“Darling! We are bohemians!”

I have never believed myself to be a bohemian. The very mention of the word conjured up images of hairy legs, asian mary janes (and not ones as cute as these), and gypsy skirts, which now that I am saying that out loud, sounds a lot like the crowd I hung out with in the 90’s. Even then I felt acutely aware of the fact that I did not fit into their mold since incense made me gag and my parents had instilled an extraordinarily high level of fear of weed in me. I was a free thinking goody goody. God. No wonder I hated high school so much!

Lately, though, I have had a change of heart and went so far as to bound into my husband’s office a few days ago, while he was quietly concentrating on his work, and declared with arms sweeping wide, “Darling! We are bohemians!”

He, unmoved by my dramatic announcement, kept typing and replied with a distracted, “Uh. Hm. I guess we are, sweetie.” Apparently he has grown accustomed to my theatrical performances, but I didn’t care. It felt big to me, huge, actually, and after giving him some time to process it (i.e. telling him for 20 minutes straight all the reasons why he should see things my way), he agreed that I might just have a point.

Being a bohemian isn’t about conforming to an image, but being set free from it. After my recent declaration of my independence from years of being a chameleon, I realized that I have always been a free spirit, trapped alongside a conformist’s brain. Every last crevice of my brain screams, “Danger! No! Don’t try it! Be Afraid! Conform. Conform. Conform!” But my spirit screams, “I wish to be free and nothing else.”

These were the very thoughts that ran through my mind as I experienced this beautiful free spirited home in Sweden. Your home shouldn’t conform to any one else’s ideas of what home is. It should represent you and the ones who share your space. It doesn’t have to fit into a catalog or always be ready for a picture perfect instagram shot. It can be raw, it can be glamorous, it can be industrial, modern, or country. It can even be all of these things or none of these. The most important thing is to let be free and let it be YOU. Think of the images you see as an inspiration springboard into new ideas for your own home rather than a prescription for your spaces.