How to create a home again after 5 years of ‘living lighter’

I light a few candles, poor some hot tea and put on my thick Merino wool socks. In the small street downstairs it’s busy as always. People getting their coffee-to-go at the cosy café across the street and take a small pause from their usually paced walk to watch the windows of some of the creative and inspiring shops. I find it so soothing to hear the soft buzzing of city life in the background, while relaxing in my own comfy living room.

Less stuff created so much space…

When I started to free myself from a lot of my accumulated stuff five years ago, as it started to weigh heavy, I had no idea it would create so much space. Space for decisions that led me towards a life changing path. At that time it was truly freeing, it felt so light. It made space for me to live abroad for some time. It even made space for the decision to sell my house in The Netherlands, a place where I lived for 11 years, to make room for a next phase to unfold.

Stay fluid and open to the flow of life

But the exact thing that frees you at one point in your life, may hold you back at a later moment. That’s why I learned it’s so important to not hold on to any concepts or rigid ideas. But always stay fluid and be open to the flow of life, and the calling of your heart, like water in a stream. Ask myself in any new moment: “What serves me best in this moment? What do I now need? What nourishes me most at this time in my life?” So when I lived through the nomad phase, it was time to create my own space again, my own home. That wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, as the housing market became very tight in the last years. But at the right time, and with some (read: a lot of) patience, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and I found my home for, what I expect to be, the coming years.

I’m facing the next challenge

So here I am facing the next (good) challenge: how to consciously create a cosy creative home again without going back to the mindless consumerism that I let go of five years ago. As I drink the hot and comforting tea and enjoy the shimmering flame of a candle, I look at some of the unpacked boxes that came from my small storage box. The stuff that I kept because they did spark my joy :). I’m so inspired now to create a ‘slow home’ here in the city. To keep that feeling of nourishment and ‘barefoot freedom’ I experienced in the last years. To keep a slower, kinder and more spacious life. SLOW home as in Sustainable, Local, Organic and Whole, as a friendly guideline and where I am able to. Step by step, without any forcing or pushing.

How? The first step at least is that most of my furniture are vintage finds. The flower-artist man that is my boyfriend has an amazing eye for these things and we found such beautiful things for so little money. Things with character and stories behind them. Like a huge old wooden table for homey dinners and creative endeavours. The things I do buy new, like a bed and matrasses for example, I buy consciously and mindfully. It’s such a joy to find alternative and creative ways to create my home sweet home.

I finish my tea and my reminiscing, and start to unpack another box…