Pretty Things

My friends know that the running joke in my family is that if I could, I would change careers each week. Although I have never considered myself visually artistic, I love, love, love all things design and architecture related. The list of blogs I read consists primarily of those focused on interior and building design.

Not long ago, my dear friend Magdalena recommended this little gem of a book. 

The book’s thesis is one that I have often thought and felt: the beauty or lack of beauty in our surroundings affects how we feel. As humans, we have a deep connection with dwellings. As a young girl visiting the San Juan islands, where my mother spent many of her summers, I remember thinking that if I lived somewhere so beautiful I would never be sad.

It’s a simple thought, and not unequivocally true, yet it created a resistance in my mind to returning to Illinois.

My dad (an Iowa native, which should explain this sentiment) believes that miles and miles of flat land filled with cornfields is beautiful. I couldn’t imagine coming home to Illinois, especially to the Chicago suburbs, because they are so uninspiring to me. I wanted to live in Montana or on an island in Washington. Instead, I moved back home – to Illinois. So while the natural surroundings might not be beautiful. It doesn’t mean the interior of our living spaces can’t be. If it is true that beauty of our surroundings impact us emotionally and our naturally landscape doesn’t help pick us up, the Chicago area should have some of the most beautiful interiors. How’s that for logic? I wonder if psychologists will start prescribing improved interior design as a remedy to depression.

All that to say, if I could spend most of my time looking at beautiful things, I would.