Reflections on "What Makes a House a Home?"

Hello Lovelies!

 image source via

There are many ways to make a house feel more lived-in and cozy. I love this advice: "Surround yourself with happy memories", found here at the Whole Living website, and illustrated by the above picture. I also like this advice: "Get cuddly accents", found here, as illustrated below:

Today, I'll publish another (!) excellent excerpt from the May 18th 2013 GON newsletter, because YES, it is that good and I highly recommend you subscribe to it! This short article deals exactly with the important question of "What Makes a House a Home?"

Excerpt:

***

"My friend's 7 year-old son, Jack, is a very outspoken and fun child. His new thing is to point at beautiful and big houses and declare that's the kind of house he wants to live in.

The other day, his mom reminded him that the size of a house doesn't necessarily make it a loving home. That it's the people living inside a house that make it special.

While he may be too young yet to understand the message of her statement, I wasn't...it was a GREAT mind jogger for me.

I love organizing and decorating homes. I enjoy watching HGTV, reading home improvement magazines, and scanning the latest ideas on Pinterest.

BUT a home doesn't mean spending lots of money on redesigning a space or buying the most expensive furniture. A home is a place we and our children can go to for comfort and security.

Fortunately, we can create that space by investing our time and energy with the people that matter to us the most.

I hope you have a wonderful week and make sure to enjoy the individuals that comprise your life!"

***

 

image source: Fi & Livvy's Cozy Home


Newsletter excerpt: (c) Copyright 2013 by Maria Gracia, Get Organized Now!

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In closing:

photo source: World of Interios, via

You can find a lot of visual inspiration through commented slideshows about lovely, cozy and lived-in homes here:
at AT (cozification article)
at RS (5 ways to create a cozy home)
at Whole Living (13 ways to a cozy up at home)  
I also love the home inspiration posts by Jane, at her lovely "Ill seen, Ill Said" blog.


Enjoy your home!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

How to Live a Simpler Life

 

Hello Lovelies,

Left: simple bouquet image via

[Please note: external links & images will be added later today to this post which includes very valuable information I wanted to share with all of you right away!]

I just spent three weeks in hospital and I am finally outta there and feeling good! My stay at the hospital was put to good use, not only to take of my health, but also to take time & reflect about life's essentials, about my own wants, needs and real priorities. Voluntary Simplicity has always been important to me, I am drawn to it, I crave a simpler life but it is not always easy to achieve as we all live in a consumers' society that distracts us from the essentials of life.

That is why I created a few (more than 5, but less than 10) boards on pinterest about simplicity, and the essentials, sorted by season: fall essentials, winter essentials, spring essentials & summer essentials. In addition of each season's essentials, I gathered a general visual inspiration about simplicity in the broad sense, and since I am very particular about my home & interior decoration, there is also a board about minimalism at home.

On top of that, I stumbled this mornign about Maria Gracia's weekly GON newsletter, and found this gem of a short, concise & informative article about "How to Live a Simpler Life" spread out in just 11 points. read below (and I highly recommend Maria GRacia's GON website and weekly newsletter!)

"Life doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, our lives can be made a whole lot easier by simplifying. Here's how:

image via

1) Spend Less

We are bombarded with advertisements tempting us to buy the latest fads and gadgets, and are told they will make our lives better. Before buying into the `more is better' philosophy, stop and think. Ask yourself if the item is something you really need or something you want?

2) Save Your Pennies

A simpler life is one in which you are prepared for life's unexpected surprises and emergencies. Having a savings can turn your life from one of panic, to one of security.

3) Cleaning and Throwing Out

The more stuff we accumulate, the less enjoyment we find in our life. Stuff makes our life complicated. We have to store it, move it, and worry about it being taken from us. It almost becomes an addiction, which robs us of time spent on life's priorities. Start going through your house, room by room, and getting rid of those items you no longer use, care about, nor enjoy.

4) Downsize

You really don't have to keep up with your neighbors, wealthy relatives, or friends. It is OK to drive a less expensive vehicle or live in a modest size home. The less expensive car will still get you from point A to point B, and the modest house will still provide shelter for you and your family. You will be able to spend more time with your family and less time worrying about the car and house payments.

5) Say No

We have commitments to others. Some which are necessary as we raise our families, and others which we do because we feel we should. Saying no to those things that we know we do not have time for is okay. This means saying no to our kids when they want to be involved in every extracurricular activity, or saying no to the neighbor who needs you to watch her children every day. By saying no to some things, we can have the freedom to say yes to things that are more important in our lives.

6) Single Task

We hear all the time that we should be multi-tasking. However, taking the time to do one task at a time can and will simplify our lives. As we focus on one task at a time, we tend to do it well, instead of spreading our attention among several tasks.

