As the temperature cools, we will inevitably be spending more time indoors. And in New York that often means more time in the tiny little expensive shoe boxes we call home. When you’re paying, on average, $72 per square foot in North Brooklyn, every inch counts.
Enter this new season with a fresh perspective. Your space often reflects and reinvigorates your mental, spiritual, and emotional energy so there’s no time or space to waste.
Let’s take a cue from Congress and start looking at what divides us rather than unites us; interiorly speaking, start with your walls.
Remove the photographs, artwork, and ephemera that was watching over you this summer… mostly because it knows too much and if your walls could talk, you definitely don’t want your new fall fling hearing murmurs of your summer lovers.
My key pieces this season include this bold and eye-catching map art from Modern Map Art. I love the use of positive and negative space, reminding me that so much good energy exists between these lines. The contrasting black and white composition plays well with softer pieces and lends itself to framed mantras and text, plus, inevitably, it kind of helps me with my shamefully non-existent sense of direction. Get one of your own city, or the city that occupies a big piece of your heart, and build upon it using my foolproof steps below.
Step 1: Set an intention for your decor.
Just as in yoga, the best way to get what you want out of your practice is to be intentional. What are you looking forward to this fall? What are your hopes, goals, desires? No matter how concrete or realistic, have your walls reflect that intention. A gallery wall should be fluid, ever-changing and thought of as more of a vision board. Hoping to spend more time traveling? Gather postcards, maps, and hangable souvenirs from previous trips. Want to focus on your career this season? Frame empowering mantras, focus on solid, bold colors, and reflective surfaces that help place pieces of yourself among them. Mix pieces with different intentions to build the life and space you want this season. Mine features en evil eye from Istanbul to clear out bad spirits; an antler that my cousin collected from the woods in Virginia, where I’m from; a framed postcard from Sitges; a warrior arrow from Dobbin St. Co-Op for strength, a framed mantra from Sapho that reads May I write words more naked than flesh, stronger than bone, more resilient than sinew, sensitive than nerve; and a mirror, to see myself among these aspirational pieces and obviously to watch my back from fucking copycats.
Step 2: Create boundaries.
with a measuring tape, mark lines from the furthest corners and note the distance. this area should fill the space above your work surface comfortably, however “comfortably” feels to you. with these measurements, map it out on your floor. this is your space. sit in it for a minute, if you want to. no one can touch you in here.
Step 3: Arrange objects.
lay out your meticulously chosen items within the space. balance heavy and light, dark colors and whites, flats and frames, but only so no one side weighs too heavy as to clog your very volatile creative process. don’t be overly concerned with spacing, however don’t trap big pockets of blank space inside… or you and your thoughts might get sucked in, forever. (really, i’ve seen it happen)
Step 4: Trace yo space.
when you feel you are marginally satisfied with your arrangement (you will never be completely happy with it, but of course, nothing is permanent), take an overhead photo of it. then, trace each element one by one onto newspaper, marking where the nail will go (this part will save your life, trust me) cut out each shape and tape it onto the wall.
Step back, observe.
step 5: nail it.
with your hammer, put a nail in each designated mark. hang object in its new and carefully curated home. tear off back paper and step back. and admire.
now sit down and create because you can no longer procrastinate. you have no more excuses. you have work to do.
<3L.
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