I am a magazine ripper. I get it from my Dad. If just one
color, image, or sentence jumps out – RIPPP - and the page is added to a file,
taped into a journal, or mailed via the good old fashioned postal service to someone he thinks would be inspired as well. One of my favorite design articles,
“Charlotte Moss on the Art of Living”, Dad ripped from the November issue
of House Beautiful magazine in 2013 and mailed off to me in San Francisco.
Tethered at the edges and underlined throughout, this article still circulates
my desk and pin-up board on a regular basis. Charlotte so perfectly sums up
“Atmosphere” and its importance on any well-designed space.
“As much about our physical comfort as our intellectual
satisfaction, rooms are metaphors of our lives. They echo our memories, hold
evidence of our accumulated knowledge, and often whisper about our dreams for
the future. What makes a room work, what makes it wonderful, is nothing you can
see: It’s called atmosphere. The enthusiasm that created it, the joy of living
in it, the vitality expressed through sharing it, all of this is silently,
invisibly present. Atmosphere can only be created if all the senses are
considered in the decoration of a house. Colors that soothe or excite,
materials that beg to be touched, beautiful and personal objects that draw the
eye, fragrance that lures you, and music that has you lip-syncing – when we
engage all the senses, we engage ourselves, our total being. Decorating is just
the beginning.”
These words immediately bring me to Christmas day in my
parents New Jersey home. Christmas is always a large family affair at the
Haines’. My parents have a particular knack for creating spaces that encourage
entertaining. Flickering luminaries down the driveway greet guests and if we
are lucky there is a dusting of white snow to add a winter warmth. Let me take
your coat, pass you a cocktail, and we will have you singing Christmas carols in no time! I can guarantee you will be coaxed into a game of hide and seek and as you wander the hallways and hide behind the tassel trimmed curtains you cannot help but notice that everywhere you turn there is an effort to make all things beautiful.
Nothing elaborate, but something to make each room feel special. To us the
rooms of my parents home hold many memories and each special detail pairs with
feelings of comfort and familiarity.
And Charlotte reminds us, “Why do we decorate? Why do we
create these beautiful rooms? The answer, quite simply, is to live in them
fully, to embrace the art of living, to engage all the senses.”
