July 27, 2020
During the pandemic many folks have tackled a project or two around their home, yard, apartment, bedroom, kitchen, closets, etc. For sure, there is no shortage of articles containing suggestions of projects, tasks, and other undertakings you could dive in to during this pandemic: from small DIY home projects, to DIY ideas and cleaning tips to help pass the time, and “Leveling up your spaces without buying anything new.”
Personally, I am in the middle of looking for new living room furniture and flooring throughout the house. This type of thing is not where my strengths lie – picking out colors, matching patterns, coordinating between rooms. So I have had to do a lot of researching, reading, shopping and looking, question asking, gathering of various samples of fabric colors and flooring tiles and carpets. It has also meant a lot of frustration, exasperation, and overwhelm.
While I struggle my way through styles and patterns and textures and trying not to pick something too “trendy” or too busy, I began to wonder how design and styles evolved through the years and if what I pick today will still be in style years down the road. As I pondered all these things, I remembered two books that have been sitting on my bookcase for years – 1) Windows of the world: the complete book of window decorating (1980) and 2) Better Homes and Gardens Sewing for your Home: Creative sewing projects for every room in your home, decorating individuality YOU can achieve, and the complete easy-to-follow directions even for beginners (1974).
I pulled these two books from their place on the shelf and began paging through them. Their pages gave me advice like “Contrast, the spice of decorating” and “anything good becomes better with carefully considered repetition.” So which is it? Contrast – the variety and spice of life – or a coordinated look that is “ingeniously calculated with nothing left to chance?”
I wasn’t looking for actual inspiration or guidance in these now dated books. They did, however, provide something I needed even more. They made me smile, sit back and remember the person who gifted them to me – my Grandmother (those are her hand-written notes to me on each book). I never thought of my Grandmother as a sewer or a decorator, per se. An artist, yes! Someone with great creativity and loved beautiful things, absolutely. But I don’t remember there being any major decor changes in her house or evolutions that kept up with the changing styles. It was the house she was born in and lived in her entire life until she passed and she loved it just as it was.
I’m still unsure why she left me, specifically, those books – maybe it was just for this moment. And while my home may never be in one of these books or featured online in one of these articles, I was reminded that I can do this home decor project. With patience and love, with guidance from those who have “an eye” for this stuff, and with some encouragement and smiles courtesy of my Grandmother, I know that when I’m done it will be beautiful and worth the journey because I took her along with me.
If you are interested in learning more about the history and time line of home design, decor and style here are a couple of articles. By the time we’re done with our little pandemic project, our home will have leaped forward a few decades, I think. What was your favorite decade of interior design?
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