Design Happy…

Home Decor Improves Life and overall Happiness!  The power of designing and decorating a home especially for oneself is felt deep by Home Owners everyday! Fluffing your nest; a lick of new paint, a fabulous new pillow added to your sofa, a new sheet set for your bed…. decor makes humans feel wonderful!  What’s wrong with that?  The statement “home is where the heart is” is true in every way.   I’ve made a career out of assisting and creating lusciously comfortable homes for my Clients.  Why not fluff your nest and bring a smile to your face?  True happiness is attained in many different ways but for today let’s talk about the power of decorating your home for your sense of “Happy”!

I completely focus on delivering the wow! to each project.   I understand that spaces within one’s home hold great power over the potential of how you feel, how productive you are, how joyful you can live, how robust your day can be.  Great design impacts people, impacts my Clients and thus I focus my solutions on designing specifically to fulfill all the must haves for my Client’s happy future.

Have you experienced the energy boost a sunshine filled room can feed your soul after a dreary slew of winter days?

There is an energy burst deep inside and your spirit has a positive lift.   One feels great to be there, to experience the moment.   Home re-design and a full blown renovation has the power to change people’s lives by changing the way a Family lives life within their home.  The positive feelings we experience as humans in a beam of sunlight is much like the reactions of my Clients have during the reveal of their new space(s).  I focus to design for happiness and betterment within my Client’s lives and that is exactly why I love what I do.

Presently, I’m so jazzed to speak with you and share a few How-To options to bring physical and emotional lightness to where you call home and to your lifestyle!

Paint is a wonderful product!  With a lick of paint you can completely change a space; the power that colour and depth or lightness of colour brings is worth every penny.  But what colour do I choose Lori?  If you are heavy of spirit especially in the winter months I would highly recomment you select a light white, cream or tinted white.  Light walls trick the eye to believe you are surrounded by natural light.  Us humans need our natural light.  Natural sunshine is essential to our emotional and physical health.  30 minutes a day outdoors will replendish your circadian rhythm which will assist with mood and sleep irregularities.  Take a chance, lighten the walls of your space and feel the benefits!

Let that sunshine sing!  The beams of fresh sunlight and these inspiring images below have great power over my enthusiasm and create design happy within me!  Visual inspiration is always a great place to start in tackling a redesign of a space within your home.

As a spirited residential designer I keep my inner creative well filled on the daily with new home product, finishing materials, design solutions and purely fantastic inspirational research.  Necessary research to stay at the top of my game as a designer and solver of problems within my Clients dwellings.

Power of Sunlight and Flowers make me smile…

When I saw this image on Kristy Wicks Instagram feed I had a moment.  A moment where I was instantaneously transported to June and the peonies in peak bloom!  This inspiring photo sparked a smile on my face.  The freshness of these transitional soaring kitchen cabinets, the crisp white vitreous china sink overflowing with fresh tulips and that glorious burst of sunshine blazing through the window!  Beautiful!

Sunlight is a lifeline to our happy spirit…

Sunlight is indeed a necessary force in our everyday life.  If we do not receive enough sunlight in our day the effects on our ability to function positively, sleep regeneratively and stay focused is severely diminished.

Who wants to wake up and have a lousy day?  Not me for sure.

Some changes to your indoor decor with per say a bouquet of fresh flowers or a pop of colour in pillows, throw blankets or art can be just the perfect addition you may need to add some simple decorating accessories to spark a fresh outlook within your home.

Fresh flowers immediately make me smile and can inspire a day-dream about Garden Parties, decorating outdoor spaces, flowers in bloom, the smell of fresh laundry on the line swinging in the breeze and bring a sense of metaphoric sunshine cascading over my day.

My next little suggestion does not source from me but is an action I started to implement into my before bed routine.  A small task that focuses on mindfulness and training my spirit to consciously focus on the  “happiness” of thought by listing 1,2,3,4 or more things I am grateful for that happened within the day.  At first it took some thought to recall the day and list what I was grateful for.  Now that this is part of my routine my brain retains and short lists throughout the day positive big and small  blessings of my day.  Can you see the shift?  Even though I consider myself a very positive person, I too had to concentrate to find list-worthy gratitude.  But now my mind is subconciously retaining and recalling these lovely moments of my day.  It’s also a wonderful notebook to review during a quiet moment with a wonderful cup of coffee….. on Sat. Nov. 5th 2017 I was grateful for a visit with very special friends who I love and laugh whole heartedly with.

Seriously for years I could never understand the draw to a gratitude journal, meditation and/or yoga until about two years ago when the demands of my extremely busy Entrepreneurial lifestyle, the scale of my company’s projects exploded McNeil Design Group Interiors and the responsibilities of being sandwiched between Teenagers and Aging Parents all collided within the limitations of a 24 hour clock.  Today I rise in the morning just a little earlier to gift myself “a slice of pie”.  The slice of pie I’m talking about is from my daily clock.  I intentionally start my days with a little yoga followed by an intensive burst run on the elliptical to release stress and wrap up my day at the very end with 5-15 minutes of gratitude journaling.

Interior Design makes my heart sing…

What ultimately keeps my happiness meter full is how my world is steeped in residential design.  I create lifestyles and home spaces.  I solve problems my Clients experience when they purchase a home lacking in light, storage, visual beauty, comfort or connection to the lifestyle they lead or desire to lead.  I take the dwellings my Clients purchase; assess it, manipulate it, blend it with desires, reinvent it with great design and return that lack luster dwelling as a “Home”.  A true joyous polished beautiful Home.  There is an immense process from Step#1 to the final Reveal.  I’m always on the hunt for inspiration that lights up my happiness sensors!  There are inspiring images everywhere;  on social media, in a magazine, in a book from the library, during a walk in the woods or exploring a new village.  Visual happiness is everywhere, you just need to slow down your life pace and take stock.  Let me share some influencers who made me slow down to view and take stock of an image they created and posted on social media……

I have always loved black.  The saturation, the impact, the elegance and I’m so happy to utilize Black in a more predominantly in my interiors.  With more examples in main stream design my Clients no longer have any reservations to utilizing black on walls; in tile or wallpaper, floors, in accessories, light fixtures and/or hardware.   I love it!!

Oversized Murals and Art in Floral and Contemporary designs are an exciting addition into present design esthetics.  The predominantly earthy neutrals or cool grey neutrals we’ve seen for years are being transformed by these new design elements.  The sophisticated addition and layering can bring some design intrigue into spaces in dire need of personality.  We love selecting Art for our Clients spaces and the options are vast but just one piece of Art at the right scale and size can completely finish or reinvent a room.   These are a few of the Design for Happy components I have my eye on!

Take a chance;  Life is short.  Buy the Art.  Eat the cake!