Episode 149. Transforming Your Space from Uninspiring to Uniquely Yours
Marian, I'm so excited to have you today. Thank you for joining me on the show. I'm excited to be here. I'm glad you asked me to do this. This is so fun. I always love having conversations about decor and hospitality and things like that around like the fall and winter times of year, because I just feel like we.
Entertain and have people in our homes. At least I do more during that time of year than maybe any other time of year. And so I was really excited to hear about your new book. It's called feels like home, transforming your space from uninspiring to uniquely yours. I want to hear just to kick us off a little bit behind, um, I don't know your desire for the message of this book and, and kind of your heart.
Well, the idea for the book came from my own move. We moved from Pennsylvania to Minnesota. Charming two and a half story, Cape Cod, 1940s home into this very pretty typical suburban home, very beige with the two story foyer, all of that, which was not what I was looking for. I really wanted an old home. So as we're moving to Minnesota, I'm imagining all these, you know, the white clad farm houses and soda, like there must be those all over the place.
Well, there are, but not. Near where my husband works and near where my kids go to school and in our budget like that didn't come with a hundred acres of farmland. So yeah. This, this was what we found that fit our budget and that was in the right location. And that also ticked all the boxes for just the space we needed for our stage of life, what space I needed for my business, because it was going to be run out of the home.
So it was really perfect in so many ways. It just. Old it wasn't what I was looking for. And I remember feeling like as someone who shares their home online on Instagram and my blog that my readers and followers would be really disappointed in this very typical suburban home. And that following me, working on this house would be really boring.
And the feedback I got was quite the opposite. If. That kitchen looks just like mine. I can't wait to see what you do with it. Or so there was, it was so relatable. It was like, thank you for working on a house that looks like so many homes that we live in. And so it just became this very relatable, um, process of adding character and my own personal touches to this very, you know, Nondescript non-offensive neutral home.
And I think that's what a lot of people face when they buy a house it's it's beige and cream and neutral. And so it pleases everybody and. That for most people doesn't feel like home. It doesn't feel comfortable and inviting. And so this book is really about customizing that kind of empty shell and, um, and filling it with your personality.
I love that because I think some of that. I think all of us could say we have lived in a home that wasn't quite like the cookie cutter of everything that we would desire. Right. Like, that's just not always reality. So I love that your story includes that because that I think adds a layer of just like, I'm just like you, like, I'm just also trying to make my house look like a home.
Right. And I, cause I think we're all kind of in that place. And so if somebody is listening and they're like, yeah, that sounds great. Rebecca and Marianne, but like what actually are the things that maybe make a house a home? I know that I know that's different for everybody, but what are maybe some themes of some things that you see when maybe like the switch goes off for somebody and it no longer feels like house, but it begins to feel like a home.
I do think it's different for everyone. It's and that's, I think a really beautiful thing about this book is it's not about decorate your house in my style. It's about. Discover your style and not, you know, to try to put the blinders on when it comes to trends and you know, everything that you're seeing everybody do on, um, Instagram and Pinterest and blogs and magazines, because it can start to, you can start to feel this sense of sameness.
And then if your house doesn't look like that, it can feel like maybe you're off the mark or you're doing something wrong or you don't have good taste or. You're stuck in the wrong decade. And so I think this book is really about encouraging, embracing what feels like home to you. And I think that that for most of us, it is sort of this amalgamation of.
Memories. And it could be memories from your childhood. It could be a grandparent's house. It could be a place you visited. That just felt like home, like no other place, even though you've never lived there. Um, Memories that you've maybe created as an adult and then the memories that you want to create for your family and your kids and your grandkids and people who come to your house.
So I think it's kind of this mishmash of those things. And I can definitely see that in my home. I can see my grandparents there and I can see my childhood in Germany. My dad was in the military, so I grew up overseas and I could see those things, but then I can also see this sort of, this is, this is what I want.
Our life to be like for the future, this is what I want our life to be like in the present and adding in those things as well that, um, you know, that all makes our house feel like home. Yeah. Yeah. As you're talking through that, Marion, it's reminding me of a few things in our home. So my husband and I have been married about two and a half years.
And. I guess about six months after we got married, we moved into, we had been in one rental home that he lived in before we got married. And then we moved to a little bit of a larger home with a fenced in backyard for our dog. And it was more of what we needed and. During the move, it was terrible timing, but, um, the way it worked out, we went to Israel.
It was before the pandemic and it was something that my husband and I had both always wanted to do at my husband helped lead the trip. And it was just really one of the most life-changing experiences of both of our lives, um, to just walk where Jesus walked and to be in the holy land. It was just amazing.
So as I look around our home now, We have since moved into that new home. And we have this canvas in our dining room that my husband got me as a gift. Um, and it's sort of like, uh, a Panorama of Jerusalem. My husband got an olive tree, which we like fell in love with while we were over in Israel that we planted in our backyard.
