Imagination is Everything

Albert Einstein said "Logic will take you from A to B, but Imagination will take you Everywhere". I recently read that an imagination can often be as important as math, science, or reading..in an article written by Jaime L. Hebert (link to the full article is posted below).  It makes perfect sense now that math and science were the classes I ditched in school, because I always wanted to go and be everywhere else but there!  Luckily, I had an imagination that could come up with THE MOST creative excuse to tell my mom when my friends and I would run in to her at the mall or pass her on Main Street the middle of the afternoon when we should have been in class.  I think childhood imaginative play must have cultivated this to some extent since I spent my afternoons in a world of lavender unicorns, or being the conductor of a symphony of the tallest irises in my front yard, and changing my outfit nothing short of 10 times in one day at the age of three (but still whining that the current ensemble "didn't match and the pattern was all wrong"..bless my mom's heart for dealing with that).  Oh, and I can't forget my younger sister's haircut where we buzzed off her bangs so she would look like the virgin Mary who didn't have any bangs (unfortunately we didn't realize that her look was accomplished from growing them all the way out...) 

Can't beat this imaginative play!

This relates to decorating in one very important way, play often starts in a child's own space..their bedroom.  There are endless possibilities that you can do in your kid's room where you can allow your own imagination to run wild in the planning of it.  Later this will have the same effect on your child and benefit them for their lifetime.  Don't allow any design 'rules' to limit the options here, really anything goes.  I don't really believe in design rules anyway, in any room...that's stiff and boring.  So go ahead and take that piece of furniture that looks so standard and blah and give it a look that is something you once saw in a storybook or a scene in a dream.  Don't stop there, take the drama to the wall, the ceiling, and maybe even the door.  Let this be an ongoing decorative process, one that you add to and alter through the years as your child grows.  The evolution of a room over time is a thing of beauty.  I like to consider it a living scrapbook.



Chandelier and KaiaEve Pettiskirt are available at LaylaGrayce.com

Haley and I recently finished this armoire which the client once used to house her (now antiquated) television..you know the kind that isn't flat, it's got all that junk in the trunk).  I painted an imaginative scene that isn't too juvenile, with whimsical tree, birds, and birdcage.  We decided to make this a piece which could begin as a changing table in the nursery, later it will hold poofy and glitter-drenched dress ups and plastic heels, then in the tween and teen years the inside can be plastered with zitty faced photos of pre-pubescent boy crushes, then once the girl turns back to normalcy, so will the armoire where it will once again be a wardrobe.

**This Armoire is currently On Sale at Consign and Design in Farmington, UT. $399**
(Please see "Little Black Book" section at the top of the page for store Info.)

 Article Reference: Suite101: Imagination in Kids is Important: Why Children Need Imagination to Help Them Get Ahead Socially and Mentally in Today's Technology Based World | Suite101.com http://www.suite101.com/content/imagination-in-kids-is-important-a5166#ixzz1MdjrfYTX