Creating a Quiet Space in Your Home with Taylor Bowling
Good design goes beyond pretty aesthetics – it’s also about how your space makes you feel. Our guest this week, Taylor Bowling, is the Founder of and creative interior designer behind Home Taylored. Taylor shares the importance of a clean space for our mental health, how to meaningfully and intentionally refresh your home, and the power of manifesting.
Introducing: Taylor Bowling
Taylor Bowling is an interior designer who lives in Charleston, South Carolina. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, where she graduated with a degree in Fashion Design before designing menswear for Tommy Hilfiger for several years. In 2019, Taylor transitioned from the world of fashion design for her first love of interior design. She is now a full-time interior designer and home design influencer focused on designing and creating a home you truly love through her blog, Home Taylored.
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“When I found myself really just unhappy and burned out in fashion design, I [thought], if I’m going to make a career change, it needs to be the thing I love the most and comes truly second nature.” With her Instagram feed full of interior designers and DIY-ers, and spending all of her downtime on her home and making it look and feel better, Taylor shifted seamlessly into the world of thoughtful, intentional interior design.
Taylor believes good design goes beyond pretty aesthetics – it’s also about how your space makes you feel.
Cluttered Space = Cluttered Mind
Taylor has always loved to clean, it de-stresses her and makes her feel relaxed. When she cleans her home, she takes that opportunity to restyle as she goes – rearranging the bookshelves, reorganizing drawers – your space, not just looking good, but feeling good, makes you feel better! Starting your day in your (clean!) space helps set a positive the tone for the rest of your day.
If there’s one thing you can take away and immediately apply to your life, it’s to start every day by making your bed. No one knows whether you made your bed each day, but you do. And you deserve to have a bed that’s nicely made to come home to at the end of a long day. It’s the little things that make a big difference.
Commit to Where You Are
“We’re always evolving and changing. The biggest mistake I see people make when it comes to their homes, is not committing to where they currently are. People think, ‘oh I’m just in this lease for a year, so I’m not going to hang art on the walls or invest in nice bedding.’ Well, why not? Those things can move with you as you move and grow.” Your rental does not need to feel like a rental – it’s important to make it feel like a home, even if it’s not your dream home of forever home.
“You’re there now, and that’s good enough. And you might as well make it feel amazing, not because you’re going to be there forever, but because energetically, when your space feels the way you want to feel, that’s going to inspire you to go after your goals and dreams. It’s so much more than the looks of the house. It’s really for you.”
If you’re ever feeling down, Taylor recommends first taking a look around your home. If you have junk drawers, unorganized piles of things, Amazon boxes cluttering up your floors or your space simply needs a good vacuum… start there. Grab a garbage bag and walk around your home and toss everything from leftovers to junk mail. Taylor swears by this method to shift the energy and reignite a refresh of a space. And it will start to get you out of your funk!
Make it Manageable
Taylor recommends looking at cleaning with a different lens, more from a refresh and design perspective than simply about the act and chore of cleaning. What new candle could you light to make it feel fresh? Do you have any seasonal decor you could add (or pick up) to spruce up your space?
At the end of every day, Taylor and her husband spend 20 minutes refreshing her home. They set a timer and each tackle a specific space and only clean/organize for that allocated time. And if you have little ones, Taylor recommends getting them involved and making a game of it, maybe for 10 or 15 minutes, instead of 20. It’s a less intimidating, manageable way to stay on top of cleaning and keeping your space organized!
Get Creative
If your home/design is feeling in need of a refresh, before you buy or throw away, harness the power of rearranging. Simply move around the furniture you already have, and don’t be afraid to move pieces to different rooms! Just because something has been in your living room doesn’t mean you couldn’t put it in your bedroom or vice versa.
Once you’ve rearranged, then see if you have anything that simply needs a refresh or a fresh coat of paint. From there, Taylor recommends incorporating new (or new-to-you vintage pieces from a thrift shop) with your existing pieces. Most importantly, “give yourself grace to play,” “take your time and don’t overlook what you already own.”
Taylor also recommends leaving space in your home for special pieces you find along the way, but only bring in pieces you absolutely love. If you’re feeling you’re unable to purchase pieces you’d truly love for your space, Taylor recommends waiting instead of settling for something that you don’t absolutely love – and shifting your mindset with a manifesting thought like this: “I am open to creative ways to getting what I want for my home.”
Whether you live in a studio apartment or a larger home with multiple rooms, it’s the little things that set you up. For example, if there’s a candle that you especially love, use that as a subconscious indicator that it’s now time to work or journal or have a quiet moment. Regardless of budget, Taylor recommends bringing life into your home through flowers or plants. But again, prioritize getting your home organized and clean, then allow everything else to follow.
Currently Reading
A Return to Love* by Marianne Williamson
To listen to the full conversation click the links beneath the main photo to listen on your favorite platform!
Affirmation
I am open to creative possibilities for things to come into my home.
Writing Prompt
What spaces in my home make me feel good? What spaces make me feel anxious or heavy? How can I design them to support a good feeling?
Links From the Show
Visit Taylor’s site, Home Taylored.
Follow Home Taylored on Instgram (@home.taylored) and TikTok (@home.taylored).
Join our private Facebook group here.
*This is an affiliate link. Purchasing through affiliate links helps fund The Good Space at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting us!
