A Fresh Start
Readying our homes for a new year of joy
Happy January my friends,
I received no less than three text messages from friends immediately following the holidays. Each message shared pictures of cleaned and organized closets and drawers. Sharing in each other’s victories, we spurred one another on in our efforts to organize and put order to these small pockets of our homes. Why is that so pleasurable?
I am not immune to the pull of this month. In our traditional New Years celebration, I pulled down my holiday hops from the kitchen windows, vacuumed up the dried and crumbled foliage, and burned them in a bonfire - symbolizing the passing of the old year and welcoming in the new. A fresh start.
It seems that there’s a piece our hearts that desires deeply to put order in place after the celebratory months we’ve enjoyed. The chaos and glitter of the holidays give way to the next, natural surge that we tend to arrive at in January. That is, the desire to make things tidy and bright.
At this point, usually, in my flurry of freshening, I despair at how hard it can be to find quality home goods that honor their makers and reflect my own value for simple, slow-manufactured, long-lasting products. But this year is different!
We’ve just stocked Limone with high-quality kitchenware products you need to do just that in your kitchen. Vacuum bags, bonfires, and paint brushes not included.
When the demands of the garden are non-existent, I allow myself to submit to the siren-song of my kitchen. It calls me to freshen up towels, restock soaps, throw out linens too-far-gone-to-salvage, and identify points or products that need to be improved.
A perfect example of this is our drying mat used for hand-washed dishes. Until we stocked Limone with new, gorgeous felted wool drying mats, a soggy and stained tea-rag was our drying method of choice. It dripped water on the floor and often had to be changed multiple times per day - even then, it looked and smelt stale. There’s not much tidy and bright about that. Now, this thick and glorious mat happily sits on our counter, holding copper pots and wooden spoons, tidy as a pin - a quick improvement that makes life in the kitchen that much better.
While November and December call me to layer on the cozy, January and February (cold as they are!) are months when I strip back a bit to the essentials, allowing the stark blue skies and the whitewashing of the snow to infiltrate the home. I often strip off window linens, washing and ironing them in their annual freshen-up, to allow maximum light into every corner of the home.
Candles are always lit, coffee is always within arms reach, fireplaces are roaring, and the home is open to the starkness of the season. This is a time when new aprons replace those that have served us well through the previous year and every nook and cranny of the kitchen is accounted for. Walls are scrubbed, new art is hung, and the kitchen begins to sing in the whiteness that cloaks the days.
You can shop our collection of candles, new linen aprons, shiny stovetop espresso makers, and bright photography right here as you find ways to usher light into your own kitchen this month.
I love all my products… but if you ask me what to get, these items are what I would slip into your basket.
Whatever your reset process is for a new year, our goal is always the same… to slow down and enjoy this chosen journey of cultivating the good life, one moment at a time.
Cheers,
