 Gonna get a little philosophical on you... but hear me out lol! I've been reflecting on the 'stories' we tell ourselves.
Whether it's a common phrase like 'Getting started is the hardest part' or a story of a lived experience... 'proof' that makes a phrase true. We also all have experiences in our lives that have 'blown our mind' or completely shifted the way we saw something and it's impossible to 'unsee' it, right?! Even though we've had those 'perspective changing' moments - they tend to be rare, they're not a normal everyday experience....but what if it was? The reason I'm getting all philosophical on you is because we moved last month. This was our third move in the last 3 years and I started this move in a completely different way that it's like 'Why haven't I thought of this before?!' Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, the difference was using my aesthetic style to plan the layout for each room in advance. Now I've been using my aesthetic style for 15+ years and moved, on average, every 2.5 years in that time span. Aesthetic style is my favorite go-to tool for style & design decisions, and yet, in all that time, I never thought to use it BEFORE already living in a new place. I'm sure to a lot of people this is a no-brainer but the question I've been wondering is WHY it never occured to me...ironically I think it's because of moving so often. I had a process or 'story for how I move' and there wasn't a need to try something different. But comparing this move to all the others, using my aesthetic style to plan out the rooms made getting started with packing simpler and much more fun! YAS! Here's a pearl of wisdom to leave you with as we end November and enter the last month of 2023. Ask yourself: "Is there something you might not be seeing?" Maybe it's a simpler morning routine or an exciting new opportunity...whatever it is, it may be right in front of you.... waiting for you to notice ;) If you wanna learn how to use your aesthetic style as a tool to simplify decisions about your outfits or home. Check out YAS Stylists to recognize the ways you're already using your aesthetic style and learn how to use it to intentionally curate, edit and style your stuff! Lots of love, Yun-A
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 Ever feel like a broken record having to repeat “Don’t do…” and “Please try…” over and over? Sighh...usually takes asking several times for our children to do that one thing. The good news is that you can use repetition to your advantage by training your children to remember where items belong ;)
It also happens to be the first of three ways to encourage your children to help with cleaning. Ask with tasks rather than commands. This means instead of saying “Pick up your toys and brush your teeth!” you say: “Please put the books in the bookshelf, the dolls in the dollhouse and the blocks in the basket”. You’ll still have to repeat yourself but at least you’re repeating information you want them to memorize! Not only is this easier for your children to remember where everything goes, they’re also more likely to follow tasks over commands because they’re specific. Just saying ‘clean up your room’ doesn’t always elicit a response because they’re unsure where to start. Whereas a specific task like “Please put all blocks in the blue box” offers a clear starting point. This is one of my favorite tips because it’s simple to remember and very effective! The second way to encourage children to clean up is to use their curiosity! Sometimes as adults we unknowingly project our concepts about cleaning onto our kids. Children don’t think like adults. No need to try to get them to clean like we do! For toddlers, play is all about exploration, as they grow older it becomes more about imagination. Observing how your children play can help make cleaning more engaging and interesting for them. For example, during the notoriously messy toddler stage, it’s important to remember is why they take out anything and everything. Toddlers are trying to figure out how things work. Getting creative about how to ‘put things back’ can make clean up a continuation of their exploration. One way to do this is to find interesting storage containers. Instead of a toy box without a lid (that’s just begging to be dumped on the floor!). The best is to use a variety of unusual containers (long, round etc) these could even go inside a bigger toy box. The goal is to have containers where they need to put toys in slowly, either one by one or at a certain angle. Then it becomes like a puzzle. We have a few toy sets like this and my two year old won’t let me clean them up because he has so much fun figuring it out himself! I don’t mind one bit haha. For pre-school kids, who are more in the imagination play phase, you can turn clean up into a game with points or a scavenger hunt to find lost items. If your kids are school age involve them in the decision making about what kind of cleaning tasks they’d like to do and what they think should be a consequence if they don’t do it. The final way to encourage your children to clean is by make cleaning a family activity! This one is for all you mamas who have a hard time delegating. You know who you are ;) Delegating chores is hard for me because I care the most about how things are displayed and organized. So rather than delegate, I used to attempt to do it all by myself which rarely worked out well and left a lot unfinished. Something that’s helped me delegate is establishing ‘home care habits’ together with my family. It works well because I’m able to guide the process and everything goes much faster with all four of us helping at the same time. Some examples of ‘home care habits’ for us are: setting and clearing the table at dinner time and picking up toys as part of my sons’ bedtime routine. Not only is it helpful, it’s also an opportunity to invest time as a family to create a home everyone loves. It’s less about what you do and more about spending time together which is what our children value most of all. Here’s a list of a few ‘home care habit’ ideas:
Depending on the age and attention span of your children, these activities will vary. However, the goal is the same: encourage your children to take care of home together with you. Not just as a one-time event but continuously. Hands down, the best way to get our children to do something is to do it together with them and create good memories around it. Did these tips spark any ideas for you to try at home? If you want to keep the inspiration rolling. Buy my Playroom Redesign workbook and learn how to designed a playroom based on observing your child(ren) Interestingly enough the messes they make hold 'clues' for how to do this.  There was a time where this was my dream.
