When Michelle Ogundehin set out to find a new home in her beloved Brighton, England, she brought her well-trained eye to the job. For 13 years she was the editor in chief of Elle Decoration UK, and these days she’s the judge of popular BBC and Netflix series Interior Design Masters, so she knew what she was looking for. Day in, day out, she canvassed the city streets looking for the one. It turned out to be right under her nose.
“It’s a house I must have walked by a dozen times. And one day I just saw it—and there was a ‘For Sale’ sign,” she recalls of the cottage-like Georgian, built in 1821 with a walled garden tucked behind an old-fashioned black gate. “I put a little note through the door that said, ‘I think I love your house. Will you sell it to me, please?’ and attached a copy of the magazine. They called me back, I walked in, and I just knew.”
In the cozy dining area, a Saarinen Tulip table by Knoll is surrounded by vintage Ercol chairs, restained to match the floors.
Michelle doused the kitchen in soothing gray tones, creating texture play by mixing lacquered cabinetry with matte walls and ceilings. Units from IKEA are paired with a wraparound Corian countertop.
Michelle pays close attention to those good feelings, always careful to choose things—whether it’s a set of flatware, the color of a cushion, or the house itself—that make her heart sing. But that skill, she insists, is not reserved for editors, interior designers, and the sartorially inclined. As she argues in her new book, published last fall, Happy Inside: How to Harness the Power of Home for Health and Happiness, armed with a few useful tools, just about anyone can cultivate a space that really works for them physically and psychologically. As Michelle likes to say, “Your home can be your superpower.”
It’s a rather timely subject, as we endure a raging global pandemic that has forced so many of us indoors. But long before mandatory quarantines and stay-at-home orders became everyday parlance, Michelle was thinking hard about domestic environments and the way they connect to our well-being. “We have accepted the twin pillars of wellness as exercise and nutrition, and I just felt like, Yeah, but we’re forgetting about environment,” she says. “What surrounds you absolutely affects what you feel like and how you think and your ability to be your best self.” In the book she lays out the basics. The gist? “Everyone can be their own designer and, actually, you already know everything you need to know.”
“Like in any cooking, you need that pop of heat,” says Michelle, noting the bold mustard sofa in her study. She used this vibrant hue in dashes throughout the house, such as on the ceiling in the kitchen.
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发表于 2021-1-28 22:25:56
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