Design with Individuality
I love visiting historic houses. They’re little glimpses into the domestic life of the rich and famous of their day. What was it like to live in these incredible houses? And how did anyone ever get a comfortable night’s sleep?
I mostly love imagining the people who lived there: how they used the rooms, all the furniture they touched, and how their homes were designed according to the current styles of living. It fascinates me to think that those people stood in their rooms exactly where I stood the other day, looking out the window, wondering what’s for lunch. Simply by going to an old house, I could reach back in time and find a fleeting, common moment with a person in the past. That’s just so thrilling to me, in a time-warp, parallel universe kind of way.
It also serves to remind me that I’m just a tiny part of something much bigger than myself.
So on our recent weekend in beautiful Western Massachusetts, I was super-excited to see The Mount, Edith Wharton’s 1902 home and estate. Not only because I’d never been there before, but also because she literally wrote The Book on interior design, called The Decoration of Houses. Published in 1897 and written with architect Ogden Codman Jr., this book is one of the holy texts of interior decorating and has never been out of print (just like her classic novel, The Age of Innocence).
In 1901-02, Edith Wharton designed The Mount herself because she had a few of her own ideas about arranging interior spaces. This house gave her the chance to literally practice what she preached in her book: proportion, symmetry and moderation in design.
On the process of decorating, here are a few quotations from the first chapter:
“Before beginning to decorate a room it is essential to consider for what purpose the room is to be used.”
“The individual tastes and habits of the people who are to occupy it must be taken into account.”
“...individuality...consists...in the desire to be comfortable in one’s own way…”
Wharton cautions us to always keep our individuality in mind, writing:
“It seems easier to most people to arrange a room like someone else’s than to analyze and express their own needs..."
"They have still in their blood the traditional uses to which these rooms were put in times different from the present.”
Let’s remember that she wrote these words in 1897, and I believe they were revolutionary for her time. One hundred years later our design professors taught us the very same thing, and I apply it to every project I do: what are the habits of the people who live there?
In other words, how do they really, actually use the room?
This is the golden nugget of designing a space. This is the crux of the matter. After all, it might say 'Dining Room' on the floor plan, but do you really, in all truthfulness, dine in there? A good interior designer reveals the most honest answer and bases her design on that. Why have a room that doesn’t support your lifestyle?
One of the pillars of the way that I work is to base my client’s layout on how they actually use the room (not on my imaginary concept of what it “should” be). When that happens, they can use their home with so much more ease and joy.
One step you can take today is to make a list of all the things you do in one of your rooms, and how you like to do them. If you prefer watching tv with your feet up, embrace that and add it to the list. Then reflect on how the room is arranged, and what's in there. Does it work for you, or against you in any way? What would you change if you could?
I like that Edith Wharton quotation about individuality being the “desire to be comfortable in one’s own way.”
Even though she was writing about interior decorating, isn't it possible to apply this idea to other forms of self-expression, like cooking a meal, making art, or wearing an outfit?
I think so.
Let your Individuality shine.
About Nan
Interior designer focused on helping people turn their homes into their sanctuaries without the pain of renovating. I’ve been working as a professional designer since 1995 and one thing I love about interior design is how it can evoke a mood and create whatever feeling you want in your space. In that way, it’s kind of magical.
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