BEAUTIFYING ‘ZE BOUDOIR

In the GYOG 2016 Daybook there is a section on Letting Go of 2015. One of the tasks is to create a ceremony or ritual around releasing the old year. This year I decided to play full out with this. I combined simplification (Inner Sage) with creativity (Inner Artist) and productivity (Inner Pro) and completely transformed my bedroom.

The inspiration for this was simple.

A small, extremely cute, 20 month old toddler …

… finally moved into his nursery, allowing myself and Adam to reclaim our room as our own.

(For those who have never surrendered their space, room, bed, clothing, sleep – for nearly two years – to a small, squirming, loud, lovable wriggler, the feeling of reclaiming a metre square of your room and a place you can call your own feels better than winning the lottery).

To redesign this space, let go of its past use and christen it as OURS AGAIN was a perfect Letting Go / Welcoming In Ceremony. This is how it worked:

To begin with I combined the forces of my Inner Sage and Pro. They worked together in unison to empty the wardrobe and donate 70% of the contents to our local charity shops. The same then occurred for the drawers and boxes and hidey holes. Some of Adam’s “collection” of hoodies may have slipped in unnoticed.

We washed the the walls and restored the chest of drawers to its original position under my Goal Map.

For several days I just stood in the bedroom, relishing the space, bathing in the unclutter, feeling like I’d just unlocked several unlocked mansions in my spirit and the sunshine was streaming in.

T’was a blissful feeling.

Next my Inner Artist popped up her head.

She said, “Bethan?”

I said, “What?”

She said, “I’ve got that feeling.”

I nodded. Rubbed my eyes. Said, “Okay, let’s do it.”

As much as I love January (fresh starts, cozy nights and my birthday month) I do get a strange feeling that my eyes are actually BLEEDING from lack of colour. In an attempt to make our room feel calm, we’ve always gone for simple colours and avoided pattern … but suddenly, with this new leaf turned, I gave my colour thirsty Inner Artist the green light to go loop-the-loop.

This bed spread had to be purchased.

And this one.

And one that was covered in rainforest.

It is truly gorgeous, if you like that sort of thing.

I haven’t put it on the bed yet as I’m stilling relishing rolling around in the psychedelic deer one … but I am (admittedly) a little concerned that the jungle one reminds me of some wall paper that Rodney and Del Boy had. When it is finally unleashed on the bed, I will do my best to think Rainforest and not Hooky Street. If I can not help thinking Hooky Street then I will make the final duvet a tribute to duck a’ lorange, plonkers and lovely jubbly.

It’s all about the versatility, you know?

To inch the duvet towards its original inspiration – my deep held love for the jungle – some old school photos of my beloved adventures have been pinned to the scaffolding mirror opposite the meditation rosaries.

Now this room feels like a flipping orchid house of breathtaking beauty.
We bought a new wardrobe. Our dear, talented, characterful and much loved friend, Aky, built it for us yesterday. (I hope that Aky is reading this and notices that I spelt his name with adequate perfection). And with the old wardrobe gone, my Inner Pro has super easy organization of clothing space. Hurrah!

Now, the vibrant colours in this room make my Inner Artist sigh with dreams and imagination.

The clear floor space where I can close the door, meditate and do Yoga, journal, draw or whatever …makes my Inner Sage feels almost inappropriately excited.

This has truly been the BEST “Bon Voyage” to the last phase and “Bonjour!” to 2016 … which, incidentally, has been wonderful so far!

I hope your is also going swimmingly.

If you are like me, and have not had the chance or the time to transform the energy of your home or boudoir for a while, why not spend an afternoon in one particular room and give it some Triple Aspect Gorgeousness Love?

Here’s a quick “how to”:

Start with one area at a time.

Take everything out of the drawer/cupboard/wardrobe. Make two piles – the donate pile and the keep pile. Be bold, be strong and get rid of everything that you can bare.

Clean the space.

Simples dot com.