SELF CARE THROUGH AESTHETICS
Now more than ever I am so grateful for the home we made and the vital impact it is having on my psyche. Let me unpack that one:
In 2007, I survived ovarian cancer and basically self-quarantined for months due to a wicked combo of poisoning (chemo therapy, an immunosuppressant), surgery recovery that limited mobility, and total existential chaos. While Mike worked double shifts at our bar, I watched the neighbor’s tree blow in the wind all day from my living room hospital bed. Stuck there staring at our makeshift decor for hours on end, the switch turned on inside me. Gripped by the utter lack of control I had over all things AND cloudy from pain meds, I decided. I will live through this and change this place from a container for our stuff to an inspirational haven to support our well-being. I lived. And several rounds of temporary cosmetic fixes later, in 2015 we cracked this place open and here we are, still transforming.
Now that humans must shelter in place due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, I suspect LOTS of folks are going to focus their brains to improve those parts of their homes that just don’t help. One cannot succumb to NIHILISM when simple things can trigger immense joy…and for me, that is everywhere I look now. I know pleasure here. Sure, there are MANY projects on the ‘eventually’ list, but by and large, the vibe is circulating (not the virus).
As a freelance designer, I work from our guest room/office- a perfectly functional awesome space for which we have more plans. From my desk, I catch the left side of this mural and feel the magic. This post is about our BEACH BRAINS mural.
THE CONCEPT:
The top of the stairs + south facing wall were unresolved pockets in the architectural drawings. A massive picture window would have to be dealt with: it intersected with both the new addition roofline and the plan to extend the guest room. And how do we deal with the vaulted ceiling there? Answer: simplify. Plane the ceiling off at 8”, eliminate the window. Install trompe l'oeil wallpaper to ‘extend’ the tiny space.
SIMPLIFY THE HALL
Enlarge the guest room/office.
THE IMAGE:
I looked for something soothing that would both signal a mood shift and unite the colors up here. Oh it had to be the ocean, where we are calmed, our brains are exfoliated, and all those floating negative ions flatten out the bad frequencies. Brain science has named this phenomenon BLUE MIND THEORY (read this). Basically, staring at the waves puts us in a meditative state. This is why I will hunt for agates on the beach for 5 hours and not know where the time went. I found the image at Murals Your Way. It may be a little bit camp and a little bit NAT GEO, but it’s all Hawaii and really does give me ecstatic peace.
THE EXECUTION:
We hired an install crew and I took tons of notes so we could put up the next murals ourselves. If you think wallpapering is easy, let me direct you to this episode of I LOVE LUCY. Also, Oregon humidity means extra care should be taken with edges and seams. So now, we walk up the stairs and into the ocean.
In context, it adds incredible vibrance, depth, and seems to be lit from inside. Really good for my mentals.
NEXT UP: A young Madge silently judges us from the stairwell. I’ll show you what happens when you get to the top of those stairs and turn around.