Shelter-in-place has us all spending more time at home. No matter how small or large the space, the environment we create can have a profound impact on our mood and set the tone for our daily lives. If you are feeling stuck in a design rut, or want to improve your home with easy tangible tweaks here are a few things to consider. 

1. A new coat of paint will make everything look good…

A change in wall color can make all the difference and why not have some fun while doing it? Whether solo or a family affair, rolling up your sleeves and rolling out a fresh coat of paint on any given wall in your home is a fairly fun and easy project to undertake, especially in the time of quarantine. 

2. Organizing to declutter…

No matter what your neat and tidy level, there is always room to improve, and spruce up any given space in your home. The pantry, the powder room, the cluttered key (and mail) bowl next to the front door may all require a little TLC. There are a few tips and tricks for an instant facelift for messy spaces, and perhaps now more than ever is just the time to get going on your journey to a neat and tidy life. As Marie Kondo puts it, if it doesn’t spark joy, let it go… Here are some attainable and approachable tidying tips for your home. 

• The Kitchen: try tackling the spice rack. These are often a mess. Start by alphabetizing the spices and using a spice rack organizer. The next time you reach for cinnamon you’ll know that it’s towards the front due to the a-z placement.

• The “junk bowl”--you know the bowl you throw your keys, mail and accoutrements in as you walk in the door? Get rid of all essentials and choose a drawer to add a drawer organizer to. Each necessary item will then have a designated spot. 

• Color Coding: Whether you are organizing a bookshelf or linen closet, try organizing these spaces by color. 

Happy organizing and updating!

Artist Profile:

Marc Swanson

The Brooklyn-based artist was born in Connecticut and the son of a U.S. Marine. When he moved to San Francisco in the ‘90s, Swanson was surrounded by the city’s gay and counterculture scene. Neither environment -- small-town, wooded New England nor San Francisco’s flamboyant gay pride -- felt like home to him, and he confronts this duality of identities in his work.

On display through April 25 at the Baldwin Gallery, his crystal-covered deer head sculptures embrace the conflicting nature of masculine identities that he was feeling at the time.

More generally, Swanson is a contemporary American artist who is known for his handmade work that brings together formal preoccupations and references to personal history and identity conflict. He works in a variety of media, including sculpture, drawing, video, photography, and complex installations. In addition to the series of rhinestone-based sculptures, which he continues to explore, his sculptural work employs a variety of materials, including light, wood, glass, fabric, gold and silver chain, mirror, and naturally-shed animal antlers.

Swanson is a graduate of Bard College, and his works have been part of group exhibitions at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Miami Art Museum; and the Saatchi Gallery, London.

“The Gilded Cage” perfectly demonstrates the struggles Swanson feels between his past and future. Furthermore, the struggles that Aspen sometimes faces -- preservation versus progress -- are also reflected in his pieces, making the Baldwin Gallery’s show particularly relevant to this time and place.

If you go: Baldwin Gallery, 209 S. Galena St. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, 12-5 p.m. baldwingallery.com.

Event Synopsis:

HIGH POINT MARKET, NC.

High Point Market was the high point in my fall. Hosted in North Carolina, the biannual event is the largest furnishing trade show in the world, spread over 180 buildings encompassing 10 million square feet of things I love: textures, patterns, colors, prints, structure and making space livable and lovable. 

This trade show didn't just come out of nowhere; in 1909 the first Southern Furniture Market took place over two weeks and has been held in some form ever since (except at the end of World War II). People come from all over the world for it, and after attending for my first time I now know why. 

I travelled to the southeast in early October for the event, and still feel inspired by it today. Highlights from High Point include a book signing with Kelly Wearstler at Visual Comfort (she's one of my icons!) and a fringe chair from McGuire and Baker. Some other great stops were Four Hands, Moe's, and Arteriors (mixing art and interior design, just like it sounds). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Just click on the photo to scroll through the gallery, and scope out what's new in interior design.