#69 – Empower Your Space: A Guide to Boosting Creativity and Confidence Through Home Decor | Empowerment & Career Advice

[00:00:00] Loree Philip: Hi, and welcome to Daring to Leap. I'm your host, Loree Philip. Have you ever thought about using your space, your home, as a canvas to unleash your creativity, take a few risks, and get to know yourself better, all while creating a space you love? Join us today as Zandra Zuraw, the creative force behind Slow Style Home, Unveils the transformative power of personalizing your space, not in an overwhelming way, but in her slow style home approach.

[00:00:33] Loree Philip: discover why styling your home can lead to a more fulfilling living environment, while allowing your creativity and confidence to shine through. Let's dive in.​Zandra is the founder of Slow Style Home, an interior design coaching platform for passionate homeowners. Zandra is also the host of the popular podcast, Slow Style Home, which is in the top 5 percent of most downloaded podcasts [00:01:00] across the globe.

[00:01:01] Loree Philip: All categories globally. Welcome. Welcome to the show. Zandra. Thank

[00:01:07] Zandra Zuraw: you so much for having me, Lori. It's nice to be here.

[00:01:11] Loree Philip: Yeah, it's, it's so great to have you here and I'm really interested in this topic that we're going to discuss today around styling your home and getting confidence in the professional development process through the active.

[00:01:27] Loree Philip: Unleashing your creativity. Yeah. Yeah, but I'd like to first get started around your career journey And can you just give us a brief, background on? What led you to? Do slow style home because found it and Start your podcast. I imagine you weren't doing that your whole career. No

[00:01:53] Zandra Zuraw: No, no Yeah, I've had one of those very windy career paths I'm one of those people that just never [00:02:00] figured out what she wanted to be when she grew up So it took me a lot of places and it's all over the place to a couple of graduate degrees in there And a lot of trial and error and I'll skip that part to say that once I had kids, my second kid in particular, he was diagnosed with learning disabilities and I quit my job and, needed to just be with him.

[00:02:28] Zandra Zuraw: The first year of his life in particular was we were in the hospital a lot. So, and then we moved like we moved right after he turned one. And, and so there was some intention to just keep doing what I had been doing. Actually I didn't fully quit. I Oh no, I did quit. Sorry. I did. I, I put it on pause and I had a fabulous boss and he's yes, take some time.

[00:02:52] Zandra Zuraw: I worked for a university and so they're very, they can be very flexible in that way. Take some time and we'll regroup. And then we moved. And then he's well, you [00:03:00] can work remotely if you want to. And I said, I just, I can't it, this is too much. I had another son as well. And so then began the phase of my life where I am.

[00:03:12] Zandra Zuraw: I guess becoming an entrepreneur. I mean, I would never, I don't even know if I'm comfortable with that title, that phrase now, actually it sounds so businessy, but basically I started to create my own ways of earning money and, I have. Again, I don't want to bore you too much. Long story short, I ended up partnering with somebody.

[00:03:37] Zandra Zuraw: We started a a company called little yellow couch. It was a blog primarily. And, we were running that for a while. It was sort of the end of the blog. I mean, the blog sphere was very very saturated at that point. We weren't getting a lot of traction. It was a broad lifestyle kind of blog. And then on a whim we decided to start a podcast [00:04:00] and we had, we had Resisted that for a while because it's a design podcast.

[00:04:04] Zandra Zuraw: So we decided we're going to not just do lifestyle. We're going to focus in on interiors, which is where both of our passions really were. And how do you do an interiors podcast without video? This was just when podcasting, there was never any video component to it. And then we, we put that off for a little while and then said, wait a minute, wait a minute.

[00:04:23] Zandra Zuraw: We can talk about this stuff. Substance behind design. In other words, why does it matter to care about your environment? Why does it matter to invest in, in elements of decor and design in your home? Why is that not a waste of time? A waste of money? Why is it important? How is it fulfilling? And so that's what the podcast became about.

[00:04:44] Zandra Zuraw: And it was called style matters at that time. Okay. Fast forward. She left, I stayed and recently have rebranded the entire thing to Slow Style Home because that really reflects [00:05:00] what I've zeroed in on as the core of what I offer, who I want to help and how I want to help them. So. A lot of leaps of faith there, I guess a lot of the leap of faith to go to graduate school twice, the leap of faith to quit a job, the leap of faith to start something, the leap of faith to let go with a, of a business partner and take something on myself.

