This is excellent. I'm wrestling so often with this where we are right now. We bought a house in a trendy suburban neighborhood when the world fell apart and canceled our plans to peruse the West and determine where we wanted to move. The new plan became to buy this home, finish the basement ourselves (almost there) and sell at a profit to go elsewhere with land to either build or renovate a fixer upper so we can expand our garden, buy chickens and horses (miss them terribly) and raise barefoot, wild-haired children (the one thus far can only wander as far as the fire hydrant four feet from the concrete front steps). It's tough to perpetually swing back and forth between keeping the house in its "desirable" condition as a pristine new build with cookie cutter features so we can sell it next spring... and changing everything to make it feel more aged, beloved and collected (our preference). Needless to say, your series has been timely and inspiring. Currently collecting antique and vintage-style frames for a bi-wall gallery display to accompany a deliciously old wingback chair in fox-and-hound print for my English cottage-loving heart. William Morris curtains are on standby.
Fantastic stuff, Simon. I'm neck-deep in an old house renovation, and have almost no idea of what to do with these rooms. I just know they need to change. Really appreciate the deep dive here.
"'Home' is the set of rituals you make for yourself and others there, in order to dwell poetically in a place" - a great thought and one important to keep in mind. As someone finishing up an apartment renovation, I have your writing in mind as I consider how to beautify the place and make it a home, that is, create a ritual-friendly environment.
As an aside connecting to that theme, if you will allow a bit of linking to others' work (but one that I truly think can be of interest to you and your readers), a motley crew of writers has just last week published about two dozen texts called The Symposium on Beauty https://soaringtwenties.substack.com/p/on-beauty which might help readers on further forming their thoughts and feelings on the matter.
Love how you put this: 'Home is the set of rituals you make for yourself and others there.'
We lost our first house. And what I've been trying to figure out ever since is why it hurt the way it did. It wasn't really about the house, or even the money. It was about the rituals that never got to happen. The morning coffee on that porch. The friends who were going to come for weekends.
The second house, the one we're building now, we designed it that way. More or less intuitively. A terrace that faces the mountains for the morning coffee. A kitchen that opens to everything so nobody cooks alone. A layout that pulls people together without forcing it. With the functional aspects and the social aspects sort of coming together. We made all those decisions without being able to say why exactly. Only looking back do we know that these things drove our design more than a lot of other things. Wish I'd found this series two years ago....
This is excellent. I'm wrestling so often with this where we are right now. We bought a house in a trendy suburban neighborhood when the world fell apart and canceled our plans to peruse the West and determine where we wanted to move. The new plan became to buy this home, finish the basement ourselves (almost there) and sell at a profit to go elsewhere with land to either build or renovate a fixer upper so we can expand our garden, buy chickens and horses (miss them terribly) and raise barefoot, wild-haired children (the one thus far can only wander as far as the fire hydrant four feet from the concrete front steps). It's tough to perpetually swing back and forth between keeping the house in its "desirable" condition as a pristine new build with cookie cutter features so we can sell it next spring... and changing everything to make it feel more aged, beloved and collected (our preference). Needless to say, your series has been timely and inspiring. Currently collecting antique and vintage-style frames for a bi-wall gallery display to accompany a deliciously old wingback chair in fox-and-hound print for my English cottage-loving heart. William Morris curtains are on standby.
Fantastic stuff, Simon. I'm neck-deep in an old house renovation, and have almost no idea of what to do with these rooms. I just know they need to change. Really appreciate the deep dive here.
"'Home' is the set of rituals you make for yourself and others there, in order to dwell poetically in a place" - a great thought and one important to keep in mind. As someone finishing up an apartment renovation, I have your writing in mind as I consider how to beautify the place and make it a home, that is, create a ritual-friendly environment.
As an aside connecting to that theme, if you will allow a bit of linking to others' work (but one that I truly think can be of interest to you and your readers), a motley crew of writers has just last week published about two dozen texts called The Symposium on Beauty https://soaringtwenties.substack.com/p/on-beauty which might help readers on further forming their thoughts and feelings on the matter.
Awesome post thank you
Love how you put this: 'Home is the set of rituals you make for yourself and others there.'
We lost our first house. And what I've been trying to figure out ever since is why it hurt the way it did. It wasn't really about the house, or even the money. It was about the rituals that never got to happen. The morning coffee on that porch. The friends who were going to come for weekends.
The second house, the one we're building now, we designed it that way. More or less intuitively. A terrace that faces the mountains for the morning coffee. A kitchen that opens to everything so nobody cooks alone. A layout that pulls people together without forcing it. With the functional aspects and the social aspects sort of coming together. We made all those decisions without being able to say why exactly. Only looking back do we know that these things drove our design more than a lot of other things. Wish I'd found this series two years ago....