Most of my life, I have had no idea what I've been doing when I design my house.
No idea why things irk me.
No idea why other things delight me.
And no idea why they feel *so important* that I change them.
But then my mother told me about this book: The Emotional House by Kathryn Robyn and Dawn Ritchie. This was the first design book I had ever read which hit the nail on the head about emotions and design. I was thrilled to discover it.
The book describes the practical and emotional function of rooms. Here, let me give you some examples:
The Bedroom (The Sanctuary, they authors call it) is for the purpose of sleep, solitude and s*ex. But the emotional purpose of it is for intimacy. Intimate times of rejuvenation.
Here's another one:
The Office (Central Records, as they call it) is for the business of the family. But emotionally it functions as a place of value and accountability.
This is a good time to segway to the topic of my office. My office closet has looked like this lately. This closet is doing way too much. It's a dumping grounds and doesn't value the objects in them. It has stressed me out.
So today, I bravely opened the closet and told it I was boss again.
First I let Eve take a look.
She was stunned.
And then she wanted to help.
I might tell the story about my office closet's makeover another day. It's not a long story and it didn't take but an hour to clean up.
But what I can tell you is that I am sitting in my office right now and breathing much deeper as a result of it.