Surround Yourself With Love

February 2019 - Issue 16

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Happy Valentine's Day!

I know I said last month that this month we would talk about up-sizing, but it just feels right to celebrate Valentine's Day.

After all, Valentine's Day is all about love - and Loving Where You Live! is what real estate + staging, styling, and redesign is all about.

Here's hoping that your Valentine's Day is wonderful in every way.

And, if things need a little adjusting to make you feel the love whenever you walk in your door, give me a call!

817.903.1112

debra@debrabarrett.com

p.s. - please share Harmonious Home Adventures with friends and family (everyone deserves to love where they live!). Just hit the "forward" button on your email. They can sign up here:

Graphic by Madpaperie

When You Love Where You Live,

Love is All Around You!

Your environment affects how you feel.

You know this.

Dark and gloomy rooms make you feel, well, dark and gloomy. Lots of flowers and soothing colors in spaces flooded with light can have exactly the opposite effect.

No surprise.

But it may surprise you just how potent your surroundings are. And how even subtle changes can compel you to feel and even behave differently.

Five or six years ago, Adam Alter published a book called " Drunk Tank Pink," in which he examines the ways in which our environments - internal, external, and interpersonal, literally "shape our every thought, feeling, and behavior."

Fascinating stuff.

As a color expert, I'm particularly attuned to the effects of different colors - and different combinations of colors - have on the "feeling" of rooms and furnishings.

It's not just colors, though.

It's the arrangement of the spaces, how the flow of your home complements your lifestyle. Its whether your home fits, and how you use different rooms. (Remember how last month we looked at how emptiness suffocates joy?)

Find YOUR Comfort

A very large part of loving where you live is being comfortable.

I'm not just talking about cocooning by a lovely fire on a chilly evening or lazing in a hammock under the shade of towering oak trees on a summer afternoon.

Sure, those things are comfortable, but the real test is whether your space is conducive to relaxing - if it feels like the "Ahhh" after a deep, cleansing breath.

Some people believe that neatness and organization are contrary to comfort and coziness. Not so. While I'm not about to go all Marie Kondo on you (and I seriously disagree with arbitrarily limiting the number of books one owns), I believe there is a great deal to be said for tidiness, in general.

The takeaway here, though, is that it's YOUR space. And YOU should be comfortable in it.

It's Worth the Effort

I won't lie: sometimes loving where you live takes effort - effort to make the place fit your needs and desires. Or the effort to transform it so that it does. Or the effort to find the home that speaks to you.

Sometimes, homes speak a language of the heart that you just can't comprehend on a logical level. That's where styling and redesign come into play.

That's when listening to your heart and putting in the effort turns this:

into this:

So, this Valentine's Day, pick a spot in your home - a spot where you spend a lot of time - close your eyes and take a deep, cleansing breath. Open your eyes.

What do you feel?

Do you

Love Where You Live?