We’ve heard this cliche time and time again: home is a feeling, not a place. It’s one of those things that people say when someone decides to sell their family home, or go off to university, or make a huge life decision. For me, it’s been a sweet reminder that I’ve carried with me to almost 20 houses and apartments over the last 22 years.
People always ask me where I’m from and I usually start off by saying, ‘well, it’s kind of complicated’. Truth is, I grew up all over the place. I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia but in the years before I started kindergarten we lived in London and Guelph before moving to Toronto. We lived in a couple of houses in Toronto and when I graduated high school, I moved back to Halifax for university and my parents moved to Atlanta, Georgia.
In truth, none of this matters! I’m the person I am today because the process of moving from place to place taught me to create a space to call home wherever my feet land. I think part of the reason why I’m so passionate about interior design is that I learned, time and time again, how to make myself feel comfortable and safe regardless of the destination. It’s the reason why I feel like I’ve left my heart all over the world in the cities we’ve travelled to, or even in the books I escaped to as a child.
It’s my greatest passion in life to make people feel at home. To help people make their spaces into a sanctuary that they can retreat to and just be. To bring people into my own home and have them settle in with a cuppa and a blanket and rest and enjoy their evening. It’s about creating an atmosphere where one feels at liberty to be at ease, without the judgement and hustle of the daily grind (more on why I hate these two buzz words later).
This feeling of home isn’t just created with a comfy couch and a scented candle — those are just a couple of ways that I’ve managed to recreate the feeling of home as I move around. Home is not a simple concept, but I definitely believe that being surrounded by people you love in a space that makes you feel safe, supported and inspired is a good place to start.
Love always,
*Photos by Sophie Renaud Fournier*
