Time for a cosy autumn post.
It’s a mad life. I greet guests by saying welcome to the madhouse. My weeks roll into each other in a big mash-up of carting kids to clubs and lessons, lugging heavy equipment to shoots, staying up past midnight editing, doctors’ appointments, fitting in life. One thing I have always kept in mind as a self-employed, mother of 3 and homemaker is to make time for a few things that keep me sane. Things that relax me – like full stops in paragraphs, and keep me grounded in the midst of the flurry of activity. These things aren’t grand, they are quite ordinary, and they feel like rewards after a hectic week. Today I’m sharing with you 4 things that keep me sane {aka hobbies} and some little peeks at my home {pardon the photo quality – I’m not an interior photographer}.
1. Making my house a home: this involves a lot of re-arranging furniture, painting walls, forever changing things around {I believe this is called shopping your own home}. My tastes have evolved over the years and planning my home’s interiors, flicking through magazines, pinterest and blogs for inspiration, thinking up ways of making my house more homely and the actual DIY make me really happy. My house mantra: make it a home and make it real. Style-wise it has to be warm, cosy and mismatched.
2. Painting: my creative outlet. The only trouble nowadays is that because I have only have small windows of time here and there to create paintings, I get the kids to do them instead! I get all the paints out, show them a quick demo and let them do their stuff. They are usually done in a few minutes, ready to move on to the next thing. I on the other hand would ideally like a few hours or days to get going on a piece. Must carve out painting time this season.
3. Flea market, charity shops browsing and shopping: always a treat. I love old things and new things. I love eclectic and quirky. Vintage and shiny metallic. Glossy retro and rustic matt. Contrasting, complementary. Rich and chic. Natural and kitch. Vibrant colour and black and white. Ikea and John Lewis-Heals-Anthropologie. Apart from keeping things cohesive, I have no other rule. Life’s too short to stick to colour match. I cannot tell you enough how freeing it is not to be tied to one specific brand or look or style.
4. Sewing: supplementing number one, I have sewn a few of my own cushion covers. I’ve also had some crazy moments in the past when I made clothes for my girls {extra bonus when buttons are involved}. Sewing clothes is not something I would do in a hurry now as they are so time consuming. But I find sewing very therapeutic.
So there you have it, 4 hobbies that keep me sane and happy. I’d love to hear your in the comments below.
