Room for Grace
A day late and a dollar short.
Swooning over this kitchen by design crush Leanne Ford
Have you ever put so much on your plate that you completely missed something HUGE? No? Never? Well this week I awoke at about 5 am in a complete panic because it was a Thursday and I sailed through my “blog day” completely oblivious.
These are the days I am thankful for grace. For those of you who do keep up with all that goes on behind the scenes at our boutique firm you are more than aware that this month we have been blessed to be juggling a million different balls and have been gritting are teeth that one does not drop.
In our personal lives we are planning our wedding for Thanksgiving Day, and then drum roll right into the launch of our online Home Store. Austin and I have been business partners for over five years now and it seemed natural to celebrate our love and commitment to each other by, what else, starting yet another business!
Leanne Ford shows us how the best design is just letting a space speak #nostagingneeded
As a celebration we decided to open our home to our local community! YIKES! What on earth did I have in mind when I thought of this idea this past summer? When we bought our home we always imagined opening our home to our oh so curious neighborhood. In addition to us just being creative professionals with a nact for interior design, we also live in a historic community that often host old house tours, porch parties, and street fairs. Despite this being a goal for us, we also knew that our home would take YEARS to be ‘complete’. It is 4,000 square feet of 100 years of stories, nooks, and crannies. We didn’t want to wait years, and we wanted our visitors to join us in the journey. The journey our home has taken over the years.
Ok, cool. So what’s the problem? When I design for clients I am balancing their preferences into a thoughtfully curated space. Despite me including my personal design identity, my goal is always to include who they are. With our home...it’s all us!! We are bold and beautiful and make no apologies for it. I believe this wholeheartedly, but as any creative can attest, when your art is being critiqued you have a sensitivity to how it is received. Not because your striving to fit a certain mold, but because it is such a personal reflection.
The choices in our home were done with our real life, authentic lives. The artwork I chose, the position of furniture, the furniture itself, it was all chosen and placed to serve our family.
My goal is to not showcase our home but to share it. To share what living a modern, contemporary, identity rich home in the context of a historic space really looks like. And I hope that over the years, my community can see the evolution of our space that is inevitable. I hope the risks that I’ve taken spark an imagination that may have been silenced out of a desire to be ‘right’.
Interior design is art, and art is subjective
-leanne ford
Plain and simple interior design is unique. No two people will have the exact same taste and no two people will interpret the same piece of art in the same way. The only requirement when it comes to design is listening to your voice. Sometimes you have to quiet the noise, but when you listen to your voice you will discover the identity that is unique to you.
Listen closely, create boldly, and allow yourself the grace to change your mind.
What risks have you taken with your home?