7) Evaluate Your Time

Make a list of everything you do in the day that takes up your time. Evaluate how each task fits into your priorities. If a task does not fit living a simpler life, then consider eliminating that task.

8) Develop a Game Plan

Living a simpler life is not easy. This lifestyle requires one to have patience and dedication. Living a simpler life requires that you first figure out what you want out of life, thus creating a game plan. Writing down your desires, thoughts, and plans will help you decide what you can live with and without in your search for a simpler life.

9) Establish a Media Fast

Our lives are bombarded with media, from magazines to daily blog reading. Living a simpler life can be accomplished by limiting our exposure to television, emails, magazines, blogs, social networks, and other electronic sources. Establish a day, a few days, a week, or longer where you take a media break. You will find more time for those things which really matter to you.

10) Do What You Love

Sometimes we have so much stuff and things we think we need to do that we forget about doing those things we enjoy. By living a simpler life, we can free up the time for those things we really enjoy doing. So as we establish a simpler life, be sure and write down what we love to do, then go and do those things we really enjoy.

11) Spend Time With Those You Love

A simpler life gives us the time to reconnect with the people who are important in our lives. As we get rid of the clutter, both things and time stealers, we need to spend our free time with those who matter most in our lives."

Excerpt from Maria Gracia's Get Organized Now newsletter.

(c) Copyright 2012 by Maria Gracia, Get Organized Now! 

image via

* Copyright, contact and reprint information:
http://www.getorganizednow.com/contact.html

* To subscribe, visit:
http://www.getorganizednow.com/free-ezine.html 


* The Get Organized Now (GON) website
  
 
Enjoy a simple, more satisfying life!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

Daily Dose of Flowers: my Spring 2013 Photo Project

Hello Lovelies!

Ralph Waldo Emerson's spring quote via this pin on pinterest

All the following instagrams photos are my own. Lipson (c) 2013. Please use with permission.

"Roses en enfilade"

"Bouquet composé d'une branche de seringa*, un iris bleu et fleurs de marronnier roses"

Note: *Seringa - or seringat - is my fave flower. It smells wonderful, a mix of orange blossom and jasmine. Seringa is the French name of the mock-orange shrub, aka in Latin as Philadelphus.

Untitled, may 2013

My comment on this untitled photo: The #daily dose of #pale #pink #roses from me to you, an ongoing #project through #springtime #spring Today, I also found a half-broken #blue #iris so I broke it off altogether and added it to the #bouquet #white #photo taken on May the 5th #2013  

"Fleurs à contre-jour"

This is #day 2 of the #daily #pale #pink #roses #rose #project 

untitled (closed peonies)

And in closing, let me add this quote:

 via this pin on pinterest

See more flowers at my Daily Dose of flowers flickr photo set and check out "Horticultural Art"'s photostream here. it's worth a look!

Enjoy Spring wherever you are!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

"Ghosts": My very Own "Happiness Project" [personal photography project]

Hello Lovelies!

When illness imprisons you, you have to break free!

IMPORTANT NOTE: All pictures were taken by me, Naomi Lipson, during May 2013, in the park of the hospital I was staying in at the time. All rights reserved. Please ask for permission before using. thank you.

I think and read a lot about happiness, and I am pretty sure I am not alone in this. Two regular reads of mine on the Happiness subject are:

* Gretchen Rubin's famous Happiness Project
* Maria Popova's Brain Pickings blog, which deals quite a lot with the issue of happiness, too.

I am forever indebted to the lovely Jane Flanagan, who, through her delightful blog, made me aware of the ideas goldmine that is the Brain pickings website.

About my own "Happiness Project" - and what it has to do with ghosts.

First of all, you might be aware that I suffer from a chronic kind of illness, which means I have to check into a hospital, from time to time. This is a chronic illness, I have to live with it, but it is not life-threatening... Anyway...

As I am currently in a hospital, I wanted to describe through photography the long, not-so-often taken path from misery to recovery. In my initial project, I wanted to take pictures of a patient whose face I found particularly interesting, but after a few days of reflection, he shied away altogether from the project. He looked a bit like this:

photo (c) Naomi Lipson, 1999-2000.

So what I did is take pictures anyway, of all the places I wanted to take *his* photograph in, except he will be no longer there, except as a ghostly presence.

These are the photographs I came up with...

At first, you are behind the bars of illness and misery, you are a prisoner of depression (or any other illness). Can you see the unhappy ghost behind those rusty bars?

