april: nesting 🪺

monthly creative curations on a theme

Y’all, I’m under contract on a house!!! My nest quest has been consuming my brain, thus it has inspired this month’s springy theme: nesting. For the past five years, this momma bird has been renting a home in Boulder to stay near my kid’s school and their dad’s house. Now that my senior is graduating high school and flying off to college this summer, I am leaving Boulder and creating my (soon-to-be-empty!) nest in our neighboring city of Denver. As Julie Andrews sang, “a robin feathering [her] nest has very little time to rest, while gathering [her] bits of twine and twig.” So in this month’s round-up, I’d love to share some pretty bits of that twig and twine with you!

These round-up prism emails come out on the first day of every month, and they include my curations of music, art, fashion, beauty, and/or other areas of expression. The full content of the monthly posts (including an awesome monthly Spotify playlist!) is accessible only to paid subscribers, but everyone gets a generous peek below and can also unlock this post in a free trial to get the full experience.

about a decade ago, my kid and i wood burned and watercolored these wooden eggs

Purchasing my first post-divorce house by myself brings a LOT of complex and surprising layers of feelings that I’ll soon write about here, but today’s post is about the aesthetics. I get so pumped when I am creating a space. When house hunting, I’m able to walk into homes and envision their potential, an eye I believe I inherited directly from my mom. (Perhaps we both missed our callings in interior design, or perhaps it’s wise not to monetize everything I enjoy! Ha!) In this post, I’ve curated some of the things I’m obsessed with regarding interiors right now, and a few things where I’d love input:

1. Organic modern vibes: I have a book called House as Mirror of Self, and I like to think of houses that way. A home is a sanctuary for the soul, so it needs to feel like a place our soul can be absolutely free and expansive. For me, that means it needs to be cozy, clean, and natural. “Organic modern” is actually the name of an aesthetic that combines contemporary style (neutrals, clean lines) with raw materials like warm wood, stone, greenery, and cozy textures. Below is a screenshot of a Pinterest board I’ve been curating that just feels so yummy to me… but sadly, I did not buy a house that already looks like these, so I’ve gotta work some renovation/decoration magic.

   

2. Midimalism: For years, I’ve straddled a line between drooling over minimalist spaces that are clean, bright, and clear of any clutter AND maximalist decor that’s rich with meaningful objects and art that tell stories amidst colors and patterns I could swim in. When I learned that midimalism is a thing in interior design, I finally saw a way forward! I don’t necessarily have to choose between these two aesthetics. I can display select treasures and enjoy pops of color while also having a fresh, calming space. Fingers crossed that I can achieve this balance.

3. A surprising powder room: In my new home, like many homes, the powder room is a half-bath on the main level, and it doesn’t have any windows. For me, this feels like an invitation to have some fun designing the space so that when a person walks in, they are like “woah!” because there is a surprising color, pattern, or lighting to the space. For example, in the last home I owned (that Craig still owns), I picked out some strikingly bold wallpaper (that looks a lot like my own art) for the powder room that’s always a conversation starter, as you see in the photo below. I’m not generally a big fan of wallpaper, but if I’m gonna bust it out, this would be the place.

   

   I tried to find a pic of that wallpapered bathroom for you all, but only found this selfie from two christmas eves ago in my pjs

4. Dining banquettes: I’m an amazzzing lounger. I want somewhere to legit snuggle up in every single room of a house. Banquettes are the best solution I’ve found for lounging in a kitchen or dining room. I’ve been eyeing storage banquettes for my new space, wondering if I should have a custom one built in or purchase a freestanding piece of furniture. Thoughts? Resources? I’m open to banquette ideas…