VOGUE LIVING VIEW
When it comes to our homes, it’s more important than ever to tap into the simple pleasures in life and the exercise of making a home that nurtures and re-energises us. Rethinking what we have, rather than what we lack, could be the key to creating more da
This year, life as we knew it was interrupted. We found ourselves both collectively tested and questioning, as never before. Not least on the purpose of the home itself, as it was forced to play the part of school, nursery, office, gym, and even restaurant. Nevertheless, while the prompt may have been unprecedented, such a domestic reappraisal was long overdue.
For too long, home for many has been little more than a place to get ready to leave in the morning, and crash back into at night; its importance as a place of restorative rest and active play sorely overlooked. Enforced lockdowns across the globe demanded the objective recognition of the profound impact of our surroundings on our physical and mental wellbeing. And so, despite the economic turmoil and despair of a tragically still-accruing death toll, it’s possible to admit that this moment gifted us a chance to rethink how we live, if not, who we are. With our lives stripped back to the minimum, we were compelled to reassess our priorities. And this was essential because the best homes spring from a thorough understanding of the self (or the client, if designing for someone else). Simple pleasures previously taken for granted were now recognised as priceless — being outdoors, silence, gardening, baking, hugs. Meanwhile, the distractions of non-essential shopping and other immediate gratification rituals paled into insignificance. By and by, we began to understand what we truly valued, the things that lent life everyday magic. Certainly, it’s a truism that often we do not see what is right in front of us, so fixed are our minds on either maintaining the status quo or being elsewhere.
And yet it’s hardly surprising. For many people the pace of contemporary life had become unsustainable. Even before COVID-19, rates of chronic disease were rising worldwide ››
‹‹ and according to mental health organisation Heads Up, one in five Australians has taken time off work in the past 12 months because they felt stressed, anxious, depressed or mentally unhealthy.
Life was moving too fast for most of us to stop and check where we were heading. Sadly, it took a global pandemic to oblige the necessary introspection. Only once work was involuntarily halted, international borders required to close, travel curtailed and holidays cancelled, was the overwhelming need for a major reset acted upon.
Should it really have been such a revelation to discover hitherto unknown delights on our doorsteps? To realise the need to reconnect with our communities or help our neighbours? To remember the pleasures of profoundly analogue pursuits like board games, jigsaw puzzles and growing vegetables? After all, campaigning for the flexibility of working from home had already been vociferous — luxury fashion houses could have cut the number of shows they held at any time, the fashion calendar has always been irrelevant in the real world — just as consciously choosing a better work/life balance has always been an option.
Be that as it may, the bedroom wall we’d always considered papering at last got done. That squeaky door hinge sorted. The wardrobe cleared and the bathroom ceiling repainted, but not plain white; instead a glorious mustard, because why not?
In short, we started to fix ourselves by fixing our surrounding environments, realising that far from being frivolous, home-making is fundamental to our wellbeing. And in this way the idea of an interior that actively participates in the health, if not rehabilitation and healing, of its inhabitants finally gained mainstream traction. Hand in hand with this came an increased appreciation of the transformative power of decoration — small really could be made to feel more spacious, underwhelming switched to uplifting and dingy made delicious, all with paint, wallpaper, colour and fabric alone. The key was to abandon adulation of so-called trends, in favour of freestyling your way to happiness at home.
Looking ahead then, the challenge as the world starts to spin once more, is to hold onto what we have learned — that if we lean into what we have, rather than dwelling on a perception of lack, we can not only be more creative and inventive, but more content. That we must have the courage of our convictions. And that we’ve had a chance to free ourselves from the siren call of the constant upgrade and to realise that we do not need as much as we think to live a meaningful life. Instead, we need only things of meaning.
Perhaps now then, a next normal based on principles of ecological sustainability and self-economy, fairness, increased family time and respect for the elderly doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched? Could it be too that our cultural romance with high-density city living has also been shattered with the solace, space, gardens and birdsong of the suburbs looking a lot more appealing? However, as the American philosopher Fredric Jameson once sagely noted, “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” Inevitably then, there will be a reactive surge of consumerism as we are once more tempted to gorge on everything that has been forbidden. The far-flung and the new will again appear exotic, just as our desire for an indulgent ‘treat’ will return. And that’s OK.
Although my biggest hope is that there will be a major value shift in our attitudes to such consumption. An awareness that every time we make a purchase, we advocate for the provider to stay in business. And that something loved, if repaired and re-used, can be as good, if not better, than something new. Turning towards a more mindful perspective might drive the market as we inform ourselves about provenance, supply chains and the principles of makers and retailers, and ask ourselves, ‘Do these tally with my personal ethics?’
In this way, shopping will become more akin to curating. A process of searching out those items, which, we truly believe, we might cherish for the long term, whether fashion or homewares, and which authentically tell our stories — who we are and what we stand for. The result? We focus more fully on living with purpose, and the purpose of our homes is understood to be the provision of sustenance and support. And in that, lies an immense opportunity for us to get back to a future. VL @michelleogundehin Michelle’s book, Happy Inside: How to Harness the Power of Home for Health and Happiness is available now.
“We’ve realised that we do not NEED AS MUCH as we think to live a meaningful life. Instead, we need only THINGS OF MEANING”