What You Can’t Live Without

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Are you planning to buy a new home in the next few months? If you are, have you thought about what you can’t live without?

Many of the items on our must-have list are often things we can more easily change but somehow they make it to the top of the list. Take location for example. Not something you can easily change once you’ve moved in. Sound is another. If you live on a busy street there’s likely not much you can do about it.

I can bet that once you’ve moved in and after the boxes are all unpacked, you will soon begin to notice the absence of your must-have if you didn’t buy with it in mind.

So what is at the top of your list for your new home? How do you easily find out and is it different than your other family members?

Defining your best home

After you’ve defined your best life, make a list of everything that would be present in your ideal home. What is most important to you? Begin by completing the phrase “My home supports my best life when…” Now list everything that completes that sentence. Think about all areas including: location, style, spaces/layout, community, entertaining, fitness, conveniences, proximity to the things you do most often, sound, and maintenance.

What can’t be changed?

Once you’ve got your list, prioritize and see what makes it to your home’s Top 7. Are any of these items ones you can’t change? For example, one of my must-haves is Living in Nature. I love to be surrounded by huge trees and the sounds of nature.

I once lived in a new home development which started out with few trees as it was built in a former farm field. No trees. Some nature but not unless I ran into the geese by the man-made lake a few streets away. And you could tell that the lake was man-made as it looked more like a big puddle than a natural lake.

Living in Nature is high on my Top 7 so in order to have a home that supports my best life, I need to be surrounded by nature. Its not a surprise then that I moved from that barren neighborhood and now live in a neighborhood that is actually a natural park with 30 huge trees in my yard. I love it and it supports me in living my best life.

Living in nature in Wildwood Park

Create a family Top 7

Once you’ve completed your list of your Top 7 have your family members do the same. Compare your lists and see what overlaps and what is different. When you are working with your real estate agent, make sure he or she knows what items are in your family’s Top 7 and especially anything that you won’t be able to easily change once you move in. After all it takes a lot less time to create an extra bedroom or bathroom than to grow a whole forest of trees.

Wishing you great experiences!

Susan

Care to share what is in your Top 7? What is it that you can’t live without?

Creating Your Own Designer Vision Board

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Vision boards are an excellent way to keep your goals and dreams top of mind. Once you’ve determined your Top 7, its a great place to post pictures to remind you where your focus should be.

Recently I created a designer vision board for my family so we could all post our dreams and goals on it and support each other in creating our best lives. Here’s how you can create your own.

Materials you will need:

  1. An old cork board, ideally bigger than your chosen frame. I had an old 3′x4′ one that was perfect.
  2. A re-purposed or inexpensive frame that suits your decor – I used an inexpensive one that I bought on sale from Michael’s and removed the unused inserts (to keep for another project).
  3. A piece of fabric that has a loose weave so the pins can easily get through. I bought a metre from Fabricland that would add a bit of color without detracting from the colorful pictures I planned to put on it. It was on sale for $4.
  4. A staple gun.

Steps to creating your designer vision board:

  1. Remove the extra inserts from the frame. Keep for other projects if they are interesting.
  2. Cut the cork board so it will fit into your frame. Use the discarded inserts as a pattern to help you easily cut the correct size.

    Cut the cork board to fit your frame

  3. Cut out your designer fabric to fit about 1″ bigger than your cork board.
  4. Iron the fabric if necessary.
  5. Wrap the fabric around your cork board and staple the fabric to the back of your board. Begin with the center staples (one on each side) then move towards the outer corners, pulling the fabric taught each time. Your staples should be about 1″ apart to keep your fabric tight and secure.

    Staple your fabric about 1" apart

  6.  Put your frame back together and hang your new vision board.

Designer tips:

  • You can find some interesting frames at antique stores or yard sales.
  • Add some colorful paint to go with your home’s color scheme.
  • Use some colorful and interesting fabric to add a unique touch to your decor.

    Hang your designer vision board and start pinning!

  • Use pins that complement your fabric colors for more interest.

Enjoy creating your best life!

Susan

 

Defining Your Best Life

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When I work with clients on defining their best life I take them through a process to help them clarify how they truly want their life to be. Not how they hear it should be like from  the media, but what truly matters most to them at their deepest level, in their heart.

For some this is not an easy task. Actually, I’d say that for most it is difficult. But  its VERY, VERY useful. You see, when you get clear on where you want to go and what you want it to look like, you’re half way there. Really.

Where do you want to go?

Why is clarity important? Imagine that you want to take a vacation and your travel agent says to you “So where do you want to go?” “I dunno.” you answer. “Well, what do you want to do when you get there?” “I dunno, just something good.” you answer. Well…what…do…you…like?” “Hmmmm, I’m not sure.”

Can you imagine? Where do you think she’d send you? Perhaps down the street or just wandering around somewhere with a tourist map simply because you weren’t specific. And you’d have gotten EXACTLY what you asked for. Perfect. Job well done.

So you can see why clarity is so important. You need to know where you want to go or you will spend your days distracted by the volume of options out there, not really sure if you are experiencing what your heart desires.

Here are a few tips to getting clear on what you want your life experience to be like:

Make a list

  • Create a list of all that you would like to be, do or have in your life.
  • Look at what you dislike about your life – now list the opposite.
  • Use pictures from magazines or the internet. Ask yourself why you chose that picture. What about it caught your attention? Write it down on your list.
  • Think back in your past to a time when you felt in “flow”. What were you doing? Write these things down.
  • What dreams did you have as a child? Do these have a place on your list now?
  • If resources (time, money, etc.) were not an issue, what would want to do with your time?
  • Imagine that you are looking back on your life, what would you tell a younger you? What advice would you give yourself?

