Things Matter

Joshua Tree
woven photograph, Fernando Bengoechea
 

One Man's Treasure

 

If you believe that the things you surround yourself with, the things that fill your home and your life reflect and tell the story of your life, then you would agree that things matter.  This is the premise that inspires and defines interior designer Nate Berkus's approach to creating meaningful, beautiful, and functional spaces that are as unique as the individuals who reside in them. 

 

"I've always believed your home should tell your story," he writes in the opening line to his newest book, The Things That Matter.  Telling your story means bringing together and living with the items of your life in a purposeful way.  The start of a new year is the perfect time to look around and consider:  What do you really love?  What makes you smile?  What makes you reflect?  What connects you to others?  What brings meaning and joy to your life?  The things that do should be up front and centre, and if they are not, take the time to reorganise, rejig, and redesign.  (Everything else, if it doesn't have a value or place in your life, is clutter.)  Start small.  A shelf here, a desktop there.  Seek inspiration -- Berkus's book is a very good place to start.  He declares,

            "Each object tells a story and each story connects us to one another and to the world.
             The truth is, things matter. They have to. They're what we live with and touch each
             and every day. They represent what we've seen, who we've loved, and where we hope
             to go next."

So, identify, celebrate and enjoy the things you love.  Give them a place of honour in your home.  As for the clutter, move those pieces along.  Let them have the home they deserve; as you know, one man's trash is an other man's treasure.  
  

Things that Matter to...

These are a few of my favourite things

Nate Berkus include the top photograph by his late partner Fernando Bengoechea.  It is one of a pair that hang in his current living room.

For me, they are all things I loved on sight and things that connect me to a time and a place: a necklace of Russian amber I purchased while strolling through an old town in Europe with my cousin; a piece of coral being hawked by vendors outside a lighthouse that stands high on a cliff, at the edge of the ocean, on the most western point of the European continent -- the last stretch of land that marks the old world; an orphan dish with a delicate graphic depiction of the signs of the zodiac I found for a few dollars at a local flea market; and a few metres of fabric, whose gold and bronze threads create a striking Asian design of gnarled pine trees that remind me of those that run along the edge of our property. 

These are some of the things that matter to me.  What matters to you?

Top photo via Elle Decor; bottom photo D. Sleziak