Still having problems with Disqus! I’m going to delete the system but until then, if you would like to leave a comment and the comment box isn’t showing up, then just click the title of the post and hopefully that will sort it!  I’m so sorry that this commenting system has been a bit of a disaster and hope this hasn’t inconvenienced any of my readers too much! 

So the lovely Sarah of Modern Country Style is doing a bit of a linky party and has challenged us to define our blog.

Well, I’ve had this rolling around in my head for days now because it’s made me question why I’m actually doing this.  It’s not as though I don’t know why I started a blog.  I started it because I wanted a catalogue of the work that me and my fabulous W have done on our house since we moved in June 2010.  But it’s evolved to much more than that as these things are wont to do.

I’ve read lots and lots of blogs over the last couple of years – some fantastic, some with amazing personalities, some that I later realised weren’t really my style, some with incredible inspiration, some that have left me a little flat, some about people who are working on their own homes just like us, and of course, many blogs which just like to talk about what is inspiring them at the moment.  But ya know, that’s okay, we’re all on a bit of a journey with this blogging lark.  We’re all just really trying to reach out, to find people that are effected in the same ways by the same things that we are.  We all are just wanting to connect in some way, aren’t we?

 
When I realised what I actually truly loved in interiors. 
Image from {this is glamorous}

And yeah, that’s all I’m doing too.  Connecting.  Or trying to anyway.

Ya know, I have lived in many different places in my life.  I moved 15 times over 15 years and every place I lived whether that was on my own in a little modern flat in Wisconsin or sharing a big Victorian house with 5 other girls in Denver, Colorado, or with a male footie-mad flatmate in Sittingbourne, Kent (UK) or at the seaside in Whitstable, Kent or “oop North” in Manchester, England with my amazing partner W in our beautiful Edwardian house, I’ve attempted to make each place my own.  Whether that was just a few framed prints or a couple of candlesticks or a favourite vase, I always had something there with me to reflect a bit of who I was in my life at that time.  And no matter where it’s been or how big that space I was occupying was, for me it was like an extension of my own skin, a place of comfort, a place I felt like I could entirely express myself.  That’s all any of us want, though, isn’t it?

 
When I realised just how much I loved an eclectic mix of styles. 
Image from Domino.

However, I’ve realised something in the last 9 months or so since I’ve started this blog – that us bloggers do something a wee bit different.

We put ourselves out there.

We announce ourselves and say HEY THIS IS ME, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

And then we wait – with our fingernails between our teeth, hovering over the ‘publish’ button, wondering WHAT IF PEOPLE TELL ME WHAT THEY THINK?

 
When I fell hard in love with chandeliers and tufted furniture and greys. 
Image from Elle Decor via greige.

It’s a risk we take.

I’m happy to say that at this point in time (and I can say this quite comfortably as, let’s be honest, I don’t have a wildly popular blog and yes, that’s okay with me), everyone I’ve met in the ol’ Blogland has been lovely so far.  No one (yet, fingers crossed) has made disparaging remarks about my taste, I’ve been applauded when I’ve done something well, I’ve been patted on the back with a ‘hey me too’ or ‘yeah it happens to the best of us’ when I’ve royally f**ked up and I’ve become a part of a wider community.  The relationships I’ve formed with some amazing bloggers I now cherish.

Our living room

“Swoon Worthy” was and still is something I was after in my own home and something I continue to strive for in my blog.  Each person’s definition of what is swoon worthy is something entirely different of course as design – like any art – is entirely subjective.  We all naturally look at things in a different way.

What does “swoon worthy” mean for me?  Well it’s when I stumble across an image and have an almost physical reaction to it – practically lose my balance – something catches in my breath, makes my little heart gallop, makes me consider getting rid of everything I own so that I could buy something JUST LIKE THAT.  Ok, so maybe not quite to that extent because who wants to carbon copy someone else’s fabulous ideas?  But yeah, you’ve had that too, right?

 
Case in point. Totally and utterly swoon worthy.   
Image originally found via Greige

Well, that’s what I wanted for my own home.  Except that I wanted it to be a reflection of ME, of these 30mumble years I’ve spent on this planet.  A reflection of my experiences, of my travels, of my relationships, of my humour, my insight, my failings, my strengths.  All of that.  And this time, it had to reflect W as well – it had to be a work of correlation, of coming together, of – let’s be honest here – my vision and his ability ;)

Can an interior do that?  Really?  I don’t know.  But I am happy to find out.

So for those of you who are only just coming by and have already read through how ever many words of utter ramblings of at times a questionably certifiable person… what could you find if you were to stumble upon Swoon Worthy?

Well let me just tell you.

You’ll find bits of inspiration.

Like how I took these images…

 
Image from Elle Decor

 

 
Image from Ish & Chi

And turned this…

Our sad guest bedroom when we moved in.

Into this…

Our Guest Bedroom (in progress)

Or how I looked at this…

 
Domino Magazine image via

And attempted to translate it into this…

Our dining room

And how when I look at this…

Our kitchen (obviously in progress)

…how very much I want it to eventually look something nearing this…

 
Source unknown

What else?

Well, I do love to travel even if only in my own mind.  So my ‘Take Me Away’ posts usually cover some amazing, inspiring hotel, even if I may never get to go.  Well, one can still dream, can’t one?

40 Winks, London

 

Brody House, Budapest

 

Graham & Green, Casa Tota, Goa

 

Telegraff Hotel, Estonia

Oh and there’s plenty of before and afters as well.  So this very sad neglected bench…

…eventually took pride of place in the garden when given a bit of love.

Or how this Β£50 eBay find…

…was freshened up to look like this

Well, that’s a taste of it anyway.  In the grand scheme of things, my journey has only just begun.  I’m still learning as I go, still trying to define myself and my blog and I can’t do this here little blog all by myself.  I WANT people to take this journey with me so we can learn together, be inspired together, share our ideas together.  Connections people, connections.  Only time will tell where this synergie will take us.

And if you’d like to follow my blog and become one of the Beautiful People then go on and click that little follow button above.  It’s calorie free. 

And if you’d like to see how other bloggers define their blogs, click the little button below.


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