Did you see what Brad Pitt did with his perfect home-slash-villa in the Southern part of France at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat? Yes, exactly that spot where the pink coloured serene and arty Villa “Ephrussi de Rothschild” and its lush gardens are located. Extraordinarily beautiful!
What an amazing home, isn’t it?
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We devour celebrities’ ideas and pictures of their perfect home. And we buy furniture and accessories to match that state of mind that has been presented to us as “what it feels to be at home”. Ikea, Ligne Roset, Ashley HomeStore, Roche Bobois, Poliform, Habitat, Designers Guild, La Redoute (one of my favourite affordable stylish home decor companies, I have to admit), … all have been helping us to find the perfect set up for our homes. That is if you can afford it!
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And there are popular movements to support our quest for optimising our homes.
Feng shui, an ancient Chinese occult art of arranging spaces, makes use of energy forces to align people with their surrounding environment. The expression “feng shui” translates as “wind-water” meaning this traditional practice sees connection in the fluid translation between cosmic forces.
The universal Qi (“cosmic current” or energy), so the old Chinese believed, was directed through landscapes and water, through structures and places. And because Qi has the same qualities as wind and water, an expert in all feng shui could influence those flows to optimise wealth, happiness and family life.
The wrong expert could of course also totally screw that up in advising the wrong feng shui tactics. Interesting to read that the East says we Westerners tend to interpret feng shui only as means to some sort of cool interior design – without understanding its spiritual fundamentals.
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On the other side of the spectrum are popular interior designers, like Dorothy Draper, Philippe Starck or Kelly Hoppen. Those are ambassadors of interior design for the sake of interior design.
Dorothy Draper is an interesting one. She thrived at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays in our minimalist design aspirations, you’d cover for some of her designs your eyes and scream “eye cancer”. Yet, this lady’s style has been picked up by many others over the last century and I shall say it is now fashionable again. Dorothy is hailed as the first to make interior design a proper business during the 1920s in the United States. Not only because you’d hear people being surprised that “interior design” shall be a business, but at the beginning of the last century it was unheard of that a woman would have a vision AND dare to establish a business by herself! Hear, hear.
Dorothy was the icon of anti-minimalism, or in other words: She’d throw everything she had towards the clientele to make their living environment super-saturated with colours and textures. Dorothy created a style known as “Modern Baroque”, completely dissing the back-then en-vogue classical style. Her trademark was the colour scheme of “cabbage-rose multicoloured cotton fabric”, stating that “Lovely, clear colours have a vital effect on our mental happiness.”
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A very different interior home goddess is Marie Kondo entering the scene a hundred years later in the 21st century. A special place in my heart is reserved for her. Marie, the queen of tidying and de-cluttering your home. Marie’s method of arranging is known as the “KonMari” method. It means gathering all of your belongings, one category at a time like clothes or personal items or furniture. You only keep possessions “that spark joy”. Last step in the process is to finally choose a place for those special items to be displayed so you can enjoy them.
So, what to make of this? Here is my interpretation. You look around your home and all your stuff you have accumulated over the years. Ask yourself why you have kept those shirts that don’t even fit you anymore. There is no reason whatsoever? Discard to a recycling container! Then there is all of this once useful camping equipment. You decided long ago, camping isn’t for you. Off you go and donate to people who might be strapped off cash but more interested in camping than you are.
Then there are those books. You have read them. Good insights. You are done and you know you most probably won’t re-read them again. Yet, they have an emotional value, your grandparents have given them to you. Those you keep.
All items you keep, you cherish.
Marie says that her method is influenced by the Shinto religion. Cleaning and arranging can be some sort of spiritual practice: “Treasuring what you have; treating the objects you own as not disposable, but valuable, no matter their actual monetary worth; and creating displays so you can value each individual object are all essentially Shinto ways of living.”
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The question I am asking myself here though is the following: What makes a home “a home”? What does it take to say “I am at home”. Including or beyond stylish furniture and eclectic wall paint and conscious layout planning?
I have asked my family and friends what they think. And with no further due, those are their answers to my question: What makes you feel at home?
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Yana, Russian, a millennial Digital Art directress, says:
“Hmm, what makes me feel at home? For the last years, I feel “at home” everywhere with my own space and my things around, and if it is nice and comfortable there. And I completely lost the feeling of my “home”. I think it is because I do not have a proper home for many years.”
Sara, Portuguese, living in Lisbon, a millennial writer, says:
“Well home… Home is where I can be fully myself. People, places, situations. It’s also my food, my practices, my rituals, my routines. Home is being able to just be as you are. No judgement. It’s also somewhere you need to nourish and give love to.”
Judy, British-German, living in the UK country side, a GenX business woman says:
“Where I’m with the people I love, a safe place, warm, serene, calm, cosy, a place I can retreat to, harmonious. And my dog needs to be there.”
Harry, Spanish-British, living in Malaga, a GenZ teacher, says:
“What makes me feel at home is being in comfortable surroundings. Taking into account the people you are with. I feel at home when I can go to wherever I’m staying and disconnect, whether it be for 5 mins or the whole weekend.”
Ozanan, Brazilian, living in Hamburg, a GenX university associate, says:
“Probably many people think, for those like me who left a country such as Brazil and live in Hamburg, that you can only feel at home there. I don’t feel so. I am at home in Hamburg, too, in a general sense of one might understand the words ‘at home’. Honestly, I just feel really ‘at home’ very spontaneously and some in fully unsuspected moments. I feel at home when breathing the warm and wet wind that comes up when a wave crashes at the beach in the tropics; sometimes I feel at home when a sudden smell or scent reminds me of moments of the long past that won’t come back anymore…But sometimes just coming back ‘home’ after a long trip may cause that strange feeling of being at home…”
Dean, South-African, creative e-physiotherapist, says:
“What makes me feel at home, is a slow start to the day. A bed that makes me want to get in it, and makes it hard to get out of – and a coffee that magically appears without any effort 🙂 A home that makes it hard to leave and easy to come back to.”
Irene, German, a retired tax advisor, says:
“I feel at home when having lovely people around me and everyone enjoys themselves. I can also feel happy and at home when I am alone and observe people and my environment around me.”
Ralf, German, a for-ever-travelling nomad, former TV stylist advisor, says:
“At home, for me, that’s a smell. At home is my family. Where one cooks. Where the fire is burning. Reminiscence of grandparents. At home is where I am free of all that s***. And today.. closing the door of my van is my favourite sound. With a loud thud. Fuck u all.”
Vanessa, French, an executive high-flyer in the city of London, says:
“At home: Peaceful. Centered. Free. Space. Breathe.”
Julia, US-German, a TV producer, says:
“Home is where my partner and my cats are.”
Nic, South-African, eclectic IT consultant, says:
“What makes me feel at home is the thought of my bed, sleeping comfortably. The thought of a home cooked meal. There is also something quite special about the smell of one’s home.”
Laura, British, living in London, a retired publishing pro, says:
“What makes me feel at home: Walking through the door to be greeted by my husband with a big kiss.”
Rosana, Danish, GenZ stand-up comedian says:
“What feels like home to me? Being close to my mother!”
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You have already guessed it.
The basics of feeling at home isn’t furniture. It’s the comforting atmosphere you create through loving people and living creatures around you.
Now. That stylish Chaise Longue in distinct light grey-beige colour paired with a rosé-metallic arched floor lamp might though add to the feeling.
Oh, what a flippant lightweight I am.