DEWIT Design Camp
A few weeks ago I attended the DEWIT Design Camp which was held up at The Pantry at Delancy, which is an awesome community kitchen attached to the restaurant Delancy.
I’ve been trying think to about how to articulate the Design Camp Experience in words other than “OH MY GOD IT WAS AWESOME!” It’s hard.
I learned so much about how to approach designing my home. The Camp Director was Anna Beth Chao, and she imparted her wisdom and experience in a magical format that left me feeling really excited about the prospect of finally turning my home into the space I dream it to be. Not to mention sort of floating around in a little cloud of just—awesomeness. But that may have been all of the champagne. I can’t say for certain.
I think most important part of what she imparted was a set of rules she lives by, and the “recipes” she uses in approaching spaces. I think we are spoilt for choice in a lot of aspects of our lives and this in turn paralyzes us from making decisions. Or we make the wrong decisions out of fear. Her mantra is BE BRAVE.
I’ll give you an example: I asked about my particular curtain conundrum - “how long should they be if I have an electric wall heater right under the window”? Aside from it being a seriously stupid energy decision made by whoever designed this house, I was told “You can’t have curtains. You need shades.” You see I totally agree with her in that I think, as she aserts, curtains should fall all the way to the floor. I could not wrap my head around how I would do this without setting things on fire. I was so locked into the idea that I needed curtains that it didn’t even occur to me that I actually didn’t need curtains. There were other options. Having that curtain option removed makes things so much easier. Screw you, curtains! I just ordered a bunch of samples of bamboo shades!
I came back from camp wanting to buy the entire Universe of Home Decorating Items but gave myself a spending moratorium. I need to take my time with this. There is also the delicate negotiation of up coming changes with Jefe. I think he is on board – as long as I don’t paint anything white.
I know what you mean about “buy the entire Universe of Home Decorating Items”. I had the hardest time trying to cope with the numerous ideas that were colliding in my head after camp. I was sleepless until I started to write them down. I won’t be able to do this all at once, as much as I’d like to wave a magic wand and have everything done. With that said, I have some sort of a plan. Today, I ordered a new jute rug for my dining room. Bye bye FLOR. I’m putting in a new dining pendant before Thanksgiving too, hung at just the right height. It’s funny, I didn’t start out thinking that I wanted to change anything in my dining room. But alas, there it is. BE BRAVE my friend!!
I finally had to write everything down on a “priority list” so I could figure out what to do/buy first and what to save for. My first task is going to be repainting. Dexter’s Kill Room, FTW!