402 // Feeling Overwhelmed at Home? Try This Summer Home Edit to Instantly Feel Calmer

**Dani Watson** (0:00)
In fact, that is one of the questions I have any time I work with a client one on one. How do you want your home to feel? And those answers vary, but there is some commonality between it. And one of the things I see over and over again, and this is not a wrong answer, is I want my home to feel cozy. And it's a beautiful word. It's a really lovely picture in our brains of what cozy feels like. We want it to feel warm and inviting and welcoming, and we want it to feel cozy. Like it is the hug, the warm hug at the end of a long day. But those same women who tell me they want their homes to feel cozy, if I were to ask them the next question, what does cozy feel like to you? They might have very different answers. And that is where the gold lies. That is where we start putting tactical and tangible to this feeling that we want our homes to portray.
We grew up with the phrase home is where the heart is. But our culture has shifted and now the message is home should be Pinterest perfect. I'm calling BS on that message. Home, it's not about the stuff, it's about the story. And whether you know it or not, your home is a reflection of you and is already saying something. So what is it that you want it to say?
Welcome to Fig and Farm at Home, where we design happy living and where it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Every summer, I have the same goals for my summer. How I want to spend my time. I want to get up early, like really early when the birds are just chirping and they're causing a ruckus out of my window. I want to get up and join them with coffee on the back porch. And I want to watch the sunrise. I want my bare toes to walk through the fresh grass.
I want my afternoons to feel a little lazy, a little simplified, a little not hurried and rushed like it is the rest of the year, so that I can close my laptop and go to the lake with the boys in the afternoon. I want fresh dinners, you know, like watermelon and corn on the cob and maybe grilled steak or maybe not. Maybe it's like a charcuterie board on steroids. I don't want to sit in front of the stove and I definitely don't want to sit for hours in front of the TV.
I want to get outside and play. I want to play pickleball and lawn games and go for long walks when the sun is setting. That is the rhythm of my summer and how I want to spend my hours. And although it's not always possible every day, it is the goal every year. And what I've noticed in these years of decorating and helping others decorate their homes is that, just like our lives follow rhythms of the seasons, like we naturally change the clothing we wear season to season, or we naturally cook differently when it's cool weather versus warm.
Our habits, our outdoor habits might change a little when days are longer or days are shorter.
Those things naturally change based on the season, and our home decorating can follow suit. And for me, when I'm looking at my summer home, I want it to reflect the feeling that I'm wanting to pursue in my lifestyle. I'm wanting and craving simplicity in my days. I'm wanting and craving a little bit of breathing room and fresh air, and I'm wanting and craving a little bit of space to play. And I've noticed that when my home is in constant friction with that, I actually don't meet my lifestyle goals. And so I want to talk to you a little bit about how we can create spaces that reflect our natural rhythm of summer. And maybe your summer doesn't look like mine, or your goals don't look like mine in the summer, but I want to think about and talk about the feeling that is so associated with the way that we design our homes around, inadvertently or intentionally. If you've worked with me in The Collective, or if you've worked with me inside of a Decorating SOS call, you know that we talk about how you want your homes to feel. In fact, that is one of the questions I have anytime I work with a client one-on-one. How do you want your home to feel? And those answers vary, but there is some commonality between it. And one of the things I see over and over again, and this is not a wrong answer, is I want my home to feel cozy. And it's a beautiful word. It's a really lovely picture in our brains of what cozy feels like. We want it to feel warm and inviting and welcoming, and we want it to feel cozy. Like, it is the hug, the warm hug, at the end of a long day. But those same women who tell me they want their homes to feel cozy, if I were to ask them the next question, what does cozy feel like to you, they might have very different answers. And that is where the gold lies. That is where we start putting tactical and tangible to this feeling that we want our homes to portray.