Travel is finally opening up after Covid and many of us are flocking to vacations put off for more than a year. For me, traveling always influences my aesthetic designs. Sometimes the influences are specific and other times a compilation of all the visual and tactile experiences that come with travel.
Even though we are vaccinated, many of us are still feeling uneasy about traveling, myself included. We decided we are going to travel within the United States to places where vaccination rates are high. The United States has so many wonderful places to visit. Each place that you travel to offers a learning experience and the ability to take some of that uniqueness home to enjoy.
If you go out west, there are many beautiful textiles, pottery and rugs that you can bring home and add to your décor. I also wander into antique shops wherever I go as they offer up treasures from bygone years that can find a new place either in my home or my clients’ homes. The pieces we bring home offer both memories of vacation and an ability to bring more sophisticated objects and worldly goods into your home to enjoy for many years and possibly pass down to future generations.
Travel also helps us relax and get out of work mode. The ability to relax allows us to take in both the natural world and the beautifully handmade world. It opens us to seeing both nature and art objects in a different light.
My husband, Mark, and I have decided to revisit Santa Fe and go on to Taos. Since we had been home for so long, I wanted a place that felt different from our home in the city or out at the beach in Montauk. New Mexico has a great vibe. Visiting Santa Fe will give us the opportunity to enjoy both the natural world and shopping and searching for treasures to bring back home. And I love to go to places that offer great regional food. Living in New York City there is no shortage of restaurants that can allow us to enjoy so many foods from different places. But there is something about enjoying regional foods in their place of origin. There are also many galleries and shops to wander in and the landscape is so different from here on the East Coast. The blue sky is so intense against the dry reddish colors of the high desert.
There are so many places to travel to that evoke both familiar and new experiences. I love going to New Orleans and staying in the French Quarter. Food, antiques, museums and the cemetery tours all transport you to a unique place. Boston has many places to learn about our country’s history, as does Washington, D.C. Death Valley in California is another incredible place to visit to see so many different kinds of natural beauty that are relatively close by. Travelling to Death Valley inspired a palette of beautiful colors to incorporate into my paint color selections.
Many of the cities I choose to visit offer historic house tours that I always take the time to visit. Not only do I learn about history but about how people enjoy their homes. I relish seeing the way they decorate, the art and collectibles they bring into their homes and the colors they choose. Seeing the gardens and outdoor landscapes is also so much fun. All of these visits are an endless source of inspiration for both home and garden.
There are so many wonderful choices in home design that editing can also be a challenge but one that I also enjoy. Take the time to edit or choose colors that can tie your various elements together to create your own personal oasis. If editing is a challenge, call in a professional who can take the emotion out of home design and help you edit or rearrange your pieces and add ones that are more complementary to the overall design you wish to achieve.
Happy travels, happy decorating, happy home.
For more, call 914-447-6904 or email Cami@camidesigns.com.