Then, through a more or less intricate labyrinth or maze (which symbolizes any kind of path, like undertaking therapy, you are chosing to get yourself out of misery), you  try to set yourself free:

On the long, complicated journey from misery to happiness, you might find different landscapes, open gates that symbolize opportunity, such as this one:

Sometimes, on this long and difficult journey, you may need some rest and will sit down on these scattered rocks:

I guess you get the picture now...

More photos available at my flickr photo set called: "The Ghost Project".

Naomi of TeaButterfly.

And Until I return... I will leave you with this beautiful thing to watch!

Hello again, Lovelies!

 Philo the cat (RIP) watching closely a paper crane from the "PCP".

A kind stranger once sent me by snail mail a paper crane (see photo above). It happened through an event called the "Paper Crane Project" (now closed). Thank you Liz!

But I just found this video that reminded me of that kind stranger and her "Paper crane Project". The video was found via the blog of guerilla artist Keri Smith.

It really put a big smile on my face, and I can only hope it will make you smile, too!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

P.S. Bad, bad blogger I am. Writing a blogpost again, when i should really stop, when I should really rest. Doctor's orders!

Why Not? (Part 2)

Hello Lovelies!

photo, my own.

I promise, this is the last post I write here before I'm leaving for a month for a much-needed rest. But I am passionate about design, and I have a rather intense relationship inth my interior, so I couldn't help myself and just wrote this follow-up piece, after writing "Why Not? (Part 1)".

So, as i said before, my living-room has pretty good, classical French bones.

Among things I already have are:

A greyish/navy couch
A floor lamp from Habitat (with white lampshade that may need to be changed)
Accent pillows as shown below (image from laredoute catalog):

A chenille IKEA throw in chartreuse green (one of my fave colors).
Three nesting vintage IKEA coffe tables, with a thin black frame and a thick glass top (they were bought by a Swedish friend in the 60's).
Two classical French wooden narrow armchairs facing the couch, with pop red pillows on them (my cat loves to sleep there).

instagram photo, my own.

I set up a nice nook in the living-room that serves as a home office, together with a French vintage wooden desk, a vintage metallic desk lamp, and nice wooden shelving above desk.My fave element there is my vintage black dial phone, that still works (pictured above)!

Things I want/need in order to add warmth to the room and pull it all together:

A pratical, gallery-like hanging system for my oversized artwork, to be hanged behind couch.
Painting the black frame of my nesting tables a light shade of grey (I love the color called Elephant's Breath by Farrow&Ball).
Adding an area rug in front of couch (I have frankly no idea were to begin to search for that rug... Any ideas? I love these Nicola Cerini rugs, but they are made in Australia, not even sure they ship to France... IKEA... well frankly, it seems like a bland option to me. )

About the home office:
I may need to rethink the way it is organized (do i have enough storage?) and decorated (how about a personal, DIY inspiration board?)
I definitely need a more comfortable desk chair.
And a new mousepad, too. I would love a bigger, sleeker computer screen.

Finally, adding the right window treatment over my pair of French windows. I want something simple, organic, white, sheer... With maybe just a little hint of a pattern... I need it to be catclaws-proof, too! Again, if any of you has any good ideas... I am all ears! Thank you!

When I'm back, I will post photos of my living-room as it is today ( the "Before" picture) and I will hopefully be able to post a decent "After" photo in a few months from now. Then, I'll move on to tackle the kitchen, the entryway, the bedroom and the bathroom. Still a long way to go, but gosh, am I enjoying the process!

I hope you enjoy reading about it, too!

Oh... Wait! Did I just sound like an awful pinterest fan that only thinks of gigantic shopping lists? Oh, my! This is not me. I don't really intend to buy all of these things, at least not all at once. What I really aim for is making my home a place for my dreams to come true.

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

Inspiration(s) in a Bottle

Hello Lovelies,

Here is some cool stuff I am...

This moving video by Kirsten Lepore called "Bottle". Very inspiring! (found via the bastisrike blog, a daily read for me).

I was also wondering lately: What Is Art? and found some answers from famous artists and thinkers here, on the same page where the poster below comes from.

image source

I also love the answers to the "What Is Art?" question I found on Brain Pickings.

The picture that started it all is from the sorted books series by artist Nina Katchadourian, as seen here:

 via

Turns out Nina K.'s inspired many others to open a "Sorted Books" group on flickr.

So... What is Art?

I have been obsessed for a long time now by this photograph by Sally Mann:

source: photograph by Sally Mann, "Night-blooming Cereus", 1988. 

This image has a haunting quality for me. It is art, and it is not something I can explain... Then I realized I didn't even know what a "night-blooming cereus" was! I looked it up, an found this beauty for you to enjoy:

http://youtu.be/Zbzi8XydHQc

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.