All I ever wanted was to live in a home that looked like it could be on a Pinterest board! What do you think? Pinterest worthy?

I’m really happy with it and thought I’d share some of my favorite parts of putting this gallery wall + living space together. I think interior design is just another way to express oneself, so this is all very personal to me.

White, gray, wood, and accents of gold are the most prominent colors in my living space. With so many neutrals, it’s important to infuse some life and interest, so I also have a few house plants and patterns on my couch pillows. I wanted some of the art to be an extension of life, so the first two pieces I started with were the leaf paintings.

Of course, painted leaves are not enough nature for this California girl, so I decided to go with a gorgeous photograph of clear waters and white sand at a beach, and another photograph of a surreal looking pink cotton candy sky. I get very little beach time out here, and the skies rarely look this pretty, so why not throw them on the wall.

Because I am not full-on crunchy granola* and I didn’t want the wall to be too busy, I kept the last two frames minimal and white. I love this sketch of a woman’s silhouette and her red lips; it’s simple, yet sensual. Classy and slightly provocative. I’d say that’s a good reflection of me and my lovely French roommate. 😉

The last picture says “THIS MUST BE THE PLACE” and is the most personal to me. This is the name of a song by the Talking Heads written by David Byrne, and it’s one of my favorite love songs. It’s is so weird. The bass line is so happy and repetitive, and it doesn’t change at any point, so it’s almost like the song has no beginning, middle, or end – kind of how you feel when you’re loopy in love. The lyrics are also strange, just a string of the most romantic non sequiturs I’ve ever heard in my life, which tell no story but don’t need to.

I could go on about why I love this song, but I put this on my wall because he connects the idea of love with the idea of home. There is nothing more romantic to me than feeling at home when you are with your beloved, making a home in your lover’s heart and vice versa. At the same time, now that I get to create my own home, I want it to be a place where I feel love and all the things which accompany love, like warmth, happiness, joy, connection, safety.

I’d like to think I based my blog name after this song, but it is just a happy coincidence for me to be Trace in the Place.

xoxo

Trace

*crunchy granola is a term I believe I coined in 2011 (@ me if you believe differently) to describe someone who may like to wear loose fitting, linen clothes in colorful tie dye patterns, who may live in berkeley, alameda county, or maybe bossed up and moved to Marin county, who may use essential oils as perfume, who may only eat organically grown, locally-sourced produce, who may own hiking boots to wear every weekend at Mt Tam or Tilden Park, who may drive a Prius that does not make a sound, who may pickle their own vegetables and compost flawlessly… if you know, you know.