Jean Nayar - The Happy Home Project: A Practical Guide to Adding Style and Substance to Your Home

Copyright 2011 Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc.

1271 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

Womans Day is a registered trademark of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Inc.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

Design: DMello+Felmus Design Inc. (www.dmellofelmus.com)

Editor: Lauren Kuczala

Production: Lynn Scaglione and Annie Andres

All rights reserved. no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First eBook Edition: June 2011

ISBN: 978-1-936297-53-5

: Kate Sears.

w ho doesnt want a happy home? When I began writing this book, my home was already happy. In fact, over the years when I was working in an office building, I would often come home at the end of the day, walk through the front door and whisper gratefully to myself, I live in heaven.

An imperfect heaven, to be sure. But heaven nonetheless. Still, I had dreamsand many of them revolved around my home. Others had to do with my career. So I set out on a journey to see if I could make some of the dreams in both of these areas come true. And with the support of my husband, Anil; my editor and publisher, Dorothe Walliser; and my fantastic family and friends, I embarked on The Happy Home Project.

It began last April and was inspired by a book called The Happiness Project, which was written by Gretchen Rubin and supported by Womans Day magazine. Knowing the time was right, I endeavored to take on a similar project, and launched a blog where I could chronicle my experiences and findings. My project, however, was targeted specifically on the makings of a happy home, where my experience lies. And I started with an ambitious wish list of home improvements, which I aimed to take on in my own home over the course of a year. In the process, I also planned to explore a wide range of cross-cultural design ideas, take them for a test drive in my own domain and report on the results. Though the journey is incomplete, much of what I learned and encountered along the way is contained within the pages of this book.

At the height of the chaos and upheaval caused by the renovation projects in our home, I was writing the chapter in this book called Spirit (hilarious, Im sure, to the gods of irony who surely orchestrated the timing). Not surprisingly, with so many people coming and going and so much daily commotionmultiple deliveries, endless appointments, mountains of tools and plaster and floor tiles and cabinet boxes and door handles and paint cans and debris-filled garbage bags and Lord knows what elsethis was also the time when mistakes were sometimes made, budgets were overrun, tempers occasionally flared, andin the quiet moments after the workers left but before my husband came hometears were sometimes shed. It wasnt so much about the stress of the reconstruction, I came to realize, as it was about the change in my life in generaland much of it seemed to be just beyond the grasp of my control. My home really was a reflection of the change that was happening within me. And it was more change than I was really ready for.

Eventually, though, the calm followed the storm, and I was able to fulfill half of the wishes on my wish list. But not without heaps of help from my family and friends. In fact, as I pressed along on this journey, dozens of new friendships bloomed. And Im especially grateful to all of the design industry friends who sponsored or supported my efforts.

While I wouldnt recommend writing a book in the midst of a multilevel home improvement project, doing so was enlightening on many levels. No one ever said life is always serene. Chicken soup is one thing, but a healthy challenge can be good for the soul, too. So frayed nerves and depleted bank account aside, Im glad to have had the opportunityand the support I neededto take on this project. For the process has enriched my homeand my lifesubstantially. And by sharing some of the lessons learned, I hope the ideas contained in this book may brighten the way for your own endeavors.

As I write these words after completing the book, I look toward a future that is wide open and entirely uncertain, but one thing is crystal clearmy closets are organized and beautiful, my walls are freshly painted and my renovated kitchen makes me really happy. Of course the material comforts, in my case, are simply the icing on the cake, for theyre just a dim reflection of my real joy, which is the beauty of my simple life and the numerous and astoundingly wonderful people who fill it. Yet, mine isnt the only story with a happy ending (or, I should say, middle) in this book. Every single home and every single room on the pages that follow has a story, a message or an idea that can be of service to anyone on the road toward domestic bliss. I hope these stories will inspire you to embark on your own happy home projectand if you come through a changed person like I have, my bet is that it will be for the better.

Surely theres no one-size-fits-all recipe for a happy home. But after doing lots of research, taking lots of test drives, and making lots of trials and lots of errors, Ive come up with a list of ingredients that Im convinced contribute to the joy in mine. By sharing these ingredients, I hope youll try mixing a dash of one here with a dollop of another there, combining them with your personal alchemy to see what effect they have on the happiness of your own home. Here are my ingredients:

Access to nature Nothing brightens a home like a touch of Mother Nature, whether its a burst of fresh air, a ray of sunshine, a lakeside view or a tiny potted plant. A connection with nature reminds you that youre a part of a larger order that has rhythms and energy and laws that reflect and nourish the microcosm that is you.

Just-right spaces More than not-too-big and not-too-small, just-right spaces contain just enough stuff to make them comfortable, functional and visually appealing to you. Just-right rooms are well edited and include only things that have meaning or a purpose. They usually dont happen overnight, but rather evolve slowly over time as you eliminate and add just-right things as you go along.

Something for everyone When a home accommodates more than one person, it needs to feel like home to everyone who lives in it. Allocating nooks and crannies to different forms of personal expression can allow disparate tastes to happily coexist in a patchwork that provides room for all.

Personality If theres one thing that puts a damper on happiness in a home, its cookie-cutter rooms. Happy rooms show something of the personality of their owners, whether its a collection of vintage quilts, a gutsy work of art, a handmade throw or a favorite color.

Elements of comfort To many of us, the word comfortas it relates to the homeconnotes overstuffed chairs, fluffy pillows and fuzzy throws. But in this context, elements of comfort have more to do with an individuals sense of beauty and the objects and colors and shapes that put him or her at ease.

Order An ordered home isnt just about having a place for everything with everything in its place. Its about all of the elementsand the rituals they supportthat ease the flow from dusk to dawn, spring to fall, work to play. Its also about eliminating the inconsequential and celebrating the essential. As a landscape designer I know says, More of less is always a good thing.