the decor
In decor a fundamentally sensual response is at work with the spiritual. I found myself bringing earthy things into my home:
terra-cotta, iron, pebbles smoothed by river water, beach stones pocked by organisms and waves, spice-colored things like the red cinder on the roads where I live. I wouldn’t trade anything (anything!)—even convenience—for wood heat and firelight. If I buy jewelry, it is usually garnet and amber. I decorate with these too, hanging necklaces on pretty hooks or heaping bracelets in a crystal dish. Whenever something in a shade of blue was brought into my home, I found myself moving it around, then moving it out. Recognizing this pattern helped me learn more about myself
I read that some people need to be cooled down, others to be warmed up. I discovered that fire represents creativity while water represents activity and movement. Pinks and reds have long been associated with femininity, and blues with masculinity Investigating further, I recognized at last that having lived so long in a household of females (including all their female friends coming and going), my home harbors a lot of female energy—possibly an overload. Watching a random Home and Garden TV program, I learned that blues and the color black must be used to anchor reds. Now I’ve planted such anchors in my living spaces: a dark blue throw over the sofa, a carpet incorporating dark blue triangles with burgundies, a blue satin housecoat on the wall in my bedroom.
My goal is to create an artful journal of place and history in my home. That does not mean a “pulled together” decor that communicates a particular style or offers a coherent look. Flaws let in light. Imperfections and all, my home will reflect that which is most meaningftil for me, peace and a lively sense of fun. Why not have both? Home is where you live the life you really want, says Jane Alexander, author of Spirit of the Home. There are no perfect lives and there are no perfect homes, she explains, concluding that a home is made numinous by the love and feeling we invest in it.5
Frank Lloyd Wright believed that architecture is the master art form, and he reinvented it according to his own vision. Designing and building 769 buildings in his lifetime, both monumental and intimate, Wright saw that the space where people live would make the people who inhabit it different. He sometimes stipulated interior design for his homes as well, right down to where each table and chair should be placed.
Wright’s view of art was described by historian William Cronon:
“An artist . . . transforms nature by looking at nature, passing it through the soul, and in the expression… something more natural emerges. Which is as close as we get to God.”6
Indeed. Our homes and the sacred art of living in them are a link between heaven and earth. Invite God in.
Tags: Home