    Categories for your Top 7

  • Make sure you cover every area of your life: health, family, friends, other relationships, work, volunteer activities, hobbies, sports, spiritual life, where you live, and any other area of your life that is important to you.

Prioritize your Top 7

Now look at what you’ve written down and prioritize what is most important to you right now. You can’t guess what the future will hold so it has to be what is at the top of your list today.

Narrow it down until you come up with your Top 7 most important items. Why 7? Because research has shown that the brain can hold 7 items in short-term memory at a time.You’ll want to focus on your priorities so 7 is enough.

Focus on what you want to show up

To create your best life you’ll need to begin making decisions and choices that align with your Top 7. In order to do that you need to begin and maintain focus on your Top 7.

  1. Write down your Top 7 on an index card. Make several copies to put in places where you will see it throughout the day.
  2. Keep this list handy and focus on it. Review it in the morning and at night before you go to bed. As an added bonus, review it during the day as well.
  3. Write about it in your journal. Put as many details as possible and involve all of your senses in the description.
  4. Create a vision board with pictures representing each of your Top 7.
  5. Meditate on your Top 7 and visualize each experience happening to in your life. Pick one to focus on each day of the week.

Move toward what you want to create

When you are making decisions throughout the day use this list as your guide and move towards it. Stay open to opportunities as they arise and be fearless in the pursuit of your best life.

And remember that your Top 7 may show up a little differently than you had expected. Sometimes life has different and even better things in mind for us but that’s what makes it fun!

Wishing you great experiences!

Susan

 

Does your home make you happy?

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You know that you’re on the right track when you can walk around your home and what you see makes you smile. Does your home make you happy?

Research on happiness confirms that those who are happier experience many of the following benefits:

  • Higher income, productivity and quality of work;
  • Better relationships; better social experiences overall (friends, marriage, social networks and experiences);
  • Better health (better immune system, less stress, less pain, longer life)
  • Higher benefits for the individual, family and society overall
  • Those who are happier tend to be more creative, helpful, charitable, self-confident, have better self-control, and tend to cope better. (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005)

As a visual being, your home plays a large role in helping you to feel happier and experience positive benefits on a daily basis. It can make the difference between your health and your wealth.

www.magicwall.ca

Here are some tips for taking a home inventory to see if your home makes you smile, or frown:

  • Go step outside your entrance doorway, now come inside and take a picture of what you first see when you come in. Pictures can help us see a space objectively because over time we lose the ability to see it as someone would for the first time. Now what do you see? Does it make you smile or frown?
  • Now walk around your home…is it a visual delight or is there clutter everywhere and perhaps projects left incomplete, walls that need art or photos? Get out your digital camera and take a picture of each area to see with an objective eye. What is it that your subconscious is registering but your conscious mind is ignoring?
  • Sit down in your favorite spot and take another picture. What do you see from each vantage point?

Some ways to make your space happier immediately:

      • Unclutter – clutter is visual pollution, costs money, keeps us living in the past, keeps us from having people over, and makes it difficult to find what we need when we need it. If it doesn’t serve you get rid of it.
      • Finish up projects, especially the ones that can have the biggest impact for the amount of time or money spent. In other words, the Quick Hits. Create a list of your unfinished projects and rank them by A) biggest impact, then B) quickest and least expensive to do. Start with these ones first.
      • Add some colour. If your home is full of neutrals and you are afraid of using colour, start with something small but that has big impact such as toss pillows. You can also quickly and easily add a bouquet of flowers or small accessories to brighten up and enliven your space.

        www.beinteriordecorator.com

      • Put up pictures of things you love and that make you smile: people, places, your goals and dreams.
  • Put up your favorite sayings ones that inspire you: pictures, photos, wall stickies, picture frames, vision boards.
  • Make sure your entrances are welcoming. It is the first thing you and your guests see as you enter your home.
  • Make sure your bedroom is a sanctuary. It is where you spend about 30% to 40% of your life sleeping, enjoying time with your partner, dressing, reading, etc. Simply put, it is a VERY important space.

Now that you’ve edited and updated your spaces go back and take some digital pictures again and go through the feel-good inventory. How does it feel now? Much better I’ll bet.

Wishing you great experiences!

Susan

Great Design Resources at the International Market Square

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On a recent trip to Minneapolis I stopped in to check out the International Market Square, a center for design professionals. Imagine 5 floors of showrooms and products for your latest design projects and a great place to take your clients. All in one space!

5 floors of design resources and showroom at Minneapolis' International Market Square

Many of the showrooms are open to the public however a number are only for industry professionals. Be sure to take your designer or contractor with you if you want to see everything.

With such a vast number of showrooms to visit, we only had a chance to take in a handful. Our first stop was at Partners4Design where we talked with kitchen designer, Anita Johnson who has worked at the Square for a number of years. She confirmed that it is a great place to take clients because you can see it all in one spot and make the most of your time together. Everything is on hand from fabrics to furniture to flooring and you have a number of design experts at your fingertips.

Chatting with Anita from Partners4Design

Some of my favorite places to visit were: Holly Hunt for fabulous furniture, accessories and fabrics; Zachary for interesting vintage accessories and unique furniture pieces and Scherping Westphal for beautiful fabrics – my favorite being the collections from Designer’s Guild.

Checking out the beautiful fabrics from Designer's Guild

Beautiful furniture at Holly Hunt

The building itself is an amazing transformation as it used to be a manufacturing facility for women’s undergarments. The entry hallway used to be the spot where the train pulled through and the tracks have now been removed,  incorporating the area into the building design.

Some of the many accessories at Zachary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They also regularly give tours of the building and showrooms. I think this would be a great road trip for Winnipeg design professionals (and other design friends). If you’d care to join me on a road trip to tour the Square and other Minneapolis design locations, send me an email at susan@spacialexpressions.com.

Wishing you great experiences!

Susan