Crafting a home, like crafting a life, is an evolutionary process. For me — and this is true of my life as well — it’s a matter of starting with something that’s perhaps to studied, and finding my way towards something that captures the mix of glamour/order and relaxed bohemianism that is my true core.

I am half wild child, half citizen of the structured, orderly world. It’s a vantage point that allows me to innovate while ensuring that my innovations stay connected to the existing world. I believe in imagining the wild possibilities, and then crafting a bridge to get there from here. It’s funny that decorating my home has me thinking of these things. It’s easy, after all, to think of a beautiful home as just a backdrop for other things, but I find that the way we live in our homes can, and at its best does, connect us to how we live “out there,” in the world. I like to live my life “out there” as though it’s okay for me to grow and evolve, and as if all the disparate pieces might be woven together to form a coherent tapestry.

This is what we are doing when we craft strong personal brands or when, as entities, we craft strong corporate or non-profit brands that connect powerfully with other people based on who we really are.

Designing a home and designing a life are really all about letting the authenticity shine through, and given it some definite structure that we can inhabit when we meet the world. It’s an act of translation most of all, a way of saying, in a clear and coherent way, this is who I am.

And so, my home. It is gradually becoming a place that reflects who I am, one iteration at a time. My first Master Bedroom vision board, which appears in the post just below, I used blue — because it seemed like the thing to do. But as I sat with it, it didn’t feel right (even though blue and orange are a lovely combination). It didn’t feel like me. It felt like I was half wearing somebody else’s clothes. And then it hit me: I love to layer colors that are in the same color family but different in warmth and hue. Layers of green, say, or, in this case, orange. So I took my base color, orange, and layered in corals and burnt orange and yellowish orange and finally found my way to orange’s cousin, blood red. Once I happened upon that red, I knew I’d found what I was looking for: something that felt earthy and organic but also vibrant with a hint of glamour, which is who I am or who I want to be or maybe a bit of both.

Now it’s time to execute!

COLLAGE by Paula Puryear Martin using images by Unknown.

Tags: Home Decor, Master Bedroom, Vision Board