This is an airbnb we stayed at in March. Staying there I realized that I no longer crave that picture perfect look the way I used to. At first, I was ‘oooing and ahhing’ at the minimal decor it kinda felt like walking through an Instagram interior account lol but then it hit me, I wouldn’t want to live here. For vacation it’s perfect but for living I want my home - even though it drives me crazy 😜 fingerprints, cat hair and all. Our home reflects us 💗 The items we’ve collected and cherish bring joy because of the meaning and memories in them. Our possessions absorb and reflect back the energy of appreciation we have for them. Even struggling to keep up a basic state of tidiness, all of that brings energy into your home. It’s makes you the creator, the owner (even if you rent!) When you love your home it loves you right back! Triangles, triangles, our eyes like 🔺 Whether styling a table, a room or taking photos, look for ways to arrange objects into a triangle or pyramid shape.  Whether styling a table, a room or taking photos, look for ways to arrange objects into a triangle or pyramid shape. In this photo the blue curtains, blue paintings, and blue bed form a triangle. Look back at my post a few weeks ago of the same room from a different angle.
There’s also a triangle there of red toys and books. 😁 Even more exciting is to look around your own home and observe triangles there or if there are things that can be arranged in triangles and try it out! Also, we've the perfect spot to hang our underwater paintings! I love how it ties with other colors in the room 😍And what a great redesign tip! Experiment with rearranging certain colorful objects in a room can dramatically change the way colors work together. If you want to dive more into playroom styling and decor ideas. Check out my Playroom Redesign workbook. Both are needed but the latter is rarely talked about, only for iconic designers/brands BUT I invented a way to make this ‘icon/signature style approach’ accessible to everyone 🙌🏽🤯 because we’re all unique and shouldn’t our style be too? Uniquely beautiful to you, YAS! 🥰
Really it’s your intuition doing the work… I just packaged the concept in a teachable format 🤓 Your Aesthetic Style is a combination of design elements & principles that JUMPS out at you, as uniquely beautiful 😍 It’s the reason why you’re drawn to certain prints, textures, lines etc. Most of us have one easily recognizable element or principle 👀 but it’s the second or third part of the combo that’s harder to find. 🫣 I got you though 💪🏽The YAS Quiz is designed specifically to find your unique E&P combo so that you can start styling intentionally with it. Once you recognize it & how to apply it. It’s a game changer 🤩 The creative inspiration just keeps flowing. That’s my favorite part. 👏🏽💗 If you’re new here, aesthetic style is a unique combination of design elements & principles (E&P) that consistently attract us. Whether it's a living room, nature landscape, or a coffee mug if it has your unique E&P combination in it, it will STAND OUT more to you. When you start using your aesthetic style intentionally it becomes an amazing tool to style, edit and curate with sustainably! Want to learn how to find your aesthetic style? Click here to read more. |
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Yun-A (rhymes with 'fun' 'Ah') creator of Your Aesthetic Style. 
Join me in a fun & free class coming up with 3 outfits you can't wait to wear!!!
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