Ever walked into a home or a room and immediately felt uncomfortable, even enough to make you want to get out? Or, have you ever walked into a space and just wanted to spend all day there?
That, Sharon McCormick says, is the essence of both good and bad design. Beyond simple aesthetics, interior design is about surrounding yourself with style and elements that make you feel at peace, or that bring you joy.
“Your surroundings affect your emotions and your happiness. Good design is about more than just making a space pretty. It’s about loving walking into your bedroom or your kitchen and being surrounded every day by things you love.”
Based in Glastonbury since 2000, Sharon has designed some of the finest homes across Connecticut and in other states.
Good design, she says, is about making your lives less stressful and frustrating and finding serenity in your surroundings. And with more of us spending more time at home these days, we’re realizing there are many things about our homes that need to be redesigned.
“Now people are actually living, really living, in their houses. Before, when we were all working somewhere else, it was more like we were sailing in and sailing out of the house every day. People didn’t have dinner together this much, they didn’t spend this much time together. Now they’re realizing that their kitchen doesn’t function that well or someone is always in their way. And they’re realizing that their home doesn’t need to be just utilitarian, it can be beautiful.”
Design clients are also looking at more than just interiors, she says. People are spending more time outside now, even in colder weather, because of coronavirus precautions and they want their outside spaces to be beautiful as well.
That means designing outdoor spaces with fire elements, dining and living rooms and exteriors that blend well with interior spaces “to take advantage of the outdoor spaces that you need now and that you’re craving.”
She knows well the awakening that many people are having for great home design. She had her own more than 20 years ago after she bought a historic home in Durham and she decided to leave her career as an accountant and go back to school for interior design.
“All I was doing was getting up, going to work and waiting to come home again. One day I woke up and said, I’m going back to school for design. That day I applied to go back to college, it totally awakened my passion again. The world became a different place.”
For more information: Sharon McCormick, owner, sharonmccormickdesign.com. 860-550-3358.