"Nesting" or Purging Every Few Months...
I just finished the bi-monthly cleaning of my workspace. When I first set up my studio years ago, I thought that I, like other artists, would live in a creative "mess", paint, supplies and papers all over the place. (That's the way our studios were at in art school.) I have found that I can't be inspired to create when I feel overwhelmed by the "mess". I love having artwork and inspiration everywhere, but I need everything organized and accessible.
So I began a regular clean-up of my space. I go through my sketches and supplies and don't keep everything the way I used to. The purge feels great afterward. I usually get the urge to do this when I have a big project coming up and I just can't get started, then I know its clean-up time. This time around I even rearranged furniture and opened up a corner of my space which I love. (I can't figure out why I didn't think to set it up that way from the start!)
So now I'm ready to go, no more excuses. I have an exciting opportunity for my book, "The ABC's of Non-Consent" that I will be sharing next week and now have space to prep for it. Stay tuned!
One of the nicest things I often hear is “your house is such a home, so warm and friendly”. I truly love my house, I sit in my kitchen or living room, look around at everything I see, and it makes me happy. That’s basically my decorating philosophy, collecting objects that I fall in love with. Some people may feel it’s cluttered, but I call it “organized chaos”. Every piece I find at either a garage sale or a store, is something that speaks to me. When I come home with my little treasures I find a place for them in some existing grouping, still life or I create a new one. When I walk into someones home that is clean, crisp, and minimalistic, I really do love and appreciate it, but I couldn’t live it... I need that mixed up, boho style... I guess I would call that my brand of eclectic.
One of my mantras is a quote by Jonathon Adler, “Don’t worry about so-called rules. If you love it, it will work.” If you fall in love with an old vintage chair, a shabby chic buffet, or an ultra cool modern piece of decor, but your house isn’t really that style, you can make it work. That’s basically what eclectic is to me. Piecing together all different styles, patterns, colors and vibes. I believe if it’s something you love, it will go with all the other things you love. Simple as that!
I have mini groupings all over my house, collections of sea shells, pottery, candles, etc. I remember once, we had friends come visit who hadn’t been to our home in years. As they pulled up, they realized they didn’t remember the house number. Just as they were about to call, my friend says to her husband, “Oh that’s Ilene’s house, look in the bay window.” She knew as soon as she saw the grouping of glass sculptures that she was at the right place.
I also have had people come into my house who have been there a million times say to me, “Is that new?”. And I say no I just rearranged the furniture...AGAIN! I do it all the time. I move pieces around the house constantly. It makes my family a little crazy at times. There are days that I may bring home one small vase from a garage sale and it’s like a domino effect... I find the perfect spot, which in turn starts a redesign of some sort.
I used the same styling philosophy when I worked on display cases for a small jewelry shop and also when setting up my booths at craft shows. No two shows were ever alike. Each show was unique and called for different types of setups, different types of “still life's”. Below is a link from my website that shows displays and booth set ups from various craft shows I have done and some shots of my studio space.
http://ilenepricedesign.com/art-spaces.html
Decorating with color, texture and miscellaneous objects that have character, inspire me. Some people may call this clutter, but to me, it’s beautiful organized chaos, and I love it!
