with informed decisions about style and aesthetics.
Since the Covid-19, more people have been spending time in their homes. More people are working from home and have had to create a functional, learning space for their kids. Our houses have become multifaceted. And we are creating those precious memories that we don't want to take for granted.
Our home costs money to maintain it, to decorate it, to renovate it. It costs money to live in your home. And our home should not be a place we escape from. It should be a place that supports us, calms us, and brings us a lot of joy. We need to invest in home as it provides us a structural foundation, literally and figuratively.
Think about one room in your home you cannot wait to get your hands on and renovate. Let’s listen for the details in the design.
Here is your practice, grab a pen:
1. What is the function and purpose of this room?
2. What is the overall aesthetic of the room and how would you incorporate it into the design?
3. How does the room and the design evoke specific emotions and atmosphere for the use?
4. How can the space be both beautiful and cost-effective?
*Pause*
Now take a few deep breaths and if budget was not a factor and you could have anything for this space and for your home, what would you do? What would add? Would you go outside your comfort zone and think outside the box? What colors would you use? Would you be bold? Or would you play it safe? And what would your home provide for you and your family?
Free write for 3-5 minutes without thinking and just write what comes to mind.
When you are done, take a look at your responses. How much does it differ from the prompts listed above? How much is it similar? And then feel free to set an intention with the piece of paper and plant in a planter. Fold up the piece of paper, add some soil and a seed, and every time you water the seed you think about what you want for the space.
Gratitude and appreciation: A thoughtful thank you to the intentionality of space and conscious design that Colleen Tobey offers us all to consider in our homes. I have zero depth perception, spatial awareness is hard for me and understanding of home flow, forget it. Thus, I am enamored by her brain and how it works and what she writes. Colleen just launched a Design 101 eBook that is beautiful and inspired me endlessly. Grateful for different brains and people who offer up their wisdom graciously (her eBook is free on her site when you pop on to her newsletter!).
Colleen Tobey is the owner of Home Craft Design, a residential interior designer serving Boulder and Denver County. Her mission as an interior designer is to create thoughtful and intentional spaces with her clients and for her clients. She loves integrating nature into design as a way to honor the rhythms outside to the inside. Colleen is a mom and likes to work with other busy, working families to create a home of their dreams.
Colleen lives in Longmont, Colorado with her husband and their two young children.
Loved and appreciated every word of this post. Thank you.