Recently, I moved to a new house that was largely undecorated and missing many important pieces of furniture. I have always lived in places that someone else had furnished or I didn’t care how my home looked or made me feel. This time, it fell upon me to either create a space that felt intentional or have the home fall into the stereotype of yet another bachelor pad. I began searching for furniture and art on Facebook, creating room designs on IKEA, and obsessing over what kind of lightbulb would give me the perfect cozy orange glow. It happened slowly, but as the pieces fell into place I began to feel at peace in my home and, despite only having been there a month, I felt like I belonged there. 

I have always primarily experienced beauty in my life by going to a far off place to encounter nature, but in intentionally decorating a house for the first time, I found that my heart responded the same way to a beautiful home as it did a mountain or a sunrise: a feeling of peace, belonging, and a desire for more beauty.