Express yourself
Reveal your passions at home,
Some of my family members live south of the border, so each summer I recognize their big national holiday: Independence Day. And since it comes close on the heels of Canada Day — and Pride Toronto — the atmosphere of celebration hangs in the air.
Each one of those events is a celebration of freedom, and also the opportunity to define and express individuality.
We are all as unique as our signatures and fingerprints. However, when it comes to self-expression in our homes, some people shy away from themselves to have the “right” or on-trend look. What can get lost is individuality and personality in a home’s style.
Colour Ask about a favourite colour and most people have no trouble instantly responding.
And everyone has a subtle difference: they say purple on the side of mauve or blue, but a royal blue. Those colours tell us and everyone that comes to your home something about you and your personality. You may not want to paint a whole room bright orange but accents and fabrics go a long way to telling your story. Designers will never tell you what colour to like but we may help you direct the use of that colour to suit the room’s function and to keep it consistent with the rest of the house. Colour tip: The stronger the colour, the smaller the accent to highlight: neon orange for accessories, celadon green for carpets and drapes.
Passions Your hobbies paint a picture of who you are. Skydiving as a hobby gives a whole different image than scrapbooking, but both are perfectly valid. Your passions could include everything from music to mountainclimbing. Finding a place in your home to honour those passions, whether a room devoted to a grand piano or a wall display of vintage rock-climbing equipment, is a great way to both surround yourself with what you love and also express yourself to people in your home. Still, you have to select the right things for the right place. For instance, hockey sweaters — regardless of who signed them — are not well suited to a formal living room. Passion picks: pianos, fine art in principal rooms; needlepoint, trophies, your own art in family rooms; hockey jerseys, sticks in the den.
Literature My grandfather used to say a bookshelf tells as much about a person as a half-hour conversation. I’m not sure that’s true in this digital age, but a bookshelf lined with a browsing history would reveal a lot.
Your great books, whether picture books or novels that changed your life, are part of who you are and express your personality as much as the clothes you wear.
Book titles are a great place to start a conversation. Thousands of book clubs across the country can attest to that. You don’t have to fill every shelf with books, but combine the books with other things you love and we will have a good sense of who you are. Banned books: High school texts, For Dummies how-to books, trashy beach novels, Reader’s Digest novels, outdated magazines.
Travel Everyone has subjected you to their vacation photos. It’s hard to get excited about those pictures as they try to describe the awe and beauty of their experiences. There are some incredible places in the world and many people take pictures to remind themselves of “that time.” If you look at those images as photographic art instead you may find that you can create a collage wall of your favourite places.
This client took all of the photos in the collage, which we simply cropped and made all black and white. Knowing he took them tells you something about the artist that lurks within, while he works away at a completely different job. Photo finish: Find a commonality: architecture, nature, people. Be consistent with colour. Frame them the same way, and group them together. Glen Peloso appears every two weeks in New in Homes & Condos. He is principal designer of Peloso Alexander Interiors, national design editor of Canadian Home Trends magazine and a design expert on the Marilyn Denis Show on CTV. Contact him at pelosoalexander.com, follow on Twitter at @peloso1 or @glenandjamie, and on Facebook.