I have papers pinned to a corner of my office wall. It started off in an organized way, but has slowly grown into a happy mix of things that I just like to look at. My first thought was that I wanted a vision board, but that made me feel too controlled by what “should” be there. Then, I thought of a design inspiration board – again, too restricting. So, I started a “possibilities” board. The word, to me, conjures up ideas of infinite dreams and thoughts. No limitations. Everyone should have a space to display wonderful, papery things. All it takes is a tiny bit of wall space. Don’t stop to analyze their significance; choose anything that you like and encourage the randomness of it all.
Here are a few of the things that I have posted.
– A funny childrens book by John Lithgow called “I am a Manatee” .
– Old picture, torn from a magazine, of men diving into a swimming pool, the Eiffel Tower casually iconic in the background.
– Email from a dear friend telling me how much I had brightened her day.
– Newspaper article about Roger Ebert; discussing his illness and how he tries to live each day with dignity and as much joy as he can.
– Photograph of the delightfully crooked Serendipity Cottage (the Inn that was featured in Nights in Rodanthe) as it begins to collapse into the sea. Just looking at it’s fragile beauty transports me to a fairytale state of mind.
– Handwritten note from my favorite designer in the entire world, Alexandra Stoddard.
– Nighttime photograph of an old house in a field. A scene from the movie “Casablanca” is projected onto the side of it (now, that is a date I want to go on).
– A swatch of the most perfect mustard yellow that I have ever seen.
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