Are you ready for another ‘Mental wellbeing, my home and me’? I’ve launched a new series interviewing creatives about the connection between our interior spaces and how they make us feel. Because I really believe that our homes have the power to uplift and make us feel better. It is my thinking that our homes are not just a shelter to keep us warm and dry, to help us purely function in our lives, they also have the power to act as a tonic to life’s stresses and support our mood. And now we’re spending more time at home than ever before, our spaces have taken on an even more meaningful role as a sanctuary away from it all.
In the first edition we explored how Noor Hasan has integrated biophilic principles to create a beautifully bohemian, nature-inspired home in London that supports her experience with ADHD (see the post here if you missed it). Today, we’re heading north to Jessica Stones’s pared-back neutral home in East Riding, Yorkshire.
After a traumatic car accident left her suffering from anxiety, Jessica found herself reassessing her surroundings and if they were truly supporting her need for calm and relaxation. From this experience she started a path to finding her true style, swapping bold prints and bright colours for soothing beige tones and soft textiles. ‘Removing them almost removed a weight off my shoulders, the house felt lighter, I no longer felt distracted and uncomfortable. I could feel myself slowly becoming more myself at home,’ she says.
It made me think about how sometimes in hindsight those negative experiences can help bring out the best in us, taking us closer to where we need to be. For me, making a home is about getting to know ourselves and honing in on what works for us, regardless of what trends dictate or what other people are doing. So I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did; Jessica is so warm and open and I really got a true sense of the person behind the interior!
All images: Jessica Stones
How are you feeling today – really?
Today has been a bit of a weird one. We haven’t been as fortunate with the weather today as we have as of late and it has rained persistently making the house feel quite dark and, if I’m honest, quite depressing. I’ve always found that the weather has a huge impact on my mood, dark mornings seem to zap every ounce of motivation and inspiration from my body before I’ve even had chance to gather my thoughts.
So today hasn’t been one of my best. I’ve spent it buried under a mountain of work attempting to motivate myself by turning on every light in the house (much to my other half’s disappointment). If today had been a weekend I would have kept my comfies on, lit a candle and made the most of the cosy atmosphere watching feel good films on Netflix.
[this interview was carried out last week before the heat wave, the weather changes so often in England, no wonder it has such an influence on mood!]
For those who don’t know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
I’m Jessica. I’m 23 years old and I live in a two-up-two-down middle terrace in East Riding of Yorkshire with my partner Nathan and our cocker spaniel pup, Lola. My 9 to 5 role is in marketing although my evenings and weekends are spent focusing on my passion – interiors. Growing up I used to rearrange my parent’s home, although back then all I had to work with was orange sofas, forest green carpets and deep red anaglypta walls – a far cry from the neutral interiors I’ve grown so fond of. I love a good project, whether it’s upcycling a piece of furniture or creating DIY artwork for my home, if it involves me getting creative I’m up for it.
How has lockdown been for you – what has brought you comfort while you’ve been spending more time at home?
I’ve been fortunate enough to continue working from home during lockdown, as has my partner and I don’t know how I would have managed without him and my little pup. I have found myself yo-yoing in terms of how I’m feeling. Some days I feel positive and am loving being at home, other days I wake up feeling sad and feel like making a break for it. I have found comfort in using my excess time to do the things that I find myself wanting or needing to do but can never seem to find the time for. I’ve been spending longer cooking in the evenings and using my weekends to tick those annoying jobs off our to-do list, like glossing the skirting boards and tidying out those ‘daren’t even open’ cupboards. It has just felt good to sit on the sofa after tea and not see 1,001 jobs I still need to do when I look round the room.
When did you first become aware of the impact your surroundings can have on your mental health?
I think I’ve somewhat always understood that I need a clean, clutter free space to allow me to breathe and motivate myself. It wasn’t until I was involved in a pretty horrific car accident in 2017 that I realised the interior choices I made were also having an impact. It was after the accident that I began to suffer with anxiety, I found myself gravitating towards spending more time at home, but in doing so I started to feel worse. I felt uncomfortable and distracted, not really words you want to use to describe how you feel in your own home. No matter how clean and tidy my space was, I just couldn’t relax.
How did your experience with anxiety influence how you have decorated your home? What changes did you start to make?
I would honestly say that my experience with anxiety has helped me find my true style. I joined Instagram back in 2017 and soon found myself being influenced by the beautiful homes in my feed. I loved the bright colours and bold patterns I saw and was super keen to incorporate them in my own and when I did, it looked great but it didn’t ever feel ‘right’. If you had told me three years ago I would have any sort of beige in my home I would have laughed in your face, but six months after the accident I bought my first tin of Egyptian Cotton by Dulux and never looked back.
First the greys went, then the pink, closely followed by that infamous Dalmatian print wall. I think that was the biggest revelation of all, realising that as much as I loved the crazy prints having them on the walls, the floors and even the bed linen wasn’t doing my mental health any favours. Removing them almost removed a weight off my shoulders, the house felt lighter, I no longer felt distracted and uncomfortable. I could feel myself slowly becoming more myself at home. Don’t get me wrong I’m still a fan of the crazy prints, just on a notebook or mug rather than in my home!
What makes you feel most calm at home – is it a certain object or corner, or is it more an ambience or feeling you’ve created?
Most definitely the neutral tones that I’ve introduced. I make sure that when choosing a paint colour, it complements the others in my home creating a nice flow as you move between the rooms. I mean who doesn’t want to feel as chilled out in their kitchen as they do in their bedroom? Just looking at the walls makes me feel calmer and takes me to a place where I’m thinking about cushions, curtains, and everything else home (my happy place!) rather than my every day anxieties.
What little rituals help you feel uplifted and inspired in your home?
Anything that smells nice never fails to lift my mood, whether it’s lighting a candle after a long day, washing my hands after making dinner or just using one of my favourite hand creams. I make sure there are nice smells dotted around the house so that whichever room I’m in, if I need a little pick me up, there is one within arm’s reach. My favourite Elemis hand cream has found its new home on my dining room table to help me de-stress after a long day of working from home!
What’s the one thing (which isn’t a person or a pet) that you couldn’t live without in your home?
Oh, soft furnishings for sure. It is a running joke in my family that I am cushion obsessed but I love nothing more than getting lost in a pile of cushions and duvets. I am a really tactile person meaning I am that weirdo that goes around touching everything when I go shopping (not ideal when we’re fighting a battle against a virus that lives on surfaces I know) but I love to feel all the different textures. If it’s soft, I’m buying it, whether I need another cushion or not!
What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to someone looking to create a calm, comforting space at home?
My one piece of advice would be to incorporate white in some way. If you aren’t a fan of modern white walls, add a white cushion or a throw. You might think it is boring, pure white used to remind me of a new build shell but there really is something about white that helps create a light and airy, calming feel even in the darkest of rooms.
Our living room is east facing and is dark no matter the time of day, but using pure brilliant white on the ceiling and adding a white rug has really helped to lighten the room and create a more balanced space that is perfect for settling my mind even when its running in overdrive.
Thank you so much Jessica! Where can people find you online?
You can find me mainly on Instagram (@the_middle_terrace) although every so often when I have something interesting and noteworthy to say I share it over on my blog www.themiddleterrace.com!
