Sometimes I must simply pretend it is 2010 fresh and random blogland, not 2024 MAD INTERNET WORLD. Ya know? Not sure if you still frequent Pinterest (please frequent my boards!), but do repin, pin, save and share to keep the momentum going. It helps me as a one woman show of a small business competing with design giants and influencers. Follow my boards? They need love and repinning help. Plus, if you have missed any of the stories below, maybe you’ll discover a gem…there seems always to be surprises along the way.
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Random Chat & Hello Lovely Stories to Visit
Here’s our summer backyard. There’s a beautiful forest preserve with a trail adjacent to our property.
So much beauty blooming and nature to enjoy here across the seasons. I used to wish I had started a blog with only content from daily life instead of inspiration spotlighting others.
But now I’m relieved I don’t have the haunting pressure of re-inventing, re-packaging, and always feeling pressed to influence with my own creative endeavors.
That is honorable work, but I get tired of myself quickly.
Plus, if the goal is maximum engagement, and you somehow manage to snag it, you open to this intense scrutiny and critique from armchair decorators and unhappy trolls.
It takes a measure of courage, maturity, thick skin, and maybe insanity to roll with random strangers explaining you’ve done it all wrong. Of course, at that level, influencers hire virtual assistants to handle their social media channels. A lot of folks don’t realize they may be interacting with a representative of the brand, not the actual author or influencer.
Hello Lovely Interiors Inspiration Stories to Visit
See more beauty from the Giannettis in this:
So much beauty is shared on this inspiration blog, and if you blink, you could miss a treasure trove of beautiful design goodness!
I recently shared our living room (HERE) and family room (HERE):
What a relief when you can simply keep refining finishing touches rather than inhale dust and serve as cleanup crew!
It’s fun to dream of plans for the walk-out basement, but we’re getting older and need to be sure we are healthy enough before real planning could commence. The courtyard was a great recent project!
Did you see the beauty happening for fall in this story with inspiration from Amber Lewis?
And don’t miss the inspiring work by deVOL in an amazing castle:
The older I grow, the more I think that if you spend your day with the determination to have a good time, you will undoubtedly change the world for good. 🙂
I recently shared ideas for everyday saves and splurges in THIS.
Coastal chic never falls from favor, and if you love the sets of Nancy Meyers movies like HOME AGAIN, consider this:
Calm vignettes like this inspiring one have enchanted my Pinterest followers:
There’s just something irresistible about cozying on down with candles, a good book, and a mug of deliciousness on a rainy day, and I think that shot with the lunaria captures the quietness.
See what timeless white kitchen inspiration has me inspired in THIS:
There are plenty of days I live in pajamas (thanks to a work from home job and chronic illness…read about how I deal).
Calm and cozy finds are always on my radar.
and you know I love my skincare and makeup products…especially clean beauty with a minimalist vibe:
Speaking of minimalism…I so admire how these antique dealers decorate with a light hand:
Another minimalist we recently spotlighted? Michael Del Piero with her amazing book and multiple locations in the Hamptons and Chicago:
The ups and downs of life can make us vulnerable to cynicism, despair, and hopelessness. When I feel those things, it seems as though I am temporarily locked out of the garden of gratitude. Certain inspirational messages (Count Your Blessings!) can even make me feel worse.
I find this comforting, helpful, and less likely to trigger shame:
Get inspired for the holidays with this French Christmasy romp:
Most of my prayers these days are silent surrender or simply:
What a blessing that when strength is gone or anxiety comes, there is a prayer beyond words the Spirit prays in us. I lost someone precious to me recently and celebrated her life with family over the weekend. There are these chapters where all of the unneccessary falls away, and we can see more clearly.
We just don’t know when we’re in the middle of the good ol’ days, friends. I’m so thankful that for nearly 60 years, my second mom brought nothing but goodness to my life…what a gift.
I have been wrestling with feelings of loneliness in the digital age and find myself longing for pre-iPhone eras.
There is so much that is lost with texting and social media posts. Face to face interactions include tone, authenticity, and less manipulation. Can you fathom what folks are willing to say online vs. what they would say to your face? Boundaries are so blurred. It’s confusing.
I need to be reminded to seek the grace to be more brave and talk about these issues with others rather than feel isolated by them. I need to keep remembering how we are all fighting battles whether we acknowledge them or not.
Such acknowledgement increases compassion and humility.
We’re living through times where everywhere you turn, we’re encouraged to get niche-y, to align with others just like us to feel less alone. The problem is of course, we are assuming there is a clear us and them.
Not sure where I would be today if I lived inside such exclusivity. If I did not know the stories of those souls far different than me.
The stories of others have changed, deepened, softened, perplexed, challenged, and stretched me to see in fresh ways.
Seeing in a pure way is still my deepest desire.
I keep getting it wrong, and it’s so humbling, isn’t it? But it’s also true that ours is an upside down kingdom. When we’re weak, we have a rare strength indeed. The more I step over the old ideas, the old consciousness, the old knowing…my arrival uncovers THE NEW, THE MYSTERY, THE UNCERTAIN AND THE UNKNOWING.
What does spiritual journeying have to do with interior blogging, homemaking, renovations, and paint colors? It’s easy to judge them as different spheres. Yet I tend to surrender to the mystery of it all. I need not understand all of the mechanics inside the realms we cannot see. Intersections of media, vocation, connectivity, and follies involving tranquil design or paint colors–who can say how they may increase beauty, uplift outlooks and creativity, or ??? If you read to this point? Thanks. Really. I just love you here with your open heart and desire for beauty.
And we return to more of what you may have missed:
Need a relaxing blue paint color idea?
Step inside this Parisian style mansion HERE!
Find even more inspiring quotes from Brene Brown in THIS.
So many gorgeous country French kitchens shared! See THESE pins for more inspo, and pin this for future reference:
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
Thanks for shopping RIGHT HERE to keep decor inspiration flowing on Hello Lovely!
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I am blown away by the included quotes and what you have to say. Thanks for sharing your heart with us.
Author
I appreciate you and your kindness–thanks for supporting me so lovingly. xox