Last month on Wit & Delight, our theme was about getting to know your personal style. I chose February’s theme as a natural next step, as it’s a topic that’s much easier to explore once you’re really clear on how you define your personal style.
This February, our theme is about focusing only on what you love, in life and particularly as it relates to design.
I find myself returning to this idea a lot these days—placing the majority of my focus on things I love. This approach factors into how I spend my days, who I spend my time with, the things I choose to bring into my home, and so much more.
What we love is a big expression of who we are as people. Figuring out the latter is a lifelong endeavor, but the former is a little easier to determine.
When it comes to design, what you love is not only about aesthetics—it’s also about function. It’s about elements like weight, texture, and scale. It’s about how a material wears over time—whether it’s easy to keep perfectly clean or whether it shows its age. What you love is a reflection of your preferences beyond your favorite color or pattern. That’s why I think this is the most important filter to consider when determining what you bring into your home. And it’s worth noting that there’s a cost to not operating in this way—a lot of extraneous baggage that weighs you down and doesn’t fulfill you.
It is, of course, not possible for every single thing in our homes to light our hearts up with joy. There will be items that are solely for functionality and pieces that represent a compromise with the other people in our home. That’s okay. This idea is simply about instilling a different mindset—a fresh lens through which we determine any design decisions we make in the future.
When it comes to design, what you love is not only about aesthetics—it’s also about function. . . . That’s why I think this is the most important filter to consider when determining what you bring into your home.
This then begs the question: How do you know when you truly love something? It may seem like an obvious answer, but it can be hard to determine—and the sense of knowing presents differently for different people. It’s an answer I’ll dive into more throughout the month of February. For me, if I truly love something—whether it’s a piece of decor, a fabric, or a set of glassware—it’s not enough to simply admire it. I find myself instinctively moving toward it, wanting to touch it and see it up close. That physical draw goes far beyond a fleeting sense of curiosity.
In the realm of design, knowing what you love—and acting on that knowing in your choices—is also about longevity. When you can learn to trust and embrace the process of the hunt, rather than pick up the first thing that catches your eye, it’s far more likely the lifespan of the pieces you bring into your home will be much lengthier.
My hope is that this mindset will allow you to find more delight in the spaces in your home where you spend the most time. That you’ll better understand how to identify what you truly love and feel okay letting go of what you don’t.
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Kate is currently learning to play the Ukulele, much to the despair of her husband, kids, and dogs. Follow her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.
