“Not until hell freezes over,” I told my husband, after he asked if we could move into his newly vacant rental house.

Then, hell froze over.

He fixed it up so nicely, I couldn’t resist.

Also, something curious happened. After we agreed not to move in and I relaxed, there was more space to consider something new.

Here’s a very short story in pictures of this Something New.

When I left my home with a lake view for a house two miles away, surrounded by evergreens and no water view, I had no idea that this tree would rock and ground my world. I see her from my office and my bedroom. She is elephantine to me, goddess-like, full of emotion, gesticulating, reaching up into the heavens of possibility, grounded into the earth, filled with wisdom, history.

I call her “Elephantina.” For short: Tina, Phana . . . still deciding. I’m not one for nicknames.

Historically, I’ve been very fussy about “sleep hygiene.” Black out shades, keep the world outside so I can relax and fade away.

Now, in a quieter neighborhood, away from the lake and the roar of the freeways, I’ve started to sleep with my blinds pulled three-quarters down. Because I want to see the expanse of Elephantina’s arms outside, like a full embrace. It’s so comforting. I feel safe and cared for. With her on one side of me and my husband the other, I get this exquisite sense of aliveness, which is a funny thing to say about going to/being in bed.

Of course, nothing is different between my old house and now: a body, in a bed, going to sleep, next to my husband. Slightly overheating. Getting up to pee and not falling back to sleep. But the surroundings make a difference. Here, unimagined tranquility from my arbor protector.

This is the biggest house I’ve lived in since my parents. I married at 49. Before that, I lived on my own in apartments and eventually my very own one-bedroom condo. The last house was 1800 sq feet. This one is 2800. We like to entertain and have family over, so it works. Having more space is more delicious than I could have imagined. Like my wings can let themselves out a bit. It makes me giddy, this space.

When I’m in the family room watching TV and I have to use the bathroom, I feel like a princess, or some grande dame, walking down the processional.

Sometimes I strut a bit, like a model on a runway, to my husband’s amusement. Over time, this has led to a desire for a pair of fancy pajamas. I have never in my life bought or desired fancy pajamas. I don’t even sleep in pajamas. But this house is begging for a pair. The vision, the calling, the whispers wouldn’t go away. Who says it’s an inside-out life!

I just ordered this pair.

One of the delights of this house is having a fenced in back yard.

We have two grandkids who live a mile away. They’re 3 and 5. In the last house, we played by running up and down our 10 meter long driveway. A tad lame but we made it work. Now, we can go in the backyard and do somersaults and throw the frisbee.

I’ve been doing handstands. I haven’t done handstands in the grass for years.

I’m telling you, there’s something about this backyard and the soft-firmness of this lawn that has me doing handstands much better than I could have imagined.

Even cartwheels!

Just say no to boring front doors!

Our last house had a similar color scheme: blue/grey house, yellow door.

The yellow door brought us smiles year after year, along with our visitors. Can I tell you something? We were the only yellow door for miles nine years ago. Over time we spotted more and more yellow front doors, and like to credit ourselves with starting a trend (the mind on ego juice perhaps?).

Yellow and oranges look good with blue because they’re complimentary colors. This means they’re on opposite side of the color wheel, so they feel good to the system when experienced visually.

This house is a deeper shade of blue because we had to paint brick. My husband and I debated/squabbled/discussed the color for a few weeks. He wanted darker, I wanted to steer clear of black. Black is not a color!

For the door, I used my mango swimsuit as a color sample. We matched it to a tee.

It’s a very satisfying experience to stroll up our front walkway, with Elephantina as greeter and this deep golden door.

We like the idea of people getting soaked in a golden door experience before entering our home.

We don’t have a golden key—yet.

You don’t hear about people hanging shower curtains on their office walls as decor.

But I did (and no, I don’t even drink!).

On a tip from a friend, I bought this artisanal shower curtain from Etsy for my previous office, to hide open shelves behind my desk, and give my clients something beautiful to look at on Zoom calls.

I absolutely loved it, and kept trying to figure out a way to make it work in my new office—which I wasn’t very excited about. It looked so small and grim unfurnished.

For weeks I stood in my new office, with its new rubber tree desk (I wanted natural fibers) and a bright orange chair, and I stared at the bare walls wondering how to kick some life into the place. I couldn’t let the shower curtain go. I wanted it in my life. I found the print version, considered buying that with a frame. My mom came to visit and told me I was crazy to put a shower curtain on my goddamn wall.

I resisted! My instincts kept cheering: shower curtain shower curtain shower curtain. I wanted the hugeness of the shower curtain image. After all, there is such a thing as fabric art.

“Just let me try one time and I’ll let it go,” I pleaded with my mom and husband. We put it up against the wall with my impractical rose sofa, banged a few nails in the ring holes just to see—and stood back.

Hell yeah. IT JUST FELT GOOD.

Even my mom and Steve agreed.

I’m super happy.

Whenever I try to be “practical” with my design choices, I get steered in the wrong direction. Doing what I like, or what calls to me is always the ticket.

It makes me smile and a bit of me break open into an AHHHH every time I enter my office. My own little garden of eden.

Now that I have an artistic shower curtain on my office wall, I hope that frees you up to new ideas for your interiors.

ANYTHING GOES!

Design concepts are all made up!

What’s really surprised me most about moving into this house: How much I love it.

I left my old house just when I was making good friends in the neighborhood. Everything I loved to do was walking distance: swimming, beaching, meeting up with friends to walk/swim/visit.

And here I am, in a state of unexpected bliss. Loving my habitat more than I could have imagined, and being delighted every day by how my surroundings are affecting my body-life system, sensations and hankerings.

Here’s a book I have, and keep meaning to read that is short, sweet and beautifully written:

Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live
by Akiko Busch