Make Yourself At Home – Part 1
Apart from a brief stint as a (joint) homeowner, I’ve always been renter. No doubt this does not make financial sense in the long run, but I do like the freedom from mortgage and maintenance woes. It does however mean that I am no stranger to dealing with atrocious agency fees, and with ‘neutral’ spaces lacking personality (at least my current flat, in almond white, is a slight step up from magnolia :).
Renting as we know it is ripe for an overhaul, and that’s what is happening in East Village, E20 – London’t newest postcode. Get Living London, the residential owner of nearly one and a half thousand homes in the former Olympics Athlete’s Village, takes a different approach to renting, abandoning fees and encouraging residents to personalise their homes, painting and decorating as they wish.
To celebrate their ‘Make Yourself At Home’ campaign, Get Living London invited a group of bloggers, including myself, to an interactive Colour Psychology Masterclass at the E20 Village lifestyle store, Olive Loves Alfie East. Pictured below, Ashlyn Gibson, interior designer, stylist art director and owner of Olive Loves Alfie’s two stores, and Karen Haller, renowned colour psychologist, hosted the event, exploring with us how we can use colour and creativity to personalise our homes.
I got so much from this event, that I’ve decided to split my write up into two parts, so here is Part 1:
Make Yourself At Home with Ashlyn Gibson
Ashlyn Gibson’s workshop was a real inspiration. You can sense from the colour and energy in the photograph of Ashlyn above, she was not from the ‘perfectly-poured-latte-on-top-of-a-copy-of-Kinfolk-with-a-crumpled-linen-towel-on-the-side’ school of interior design (see for a laugh). No siree, Ashlyn instead talked about making our homes personal to us, and creating narratives about our lives and loves through our interior design.
“There isn’t a trend, the zeitgeist is to be authentic”
Ashlyn encouraged stepping back from what is pushed in the media, to look outside trend-driven culture, and to find something instead that speaks your own language. But how do you find this something, how do you know what speaks to you? Well Ashlyn suggested to write down four things that you love, or that inspire you:
- a place
- a person
- an object you cherish
- something cultural (eg a film, or a painting)
From the answers to these, you can start thinking about what is personal to you, and how you can incorporate this into your home.
My answers to the above, off the top of my head, were 1. Dartmoor, 2. my aunty, 3. the little wooden lion and elephant my son gave me when he was younger brought back from a school trip to Malawi, and 4. Titian’s Noli me Tangere
(primroses remind me of my aunty, and the wooden animals of my son)
What these say about me I don’t know, but funnily enough when I got home and thought about it, I realised that I have very few items in my home that are personal, or tell a history of me (even my books are hidden away behind closed doors), but what I do have on show relate in some way to the above list, which I think is all about love, or being loved (am I thinking about this too deeply?)
Here’s me with my aunty and my brother and sister (well, one of my sisters, I have two lovely others too xx)
Ashlyn considers photographs, and items with personal memories or associations as key pieces in giving homes a narrative, and showed many inspiring examples of creative ways of displaying them:
(yes, that is a glitterball in a pram behind Ashlyn!)
Ashlyn’s creative approach really comes into its own when working with families and children, and I’ve really enjoyed poring over her two books, and since I got home. I particularly love how she allowed her daughter Olive to paint a mural above her bed after a visit to an artist’s studio that inspired her. As Ashyln says ‘you can always paint over it, what’s the cost of a tin of paint?’ I think we’ve all (mostly myself!) become a big scared, and a bit trend-driven, and this was like a breath of fresh air and a carte-blanche to go and be more creative.
So, lots to think about! After a de-personalisation of my home after life change from family mum to single-living professional, it’s now time to discover what does speak my language and incorporate that into my home decor. Watch this space!
Part 2 will follow next week, with ‘Make Yourself At Home with Karen Haller’ and you can read Ashlyn’s blog on the event here.
Thanks to Get Living London for inviting me to this inspiring event.
