KIM MECKLER
Good day Lacombe!
Isn’t it exciting that the Lacombe Express is now in your fair city with a definite focus on what is new and newsworthy in Lacombe?
As a former resident I have fond feelings for the City of Lacombe and am privileged to be writing for you every week as I share my interior design tips and tricks and some life lessons along the way. Please feel free to email me any design questions you may have at kmeckler@carpetone.biz and I will be sure to answer them either in this article or in a personal email.
I was recently in Lacombe visiting a friend and was taken back in a wave of nostalgia for this friendly community; you folks truly have something special. As I walked into the junior high for the first time in many years to watch my friend’s daughter’s volleyball game I was reminded of all the years spent there while my own daughter attended. From basketball games to graduation ceremonies there are good memories which came fl ooding back from the sights, smells and sounds in that building.
Our environment can create in us memories and emotions simply by how it may remind us of warm recollections from our past. Often we will subconsciously recreate a reading nook or fireplace hearth which is reminiscent of some long tucked away memory. These bits of nostalgia bring us joy and a great deal of comfort.
My mom had a knitted blanket in the most awful combinations of blue combined in a bold chevron pattern. She would curl up under it in the evenings on the red velvet loveseat that was in her master bedroom and read or write letters. I have always (since then) had a cozy blanket or two on my couch or chair for TV watching and reading. The presence of these throws is evocative and practical and reminds me of times spent with my mom in her bedroom.
We all have those comfort zones, don’t we? Do you find you have set up your kitchen so it functions like the kitchen you grew up in? I still keep my bread in the microwave which people often comment on (that’s weird!) yet that is where my mom kept it. Even though I may not decorate in blue, white and burgundy there is still a fondness in my heart for old, two-storey heritage homes like the one I grew up in. I know that the childhood memories were sweet and there is a great comfort in replicating some of those elements in my current home.
Recently I saw a cluster of glass grapes at a home design store perched on a modern chrome coffee table – wow! My mind raced back to my auntie’s house and the very same grapes which sat on her coffee table. Her coffee table was oak with turned spindles and yellow opaque glass door inserts but seeing the grapes made me want to sit beside the coffee table with a colouring book. Wouldn’t that have made the sales associates wonder about me!
Try creating your own updated version of favourite spaces and memories. Whether you bring back a vintage look or update a memory, those spaces will always give you a pleasant feeling of nostalgia.
Kim Meckler is an interior designer in Red Deer with Carpet Colour Centre.