We're probably the only people in south Mississippi that have an olive tree in their yard, but there are so many like little micro things. As I, as I think about my home, that reminds me. Just such a pivotal trip of, of mine and my husband's life. And like you're saying, I've never lived in Israel, but when I went to Israel, it felt like home.
And so a little piece of me feels like it's still in Israel, but that also is very representative of my home when you walk through our homes. So, yeah, that's just one, as you're talking through that, I kind of came up with an example and so that's mine, but I know his listeners are listening that they can probably think of those things as well.
And even. Even if you can, maybe what are some things that you could incorporate into your home moving forward? So I love that. So speaking of style, we you've brushed over that a couple of times, I'm curious how you coach people to try to find their style and then implement it into their home. So this is actually a new thing that I talked about in the book, because.
I was thinking about that they're all these style quizzes and magazines and books. And, and I think that finding your style is a difficult thing because we don't all fit neatly in a category. We can take an online quiz and then it says, you know, you're Bohemian chic. And then it's like, well, what does that mean?
And, but I like other things as well. So how do I reconcile all the different things I like. So I think. While those style quizzes, they can be helpful and giving you kind of a point in the right direction. I think they can end up being more, uh, like confusing and then you feel a little conflicted when maybe you're not following that style.
Doesn't encapsulate everything you love. So, Came up with is so instead of putting together this visual mood board or a board on Pinterest that's with pictures and images of stuff that you don't have, that you don't own, that are pictures of other people's spaces, instead of starting there. Start by collecting things in your home that are your favorite things, and it can be anything.
It can be clothing, jewelry, food, um, flowers. It can be little things. It could be natural elements. It could be fabrics. It's just things that you're like. I love this. I don't know why. I don't know how I, how I'll use it. You know, maybe it's just some ribbon. I mean, it could be anything and put those things together in what I would call a living mood board.
And what you'll see is a collection of all the things that you love. And that is your style that will show you. Um, and maybe it's like a little, all over the place, in which case you're just really eclectic. And then just embrace that. You don't have to fit in any boxes. That's okay. Maybe you see a very strong color palette, like it's all neutrals or it's all cool colors are warm colors.
Maybe you see, there's a lot of texture, there's a lot of natural elements. It can just give you a point in the dirt in the right direction. And I think it gives you your style in a very specific, tangible way. These are things you bought you chose and you've loved, uh, hopefully for a long time, or maybe it's a new acquisition, something that you really love now.
But I think that'll give you a really good visual place to say. Yeah, that's so good. Okay. So for listeners who feel okay, I'm in the thick of like fall, I'm entertaining people. And I want to find my style. I want to do these things, but the idea feels overwhelming to like overhaul my home or make major changes.
What are, what's some encouragement that you would give them in terms of where to start. Right. Well, first I would say, don't start like right before you have people coming over, because yeah, it shouldn't decorating. First of all, it's not a competition. It's not a race rooms are not forcing you to work on them, unless you have something like, you know, something that needs to function.
That's not functioning like in your kitchen or, or in the bathroom. Um, so other than that, I would say. To not start projects right before big holidays, or before you have people over, that's just setting yourself up to then make it feel like it is a race and you have to make decisions and finish it. Um, so do it when there's plenty of time or when you have people coming where you don't mind, if it's half finished, um, I would say you should be able to have anyone over and not worry if your house is half finished anyway, but you know, We want our homes to look nice when people come over.
That's why we run the vacuum real quick and kind of pick up, pick up things and throw them in a closet. Um, yeah, so don't start projects right ahead of time. Um, but as far as other places to start, I would say start small. I am a big fan of giving yourself victory in small things. So. You're not working on an entire room, but maybe you just, um, kind of fluff some things up or you rearrange the accessories or you paint a piece of furniture.
That's been, um, you know, it's kind of worn and. Stained and needs a new, fresh coat of paint on it. And you give yourself victory in these, just these little things, and then it will start to encourage you to, okay, well now I've done that. I feel like it looks really good. I like it. So I can now continue on with other things that are, maybe I can tackle the whole room now.
The wall color and the focal point and a statement piece, and some of those other kind of bigger things in a room. Yeah. I love that. I love that. Okay. Over the last few years, wallpaper has became such a new thing. Again, it's coming back, which I love. I did an accent wall in this office, which Marian can see our listeners.
Can't wait in the middle of COVID because I decided. This is the room I spend my life in. And so I don't love it and I need to love it. And so I kind of did what you're saying, Marion of like, all right, the corner where I record podcasts, I want to love, I want to love the way it looks on camera. I want to love sitting in this chair, all the things.
And so that was kind of my one. My one space where I got victory over is like, I love, I love this room. And so you talk though about something called starched fabric walls. I've never heard of this. I want to hear about it. And it's sort of like a cheap alternative for wallpaper. Yeah. Well, it depends on the cost of the fabric.
