The Secret Room

It began with a letter in my inbox from Ingrid Fetell Lee—(you may remember I mentioned her excellent book, ‘Joyful’, way back when).
An afterthought feature near the bottom of her email caught my eye enough to save it to read later.

The feature was titled ‘The Secret Room’.
Intriguing, yes?

When I finally followed the link to read it I found my head going 50 directions at once for the premise was this….

Imagine that you have a secret room in your home that nobody else will ever see. What does that space look like?

Sit with that for a minute and let me know what comes up for you.

Maybe a feeling of delight. A thrill at doing something exactly how you want it without fear of being out of step, questioned, or judged.
No internet trends you’ve missed, no one swaying your decisions, no Pinterest clue as to what colors are in/out.

Now, mind you, I have an entire cottage dedicated to my art-making, and I alone decide what goes where and what plants are in the pots. But when it came to my own home, I realized that I was still vulnerable to how someone else might perceive my choices.
When I allowed myself to entertain the question, I could see entire walls of a room covered in shelves, top to bottom, filled with books, books, and more books. (I likely carry some shame when it comes to reading. My mom considered it not a good use of time. And I think I should be a genius with all that I’ve read but alas, no. I’m just someone who loves to read—and who considers it a bit of a guilty pleasure, so I tend to have as many books stuck out of sight as I do books on shelves.)

So, back to that question…imagine you have a secret room in your home that nobody else will ever see—what would it look like?

Pure delight bubbles up when one does this—and it begs the question—what are we doing with these invisible limits we set on ourselves? How might they be impacting other areas of our lives?

In our art making?
In our studio space?
In the subject matter we choose to paint?
In our future plans?

‘We don’t let ourselves explore the breaths of our own desires because we’re trying to protect ourselves from other people’s judgment.’
~ Ingrid Fettel Lee


‘I’m currently trying to unlearn this habit, and I’ll admit I instantly felt lighter after hearing those words. Creating a joyful home isn’t about what anyone else thinks — it’s truly all about you. It might not always be picture-perfect, but if the essence of what’s there makes you happy, that’s all that matters.’
~ Daniela Araya, Apartment Therapy

I feel lucky to have stumbled across this thought because it pulls the covers off of inauthentic choices and helps shed light on our true desires (not those carefully crafted ‘let’s-fit-in-don’t-stand-out-too-much’ choices)… but the choices that make our hearts beat faster!

As you might suspect, this great question, written with home decor in mind, fits every area of our lives…

• If you could paint paintings that no one would ever see, what would you paint? On what surface? With what medium?
• If you could spend a day that no one would ever see/know about, how would you spend it?
• If you could imagine something so amazing for yourself that no one else would ever know about, what would it be?

I love a good question that helps us to stretch into where we are meant to live. Leave a comment below and let me know what you’re thinking these days!

Here’s to more books, more paintings, more me being me and you being you!

Morning Walk in France
12 x 12 oil on linen panel

P.S. A few new paintings for sale just added here!