Architecture and its impact

I never realised before how much of an impact the architecture of your home has on your daily life and rhythms.

One week in our new home, and already there's a marked difference. Previously, the activities which I saw as part of my simple living journey - crafting, baking, faffing around on the internet researching - seemed to pull us apart rather than bring us together. I would be drawn into a different room, a different rhythm, and I spent far too much time with headphones in listening to the radio or watching historic re-enactments, period dramas and other sources of entertainment information.

Now, those same activities bring us together. The layout of our home means that we inhabit the same space even when doing different activities, with space to retreat to for alone time or quiet. The broad, high windows invite in the day and make the outside seem so tempting. The weekend was a festival of simple pleasures - a stroll in the park, discovering our local library, browsing the local market and coming home with some finds (which have reawakened my interest in preserving - of which more anon). I delight in being here and I can't wait to come home each day.

This is a nourishing home - both physically and spiritually. This has quickly become a home for baking bread and cakes, for welcoming friends and for venturing into the outdoors. For savouring silence and relaxing with music. This is a home of conscious choices in a way that our home was not just two weeks ago. And because it looks after me, I look after it more than my previous home.