New Year. Old Resolution.

A countercultural detachment to failure and radical return to the ordinary.

This new year I want to do something old in a new way. I want to answer the old desire to help you make Heaven visible at home through a new approach.

My hope is to help you think like a stylist who cares about what home looks and functions and feels like not because it is an end in itself but because it is a place of communion and therefore a means toward our ultimate destination: Heaven.

The home - the Domestic Church - is a privileged place of Eucharistic hospitality. What do I mean by that? Home is the setting in which we intimately meet Christ in one another and the Trinity within. Here, as in all of creation, matter matters. I have read and thought about this topic a great deal and I hope to share those insights too. Today, I just want start the conversation.

The Gift of Failure

I wish there were a resource that could teach me how to think like a stylist.

I realize this is a countercultural statement. It betrays the fact - gasp! - that I don’t know it all. It also challenges the widely held misconception that artists are born mature.

Every artist has an innate gift. The gift nonetheless has to be discovered and then it has to be accepted - in the form of consistent use - to bear fruit. To practice a gift is to figure out how it works and to what end. A gift demands lots of trials and even more errors. It demands constant practice to the point that one does not realize she is using her gift. I believe detachment (not indifference) to failure allows the gift to eventually bear fruit.

“So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.”

MATTHEW 25:25 RSVCE

I have been afraid. I have tried to quit. It would be more comfortable to do so. It would also be a sure way to bear no fruit in the personal and particular way I have been called to do.

…“Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.’”…

1 SAMUEL 3:9 RSVCE

The inner voice has whispered for almost a quarter century: “I wish there were a resource that could teach me how to think like a stylist.”

So what?

I have discovered that to think like a stylist is different than to see like one. I have always seen like a stylist, but my failures to execute my vision have stemmed from not thinking like one. I have shared my gift of vision with clients over the past few years. Yet, my calling is best answered by simply and honestly sharing what I know because I will not - indeed cannot - stop learning about the home. Here is where the gift of vision meets the gift of communication and rounds out my mission. I can bring you my catch or teach you to fish. Let us get to work.

Back to the Basics

When we look at a good work of art or a beautiful room we are immediately taken by its composition. We take the whole thing in. There is usually a focal point - a place where the eye rests - but even its magnetic draw does not break the whole apart. It is counterintuitive to isolate each brush stroke or each geometric shape and see the parts that make the whole.

What is it like to think like a stylist?

A stylist chooses and arranges things in an intelligible way. And that includes things as ordinary as delicious recipes. “Wait. That’s not a room!” You are quite right. Writing is still visual. We take so much (or so little!) in through the sense of vision. Watch this.

Here’s the BEFORE shot:

Simple Crumble

Top sliced fruit with mixture of 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 cup rolled oats, 1/2 cup plain (all-purpose) flour and 100gm (3 1/2oz) soft butter. Bake in a preheated 180C (350F) oven for 35 minutes or until golden brow.

DONNA HAY in OFF THE SHELF

Nothing wrong, right? Donna Hay made a cook. I love her recipes and especially her pithy writing style! I have made this crumble dozens of times and have it memorized. However, what got me there was choosing and rearranging things a bit.

I cannot help but notice that this recipe lacks a focal point - an organizing axis - to make it come alive.

Here’s the AFTER shot:

4-3-2-1 Crumble

Use a 1/4 cup for measure. Add 4x rolled oats, 3x brown sugar, 2x all-purpose flour to a bowl. Cut in 100gm of soft butter. Add fresh/frozen fruit to a dish and top with mixture. Bake in 350F/180C oven for 35 minutes (+15 for apples).

Adapted by Reveal from DONNA HAY in OFF THE SHELF

Pish-posh! How does re-writing a recipe make it come alive? Does re-writing a recipe have any practical consequence?

A Radical Return to the Ordinary

I believe so. The re-styled recipe has allowed me to teach it to my young children because it is so easy to explain and memorize. This means I can whip it up quickly and spontaneously with the kids after a weeknight dinner. It is also our go-to dessert when we host friends for Sunday dinner. To top it all off, the new version creates fewer dishes and mom likes that very much. It is still just an ordinary recipe. But it has allowed for communion both within my family and with our neighbors. The point of all things is to build relationships and community in the model of the Trinity (in love!). If it does not, it is dead!

Good styling is anchored in ordinary objects in the context of ordinary daily living. Yet, it is the ordinary but well-prepared environment - intentionally pointing in root and ritual to the Source of all being - that is inherently open to extraordinary grace.

It might sound like too big and mystical a leap, but if you stick with me I promise you will at a minimum come away with a whole new perspective on “things.”

A Sense of Adventure

Perhaps this is a little out there and I lost you. But if you made it this far, know that I will share what I know and what I continue to learn as honestly as I can. I will recommend all manners of how-to’s and - yes - things. Ordinary life, outside of the Mass, is made of material things like food (recipes!) and furniture.

My solemn promise to you is that I will not play games: no Instagram likes or attention-stealing videos or affiliate links. If you find any value in what I share, consider passing this page along to a friend and a paid subscription when/if I turn it on.

My hope is that this little and ordinary effort to style a good and beautiful life at home pierces the brokenness of this world and gives you and me a glimpse of the shadow of perfection.

I wish you and yours an abundantly blessed 2025!

Holy Family and St. Therese, pray for us! In Christ,

Renata