Have you ever heard of the term liminal space? It’s something I learned in graduate school (I have an advanced degree in theology, which most people find to be shockingly random…).
Anyway, I studied liminal spaces as they related to houses of worship, but liminal spaces can be found most anywhere.
They are, simply put, places of transition. Liminal spaces are rarely lingered in, and are markers between one type of setting and another. So in a church that might be the narthax. In a restaurant it is the space between the first set of doors you enter and the second set of doors you enter, into the actual restaurant.
Homes often have liminal spaces, too. We currently live in a rather small home, so we don’t have an entryway, which is a typical liminal space. But we do have places in our home where we don’t tend to linger, and that simply serve as conduits from one place to another. Since we spent little time dwelling in these spots, we don’t spent much time thinking about how to make them feel more welcoming.
But I recently did spend some time thinking about one of our liminal spaces and how I might make an improvement upon it. I looked very closely at our upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is designed in a fashion you have almost certainly seen before in other homes, with two sinks and under counter storage serving as the first room and the toilet and shower in the second room. All the bathroom “dwelling” takes places in the tiny second room, and the first room gets mostly walked through, though of course we do wash hands, brush teeth and when the spirit moves me, apply makeup in there. Still, it isn’t an area where I will hang out (except for that one time that I hid from my family so I could read a magazine…).
It occurred to me last month that there is a huge, empty wall on one side of that first room, and that the other side of the wall has a huge mirror. If I could find a lovely piece of art for the blank wall, I could enjoy looking at it through the mirror, even if only briefly while using the sink or the bathroom counter. It would make the space feel less institutional and more like my home.
So I headed over to Gallery Direct to find the perfect piece for the space. Since my whole goal was to encourage a bit of slowing down in a “move on through” area of my home, I searched for prints that made me feel very calm and quiet. I found the perfect piece by one of Gallery Direct’s newer artists, Brett Pfister. He is quickly becoming one of my favorites, as his work seems to draw me in again and again.
I absolutely loved We Who Find Rest and decided that a beautiful forest scene was the perfect thing for me to reflect on while getting myself and Darah ready in the bathroom each morning. We may be a home bustling with energy, but even in the midst of our busy day, it is good to be reminded of the beauty and serenity of nature, and the peace that comes with being still, if only for a moment.
Since this was a forest scene, I knew exactly how I wanted it mounted: on birchwood. This is a very cool option that Gallery Direct provides, and the other piece I have had mounted on birchwood gets rave reviews from folks who see it. It was a beautiful choice and I’m very pleased with it. And the price point was amazing…today it is on sale for $101 for the large. What a bargain for a beautiful piece of art that is mounted in a unique way.
Do you have a space in your home that is hurried past and where, for whatever reason, you don’t feel comfortable dwelling? What can you do to make it more inviting, and to make it feel less transitional and more like a space in its own right? I’d really love to hear your thoughts!
And don’t forget that if you follow Gallery Direct on Pinterest and pin your favorite piece from the Gallery Direct website using the hashtag #gallerydirect, you’ll be entered into their weekly Pin it to Win it drawing. Every week a winner is drawn for a $200 credit. Here’s an example of how a pin it to win it entry should look: https://pinterest.com/pin/278308451942150520/
I serve as a blog ambassador for Gallery Direct. Product samples are provided as part of the program. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.
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