Let's Mix it Up.

I have always had an affinity for all things, home. Since I was a young girl, I would rearrange my childhood bedroom many times over. My parents were always amazed and I think, amused, how I would be able to move my complete, very traditional, very heavy, wood furniture set all around my room with no help at all.

On my 16th birthday, I asked for home decor for my bedroom. My dad surprised me with items he picked out from Pier 1 Imports. There was an off white wicker arm chair with a little cushion and a gray star pillow that had pearls all over it. He also had purchased me a beaded silver box with a beaded tassel and I remember feeling it was the best birthday ever.

By the time I was in college, and had a small apartment of my own, off of campus, I was so ready to make this place a cozy little home for myself. I was really big into the movie "You've Got Mail" at the time and watched it too many times to count during my college years. I decided to paint my entire one bedroom apartment a pale yellow, (YIKES!) since I too feel, "daisies are the friendliest flower".

I repurposed a little shelf I had with hooks into a small pot rack for my kitchen wall. I painted the shelf white and hung the very few pots I had and actually never used since cooking at the time, was not my thing.

I didn't have much but I worked hard to make that tiny one bedroom feel like home with all of the shabby chic inspiration it could handle.

My artwork was always my own with a few vintage pieces I had collected thrown in. I would frame my renderings or art studies on the wall and that made up my very extensive art collection.

I still remember finding a very long, weathered white washed table. It was narrow like a console table and had a shelf half way down. That piece I repurposed into so many different things by the end of its life.

It became a kitchen island the first year, in my narrow kitchen. It later became a desk that I arranged on one side of my living room as to kind of section off the space to feel like two different ones. The inspiration was Meg Ryan's little antique desk floating in the middle of her brownstone in yes..."You've Got Mail". I told you l love that movie.

I purchased a few design books early on and became aware of a designer I had never heard of before, known for her signature style aesthetic- Shabby Chic.

So, by the time I knew who Rachel Ashwell was, I had long been down that shabby chic path and loved every single thing she touched. It was such a feast for the eyes. Piles and piles of white down cushions covered in linen and draped in ruffles resting on sofas that looked like clouds, a weathered vintage table mixed with an ornate gold mirror flanking its top and white and creams everywhere from the hardwood floors to the planked wood ceilings. Ashwell and her style aesthetic is what made me fall in love even more passionately with interior design. There was no looking back. My future was solidified in the lavish but laid back look of linen, ornate antiques, weathered pieces still standing the test of time and vessels containing fresh peonies and wild roses.

Somehow I have never lost my love for those things. While I still have a hard time defining my style aesthetic other than claiming the word "eclectic", I still find myself leaning toward those core staples I fell in love with at such a young age, the old mixed in with the new.

And that, I think is the beauty of design. It is something that could have been developed in adolescence, perhaps, a very monumental moment in life, something nostalgic or some small impressionable memory or moment made in the course of time. It is something that maybe spoke to you without speaking a word. I love that.

So today, my home has to feel that way. No need to follow trends that fade just to appeal to some genre on social media or to the masses. Let's go with our instinct, with our gut, with what we love, and with what inspires us most.

So let's mix it up!

I love the unexpected large vintage-modern task light adding just as much interest as the ornate, antique French console without taking away from it.

With my art, I like to think outside the box. So many of my pieces are transitional, sweet and French and have a whimsical feel about them with their dainty ribbons and bows and dainty details yet other pieces of mine, have a more modern flair to them yet both, would be considered acceptable and well loved in my own home.

Hope you enjoyed this post and I am just so very glad you are here! Let me know if you would like me to make more in the future!

xoxo, Elle