My new business, WhiteHouse & Co., provides design services for physical spaces... back to that home, garden, office, etc. We even provide a good bit of image consulting for the "fashion flumuxxed." But what drives the direction of each project is the deep belief in the principal of conscious living.... an intentional approach to living creatively. It isn't just about a pretty room. It is about finding the deep resonance within each of us that, once discovered, manifests in beauty. It's about creating spaces that matter to each of us, for whatever reasons we may have.
This blog is an opportunity to explore spaces that matter to you and to me. How have you created environments that are harmonic and energizing, not to mention aesthetically pleasing? What was your process for getting there? What inspires you? Who inspires you? What are the spaces you have inhabited that have been most meaningful? What material sources do you find inspiring? What is your style.... and why does it matter to you? How do particular styles impact your sense of being? Creating spaces that matter..... its a subject worth exploring.
One of the physical spaces that matter most to me is my own home - a turn of the century farm house in College Hill. Creating an environment that feels in harmony with my spirit, as well as my own particular style, is a vastly fulfilling experience. My home serves as a source of energy for me, allowing me to stay connected with my creative spirit. And while this serves my own life, it also energizes my work and fuels my ability to create spaces for others. I'll be sharing images and stories about my ongoing home project as well as client spaces. I'll be passing along ideas that I have found particularly helpful as well as resources that I draw on. I hope you'll share your own spaces... home, projects, work, whatever spaces you influence and/or influence you.
Creating spaces that matter does, indeed, matter. Do you agree?
Not to repeat Prince Charles, but I would say that perhaps intentionality is the only way that we avoid the king of urban and suburban horrors that surround us ( the ionterior equivalent would be the junkfood mentality of CNN). The greatest barrier for American sheep is money. If they have it, they don't know hopw to use it in a way that benefits themselves as well as the environment, and if they don't have it, they feel powerless to change, say for instance their eyesore tenement housing. It isn't simply a matter of collecting a lot of neat stuff (including gurus of the minute, or instand feng shui) and inviting the socially prominentg neighbors over to see it--it is a life sustained with principles and values that benefit society as well as our own aesthetic individuality.
ReplyDeleteI was looking at a reprint of a book of photographs, Atlanta 1890: The Gate City, and was impressed buy the huge size of the Victorian mansions these people built--dependent, of course, upon slave or near-slave labor for upkeep--but even moreso by the huge institutions like The Jewish Orphans Home built and maintained not because they would turn a profit but because they were good for society. There is something about the current climate, other than obvioous economic problems, that no longer supports this philosophy except with lip service, and I'm not sure it can be fixed. But perhaps I have tunnel vision . . .
Please forgive my bad typing . .
ReplyDeleteAs one of Sallie’s many fans, I know firsthand about her incredible style – from fashion, to writing, to interior spaces. So congratulations, Sallie, on your new business and your new blog. All of your fans eagerly await the unfolding of this next chapter of your life.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 1970’s (god, that’s a long time ago) I got bit by the design bug and discovered a passion that continues to hold a central place in my personal and professional life. Although somewhat ghastly to think about now, my mom and I wallpapered one wall of my tiny bedroom with this big, bold, graphic black and white wallpaper. I carefully sewed a skirt for my dressing table – black and white, of course – and hung a black and white “googly eye” mobile over my single bed. I thought I was the hippest kid in town.
Last year I marked 25 years in my home in Winston-Salem – the only house I have ever owned. My attachment to this place is legendary among my friends. I was married when I moved into this 1,600 square foot “bungalow” in 1983, and I stayed here after my divorce, finding solace in the constancy and comfort of my home. Built in 1927, with big windows, lots of light and heart pine floors, it was tricked out in gingham wallpaper, dotted swiss kitchen curtains and Colonial Williamsburg colors when I moved in. Clearly not my style, as anyone who knows me can attest.
So with paint brush in hand, and a ton of StripEase, I started the process of making this place my own. From hand stripping wood work and wainscoting, to painting and stamping and glazing the walls, this house has morphed into an art project that seems to have no end. Each object I have collected over the last 25 years has a special place and story. There are family photos, china my grandmother brought from England when she emigrated to this country, my personal collection of fine crafts and art, and an array of mementos from journeys to places near and far. As life evolved, and love relationships came and went, and the tides of my professional career ebbed and flowed, my house has been the calm center of my universe. I have thrown big, boisterous parties for 30 or more and candlelit dinners for small circles of friends. I till and tend to the vegetable garden and look forward each August to my pesto festival – filling the house with the heady fragrance of basil and garlic. My elderly next door neighbors, Cotton and Clara, are family now and I can walk through the house and yard and recount the many projects Cotton and I have done together – including the installation of an arbor out front where yellow roses reach for the sun each spring.
So, the oft repeated mantra of “home is where the heart is” resonates loudly with me. But my heart is now in another place, in the hands of someone else. And I am standing at an interesting intersection as I see my sense of place in a different light. Sometime in the near future, I will be realigning the two centers of my universe as I pack up all the stuff of my life and move it to another home. My sweetheart and I have begun this process of integration with small baby steps knowing that we must tread lightly as we figure out how to combine two homes into one. It is as tricky as I expected it would be. We both have very strong ideas about space and “stuff” and I have spent the last 20 years in a blissful state of “no compromise”. He has been a single dad for the last four years – doing an incredible job of managing work and home and a teenage son. I am a neat freak; he is… not so much. So beyond the normal relationship issues, we have to figure out how to make his collection of rocks work with my collection of fine crafts. And will his somewhat more spartan approach to interior spaces be overwhelmed by my love of intense color and texture? I guess we are going to find out soon enough. I expect this particular journey will be exciting and scary on many fronts. But if home is truly where the heart resides, I think we are both in good company. The rest will come, all in good time.
Lovely writing!....best of luck, to a lovely person inside and out! Thanks again for the pleasure of enjoying your home and the dinner.
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