Home is Where the Dog is…
There is quite a difference between a house and a home. The structure is the house. Who lives within its space make it a home. For many of us the very blessing from God are our animals that bring us laughter, companionship, and joy. They become the bonus members of our family. We get to choose them. For myself, my rescues are the heartbeat of my home. Cookie, Cooper, and Luna have been my anchors since going off on this journey with Revival Design. No matter how great of a day or how bad it has been, their unconditional love has made my world and my home a better place.
As I am writing this article, our little home and my world has been jolted with the realities of life. For the past two and a half years, I have been blessed with my parents rescue dog, Luna after their passings. With that sweet chihuahua face on that beagle body, her wagging tail and little bug eyes restored a lot of love and light through the grief. Unfortunately, I had to let that sweet baby go on to the great dog palace in the sky as her health deteriorated quickly and unexpectedly.
Reflecting on this time has made me realize what a void there is with her absence. Walking up in the morning to do office work and not seeing her in her favorite chair across from my desk or seeing that face glaring up through my glass desktop with so my love and innocence for this first time are fresh on my mind.
As I look around the room, I see so many reminders of her. Many of them are from the times that we were on road trips and picking for the shop. We would stop and buy from starving artists or flea markets. She was one of my copilots on many a trip to New Orleans, Dallas and beyond with her brother and sister.
Just as the furnishings and accessories create the personality of our spaces, so do our beloved pets. They are the ultimate companions that truly transform a house into a home.
As we turn the page on a new chapter in life, we are excited to continue to grow within the walls of our showroom as well as outside. There is nothing for comforting than curling up with a good book with your dogs by your side on a rainy spring day. It’s the perfect way to escape life. I’ve enjoyed many of those days in my home with Cookie, Cooper, and Luna.
My love of books led me to explore, adding a literary presence to Revival. We began the process the past two years hosting book signings for local authors. It has led to us offering a book nook of color coordinated old books for staging as well as to be read. The great response has brought us to the next phase as we have expanded to a small bookshop. With beautiful coffee table books, Louisiana, and southern books on entertaining, design, gardening, and history as well as children’s books, we are hoping to recapture some of that nostalgia of the sorely missed, Windows A Book Shop. We are very fortunate to have the knowledge of Elizabeth Gibson-Grant and Betty Jo Harris to guide us on this new journey. Many of these books will also be available on our website, www.revivaldesign318.com.
After exploring our books on gardening, we have been inspired to reboot a long-delayed project. The slow transformation of our vacant space outside will be evolving into our courtyard, “Avant Garde’n” over the remainder of the year. With herb gardens and water features and murals. It will great a great space to host events, farmers markets, artisan’s markets, receptions, small weddings, and art shows. It will also serve us well as backdrops for photo opportunities for fashion shoots, proms, and other events. This space will allow us to better serve our clients with outdoor accessories for the patio, poolside, or garden. These will range from iron work, patio furniture, concrete statues, and urns as well as sculptures. We also look forward to creating a small area of low maintenance plants that will work nicely for your patios, pool houses, and herb gardens. It’s a space that Luna loved so much every day as she lovingly barked and welcomed our customers daily. We want it to be a space of tranquility that will reflect the great life and energy she brought to our lives each day. We hope to accomplish this with Luna’s Garden.
As I continue this journey with Revival, my heart is filled with the great memories of Luna, who truly made my house a much better home. Rest well my sweet baby.