That's true. Yes. In general, it can, when you stack the cost of wallpaper versus fabric, next to one another, um, first of all, fabric comes in wider panels. So you get a lot more for the yardage and, uh, So it can be cheaper, but I think that the big selling point is it can be, first of all, it looks like wallpaper and it can be removed without damaging the wall.
So this is actually an old military wives trick that my mom taught me. She used in our house growing up in military housing and. You just use plain old liquid starch just in the back blue bottle in the laundry aisle. And you can either dunk the fabric in it, which that can be a little messy, but that's fine if you're doing like a small area, like a backsplash or something like that.
Um, but if you're doing the wall like a full wall, I did a full room in this technique. I used a paint roller and pour the starch into a roller tray. Just like you would paint. Rolling on the wall, stick the fabric to the starch, and then just as you would with wallpaper, you trim it to size. And then I would roll starch over the fabric to really saturate it.
And then as it dries it. Stays put, and then when you're ready to take it down, either you're moving or you're tired of it being there, you just peel it off and it doesn't damage the walls at all. And you can even wash and reuse the fabric for other projects. So it is just a fantastic hack. And I'm surprised that more people don't know about it.
Yeah. I've never heard of this, but it is. Really making me want to go try it. I love that. I love that a lot easier. It's a lot easier, I think, to hang them wallpaper as well. And I mean, I love, I have wallpaper and fabric walls in my house, both. So I am a fan of both, but I think that this is a great option.
If you have a fabric, you really love that you can't find a wallpaper for, if you're on a budget. I did a whole room for, it was under $500 for all the fabric for the walls. Quite a big bang for the buck when you'd compare it to how much paper would cost. Um, and then for people who like they've been there, done that with wallpaper, they've stripped it and they're do not want to do that again.
Then searching fabric is a really great option. Yeah, that's so true. I think we've. We all have PTSD. When we think about some former memory of stripping walls of wallpaper, at least I do so. Yeah. I think that's great. And it's amazing that it doesn't damage the walls because I think that's, that's the thing even with, um, I mean the, the wallpaper I have behind me, it's peel and stick, which is great as well, but that tends to be, that can get super pricey.
Um, that's why. Yeah, I love that idea. Okay. So something else that you talk about in the book that I've never really thought a lot about is the areas of our home that you would call pass through spaces. Will you talk about these a little bit and why do they have. So those are the rooms, like the foyer, the hallways, the laundry room, the bathrooms, uh, they're just, we call them in the book, the rest of the rooms, because they usually don't get their own category.
Like you don't see the magazine that comes out. That's like the hallway edition, how to decorate your hallway. And, uh, and so they're their rooms that are often neglected. And so when we first moved into our house, I of course was thinking about like the kitchen and the living room and these rooms where we spend a ton of time.
But then I realized we are in and out of this foyer multiple times a day. It's the first thing people see when they come in our home. It's the first thing we see when we come home and it, it did not feel like us at all. And I just remember this, like, Rush through there, like just get through it and don't look at it.
Or when people would come, I just had this feeling of like, kind of come on in here, come in here, let's just get out of here. And so I started to realize like collectively, if you put all the time together that you're walking through these spaces, how much time you spend in them. So we decided, you know, we're going to bump this up on the priority list for doing something to it.
So. Put in slate tile and the foyer, we redid the steps. They were carpeted, um, 13 year old carpet, which was, it never looked clean, even if you spent a ton of time cleaning it. So we had those, um, converted to be hardwood stairs. And it just, so since we had it painted, I usually do all my own painting, but it's a two-story four years.
So we hired that out and it ended up being one of the rooms that cost the most. But, yeah, it, so you wouldn't think like, oh, we've got a budget, a lot of money for the foyer, but it was so worth it. Every time we walk in the house, we're like, this feels like home, this feels like our house. It no longer was like, we've got to just kinda run through, you know, this, the mud room or whatever it is, the room that you're walking into.
It's it is really important to make that. Welcoming for you. And then for people you have coming over. Yeah. I love that. I love that. I'm thinking of our four year right now and it has some gym equipment in it. It like several other things. And so we, we tell people to never use our front door because it's just a mess, but we could very easily make it feel more like home.
I love that encouragement. And I'm just so excited about this new book. I'm going to say the name of it. One more time. It's called feels like home, transforming your space from uninspiring to uniquely yours. So Marianne, I want to give you the opportunity to share a little bit about where people can find you and access all the things that you're creating.
Where can they grab the book? All the. So, if you just Google miss mustard seed, you're going to find me. But if you, um, you can find me on Instagram, Atmos mustard seed. And my blog is Ms. Mustard, seed.com. So those are the two best places to find me. And then you can kind of go from there. I'm on YouTube and Pinterest and Facebook.
And. All those other places. And then you can buy the book. Anywhere books are sold, you can get it on Amazon Barnes, noble Books-A-Million, uh, lots of slices. Awesome. Good deal. Well, I have loved chatting, um, decor and home with you today, Marianne. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you. I enjoyed it as well.
