HOW DO YOU WANT TO FEEL IN YOUR HOME?
BY AMY ANDERSON - RENO SCHOOL STUDENT
When I first signed up to the Reno School course, two years ago now, I only got to the second PDF of Module One before I had my first lightning bolt moment. I say first, because there were many more to follow! But this one was particularly memorable.
There it was, written in black and white:
A vision board is just a glorified mood board, right? Wrong! It’s much more than that. A mood board (despite its name) usually depicts how you want something to LOOK rather than how you want it to FEEL. Our vision boards do both.
That paragraph really resonated with me. I guess, until then, I’d looked longingly at perfectly styled homes in magazines, wishing our own looked so beautiful, while at the same time wondering how on earth I was ever going to feel relaxed in a house so pristine, with two young kids.
It was the bit about how you want to FEEL that really resonated with me… surely it should be all about the feels when it comes to renovating your own dream home. It’s no good coming home to a house that looks like a spread out of Vogue Living if the sheer thought of cleaning those plush carpets and dusting those shiny surfaces has you cowering back out the front door.
From that ‘ah ha’ moment on, I genuinely felt quite liberated! I realised that our renovation should be all about how WE (my family and I) want to feel in OUR home. Not about what my girlfriends think when they call in for a coffee, nor what my parents think when they come to stay… and definitely not what my neighbours think (in the nicest possible way!) I think they’re still recovering from the day we painted the front fence black! #shockhorror #blackisthenewblack
Whenever it came to choosing anything for our home, (flooring, fixtures, furniture, you name it!) I’d think back to those wise words from Reno School and consider how that item made me feel. Light coloured carpet… dread! Engineered oak floorboards… joy! You get the gist. It became a fantastic way to narrow down my decisions.
But, I’m making it all sound so simple! The spanner in the works came when well-meaning friends, tradies, suppliers, the postman, <insert random long-lost relative>, imparted their advice or opinion on everything and anything, making me doubt my carefully considered choices. But, with the help of Three Little Birds tweeting on my shoulder, I remembered my mantra and stayed strong #itsallaboutthefeels
Let me give you a few examples:
Me: We’re putting in a fibreglass pool!
Them: “Ooooh, that’s so… eighties!” Well, kudos to you if you were so foresighted to install a pool that’s cheaper, faster, gentler, warmer, cleaner and greener than its concrete equivalent! Yep, I totally copied Lana’s self-cleaning pool and now I’m drinking the fibreglass pool Kool Aid too. Instead of spending hours cleaning it, we spend hours sitting watching the kids play or enjoying it as a water feature out the living room window. And that feels amazing!
Me: The kitchen sink is going in the island bench.
Them: “Ooooh, but your dirty dishes will be on display for everyone to see!” That’s why we installed two dish drawers in the island. There’s always at least one empty, ready to load any dishes straight in to. And numerous times a day, while I wipe the crumbs from the kids’ plates straight into the sink, I smile and think how perfect it is for the way we use our kitchen.
Me: I’m forgoing a big laundry for a butler’s pantry
Them: “Ooooh, isn’t a butler’s pantry overkill for a house your size?” No way Jose! I was willing to forgo a large laundry to have a pantry the same size as my entire old kitchen #yesway and I LOVE it. It doubles as storage for all our platters and boards, hides all the appliances and all mess that accompanies my kids learning to make their own breakfast. There’s a sink and another dish drawer and, come Christmas time, it paid itself off in full.
And those pink stools…
I’ve always had a penchant for all things pink (can you tell?!) and when I saw these stools, I just couldn’t walk away. Don’t even get my Mum started on them… “they’re not very subtle, are they Amy”. Hell no, they’re not! Just the way I like them. Will they stand the test of time? Perhaps not. But how do they make me feel… #purejoy #prettyinpink
So, the moral of the (long-winded) story is to remember the words of those Three Wise Birds from Reno School - create YOUR home for the way YOU want to FEEL.
If you’re renovating for profit, well that’s a whole other story… but not one I’m qualified to tell.
If you want to learn how to create YOUR home for the way YOU like to live, or you’re ready for your own renovating lightning bolt moment, there are PLENTY more just waiting for you in The Reno School. The next intake starts soon and us current Reno Schoolers would love to have you join us in the Reno School Facebook group. The oldies all hang around to help the newbies with their projects and bounce ideas around. It’s a fab little community! - Amy xx
Amy is a Reno School Student from our February 2018 intake, and now Chief Storyteller at Three Birds Renovations. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters, loves all things pink, says yes to butlers’ pantries and is obsessed with her self-cleaning swimming pool. Can you tell?