On distraction

Folks, I confess to being distracted… distracted by a sudden burst of creativity that has taken me somewhat by surprise. After all, my intentions of using the lockdowns and slowdowns of the past 6 months or so to hone my skills have failed abysmally. I have been stuck fast in a kind of COVID malaise. It’s only now suddenly that whoever’s been standing on the hose of my creativity has finally got bored or tired and taken themselves off for a well-earned break and a nice cup of tea. I can’t tell you what a relief it is. So I’ve been taking full advantage of their absence, you know, just in case they might decide to come back.

That’s by way of an excusette for the delay in the next episode of Andrea Does Up Her Imaginary House. Because it turns out that researching for an imaginary house is just as much work as a real one. Who knew? And I would like it to be comprehensive and useful, even if it is imaginary.

I have also been distracted, mostly in a good way, by some of the nuggets of information I have come across in my travels around the internet while researching. Yes really. Here’s a selection I thought might interest you folks…

From Fast Company on the use of what they term “mid-doors space”, neither indoors nor outdoors but somewhere in between. When teamed with biophilic elements like plants, variation in airflow and temperature, non-rhythmic sensory stimuli and water, these spaces reduce stress, improve our capacity to think and make us feel better. Here’s to atria everywhere. BBC Future on why we need soft textures right now. Been saying! My favourite restoration of the moment by Will Gamble Architects… engendering a serious dose of house envy. Some food for thought from Naval Ravikant… his almanack is free to download. The answer to when we start preferring what we choose or choosing what we prefer; and the latest addition to my ever-expanding Christmas wish list… more perfect pots by Yuta Segawa to add to my collection.

Oh, and the featured image is a detail from a cushion design I’ve been working on, inspired by binge watching the excellent The Queen’s Gambit combined with my almost addiction to collecting creamers. It was so good, I was inspired to take up chess… momentarily.