January Mood

The moment January arrives, I’m ready for a deep clean and refresh of our home. I feel such gratification when every single fallen pine needle is gone. I am a true German - I like to open our windows - even if just for a moment - for fresh air. Shake out our duvet… clean every blanket and pillow. I sweep and hose down our entryway steps. I follow Martha Stewart’s weekly, monthly and seasonal cleaning checklists.

January is my time to create a wintertime sanctuary… Nick and I call our home our “homeostasis”. In January, I’m looking forward to spring, but I’m also settling in for winter. I switch out my living room pillows, I bring out all of my beach glass and shells, I update our fireplace mantle, I repot a couple of topiaries… little things that make a big difference for me!

With all of the usual feelings that come with this month - new ideas and beginnings - I like to be inspired by my surroundings. I tend to gravitate towards soft textures in hues of pink, blue and green. Most of my inspiration comes from people living in warmer climates… all of this can be summed up in the mood board above. 🐚✨🐚

Once I’ve cleared all of the evergreen arrangements from my house, I set up my desk. One of the first things I do is find a perfectly fresh scented candle. A few of my favorites f0r the new year - Fresh’s Citron de Vigne (lemony citrus), Capri Blue’s Lola Blosson (gardenia), Tocca’s Stella (blood orange), and Illume’s Coconut Milk Mango (very sweet coconut). For projects, to do lists and drawings, I use this notebook (best paper to write on in the world). Every Christmas, Santa brings me the Karen Adams calendar. The monogrammed notepad is from Dogwood Hill. I tend to collect tumblers and containers for my pens and pencils. The little blue one is by Craft Advisory. My latest obsession is the company Asp & Hand… the pink and green tumbler that holds the fresh tulips is by them.

I’ve found a few pretty things for Valentine’s Day… this mug and guava scented candle from Williams Sonoma (I found both at the dangerously close outlet) and little sweetheart candy napkins.

I’m the type of person that needs everything to be in its place before I can be productive. So apparently, I’m ready!