Linking up with:
Twitter:
on April 20, 2016 at 4:46 pm
Oh thanks so much for a little behind the scenes of this event! I wanted to go but couldn’t so appreciate the little run down. I really love the idea of having personal items that really speak to you in the home – it makes it so much more unique and intriguing. I adore those cute wooden animals, definitely something to display with pride 🙂 xx
Shame you couldn’t come Kimberley, hopefully there will be another event we are both at to meet x
Twitter:
on April 21, 2016 at 9:05 am
Oh I love East Village Molly, would move in in a heartbeat if I could afford it!
That was my first time there Kate, I used to live in the Isle of Dogs (years ago, when Canary Wharf was just being built) so I do like that side of London. East Village definitely seemed to have a villagey community vibe (and the food from Signorelli was just lush!)
Twitter:
on April 21, 2016 at 9:35 am
It did my giggle, I must check out Kinspiracy (blah, so bored of seeing the same things all the time as we discussed!) I really love how what we all take away from that night has stayed with us and provided so much food for thought Xx
Best bit was meeting you! But yes, lots to think about. The colour quiz is now live on the Get Living London site – I took it, and the result (funnily enough) was the colour I chose as my favourite at the event.
Twitter:
on April 25, 2016 at 8:12 am
I’ve lived in my home for nearly 5 years and because I could move in without the need to decorate it’s only really been the last few years that I have started to and it feels so much more like my home now! I have quite a few photos of friends and family around and candles (they are my thing). I have started to become more interested in photography too so perhaps will have more of my work up as well. Loved the post and the reminder that we don’t always need to follow trends (or follow the crowd) but that individuality should be celebrated.
Steph x
inspirationsandme.BlogSpot.co.uk
Thanks Steph. It does make all the difference when you put your own stamp on a place. I was at my mum’s at the weekend which is full of photos and artworks and colour, and though I might not be able to cope with quite so much visual stimulation, it was still inspiring as so personal and homely.
Molly recently posted…Make Yourself At Home – Part 2
Twitter:
on April 27, 2016 at 10:07 am
I live around the corner from the original Olive Loves Alfie in Stoke Newington, it’s such a lovely shop. I’ll have to pop into the new one too!
This looks like such a fun event, I love pop of colour in my home too.
#HomeEct
I’ve not been in the Stoke Newington shop, but this one is lovely. Do pop in if you can x
Molly recently posted…Make Yourself At Home – Part 2
Twitter:
on April 27, 2016 at 8:30 pm
This is really interesting, I’m going to check out her books as I love the idea of having personal things around the home, especially if they remind you of someone special to you. Sometimes I think I have too much stuff out but reading this has made me think more about embracing it as it’s what I like to see. Thanks for sharing #HomeEtc
Thanks Hayley – I’m with you on this, embracing what things we love and make us happy. I’d gone a little extreme I think with the decluttering, time to bring some personality back through displaying items that have meaning to me. Thanks for popping by x
Twitter:
on April 27, 2016 at 9:59 pm
Lovely post and sounds like an great event! I actually met Ashlyn recently and she is quite fabulous isn’t she? Love these tips and ideas. So great to have found your lovely blog via #HomeEtc.
Ashyln is wonderful, really enjoyed her session, very inspiring. Thanks for popping over from #HomeEtc and your kind words x
Twitter:
on April 29, 2016 at 12:25 pm
Aaah I WISH I’d been there! This sounds absolutely fascinating!!! Must go an look at Kinspiracy — I need an antidote to all those perfect IG images!!
And Oh! A glitterball? Yes please! Although I wouldn’t be displaying it in the boys buggy 🙂 Thanks so much for linking up with us, Caro x#HomeEtc
Caro recently posted…Home Etc #48
It was a great event Caro, you’d have loved it. Kinspiracy is a compilation of those perfect IG images, so not the antidote you need I’m afraid. I love your IGs, lots of colour and life, much more my style x
Twitter:
on May 3, 2016 at 10:15 am
This sounds and looked amazing! Sounded fab and what an inspiring event! Thanks for sharing & linking up! Love Jess xx
#HomeEtc
oh so interesting I am sad to have missed his.
sad you missed it too Becky 🙁