Before we got married, Mr. Scrimp and I talked a lot about our philosophies on pretty much everything--from small things like haircare to big ones like food, religion, housekeeping, and life itself. We talked about these things because we were getting married, but also because we like to think and we like to talk. We are always refining and considering the ways in which we want to define ourselves.
When it comes to keeping a home--and I think the philosophy can be extended to the way I live life in general--I've long been inspired by William Morris's advice to "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
A defining tenet of the Arts & Crafts movement, this guideline is what I keep in mind before I purchase, reorganize, make, or otherwise do anything that is going to impact our home. I don't always do the best job of following it, but I try.
As we get ready for the new year, I look around our little house and feel pretty satisfied with the job I've done of filling it with things that are either useful or beautiful--preferably both. I think it's good to remember the philosophies you want to live by as you quiet your mind after the holidays in preparation for the new beginning that we all get a chance at on January 1.
It's time for Mr. Scrimp and I to pack up and put away the cares of this past year and begin to think about the year that's coming, and how we want to live it.
How about you? I'd love to hear what you're thinking of as you prepare for 2010.
I fear M and I believe too fervently in that sentiment in its halves! He will abide almost nothing that is beautiful unless it has an express use, and I am loathe to have anything about that I cannot bear to look at no matter WHAT it does.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does not help that our standards of beauty, in the case of things that could satisfy both tenets, differ wildly! Or perhaps he is only being contrary with me sometimes, which I know he loves to do.