[00:05:23] Zandra Zuraw: So yeah, I'm very, very familiar with that, that feeling that drop in the pit of your stomach Oh my gosh, is, am I doing the right thing here? Which I know your podcast is a lot about.

[00:05:35] Loree Philip: Yeah, yeah. When you reflect on that and all of the things that you've done over the years, all these leaps of faith, what was it do you think at the root of it that you were either looking for or that what helped you decide to go ahead and do it, even if it was uncomfortable, even if it required courage and change and something new?

[00:05:58] Zandra Zuraw: Well, I think part of [00:06:00] it is a lack of desire to go. To start a job that was going to be boring or not using the skills that I enjoyed using. So when I was ready to enter, reenter the workforce, I guess, after my, my son was in much better health, and I had now had some time on my hands. I didn't want.

[00:06:23] Zandra Zuraw: I didn't want a nine to five job. I didn't want to do something that wasn't really fueling me and, and filling me up. I also still only wanted to work part time while the kids were little. And I found it to be, maybe this has changed. I found it to be really hard to find quality part time jobs. There were plenty of administrative jobs that, that were soul sucking that you could do part time but not a lot of really fulfilling ones.

[00:06:51] Zandra Zuraw: So. That was part of it. And I think the other part of it was that I've always been a little bit driven to [00:07:00] fill my time with things that I'm passionate about. And so I've always, identified myself or, or, or thought of myself, my self identity would come from my job, my career. I'm, I'm, I'm letting that go.

[00:07:17] Zandra Zuraw: A little bit now at this point in my life, when I'm realizing that I am more than my job and more than what I do. And I, I, I'm glad about that. I think our society is starting to move away from the whole thing about you are your job. But I've always been that way up and up until now.

[00:07:33] Zandra Zuraw: And so. I just really wanted to do something that I, I would feel I could love getting up every day and doing. And I realized that I had to create it myself because I, it wasn't out there, at least not that I was finding.

[00:07:49] Loree Philip: Yeah. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. When we're something is so important to us and we can't find it within our current environment and then [00:08:00] we go start to look for it if, if it is that important to you.

[00:08:03] Loree Philip: Yeah. I'd like to switch gears here a little bit, Zandra. I'd love to hear about, you were talking earlier about why is it important For us to, take time, care for our environment, like where we are and how it looks and I know for me when I'm in a home or an environment of a place, aesthetically pleasing to me, that's tidy that I just.

[00:08:35] Loree Philip: I feel better. Yeah. I feel more focused. I feel less frazzled. These types of feelings that I have. Talk to me a bit about why you believe, our environment is so important.

[00:08:50] Zandra Zuraw: Yeah, I think many of us have had that experience. We may have it all the time. People are who are ultra sensitive to their surroundings, have it all the [00:09:00] time.

[00:09:00] Zandra Zuraw: But, but even if you're not, even you're, if, if you're you, you're not quite as affected by fluorescent lights and I don't know, like really uncomfortable furniture. There are still times when you're in a space where you just feel. Like your best self, you feel like you're on top of things. You feel like you're firing at all cylinders.

[00:09:21] Zandra Zuraw: You feel comfortable in your skin. You feel confident. And what I like to draw people's attention to is that the environment that you're in plays such a huge part of that. I, of course. Talk about the home and not so much about the work environment, unless of course you have an office at home and then that's a whole nother thing.

[00:09:42] Zandra Zuraw: But, but any environment we're in where we can do those things I just mentioned, all those positive things, you're going to have more motivation. You're going to have a little bit more focus. You mentioned focus and confidence I think is a big one. [00:10:00] And so creating those environments Is something that I want to help people with because I believe so strongly that it does make a difference and there's lots of science backed on this.

[00:10:11] Zandra Zuraw: Certainly lots of science about natural light about bringing plants in which there's a whole branch of of inquiry called by Ophelia. And also there's a lot of study that's been done on clutter and our. Our levels of tolerance for Mm-Hmm. clutter and how we all have a different level of tolerance.

[00:10:32] Zandra Zuraw: So, I guess, does that answer your question about what

[00:10:35] Loree Philip: I think? Yeah. I was just thinking my kids' level of tolerance for clutter is much higher Oh, yeah. Than my level of Oh yeah. Tolerance for clutter. Yeah. That does help. That does help a lot because. As we move through this conversation, I think there's a couple different pieces here.

[00:10:50] Loree Philip: One is when the environment is to your liking, you can be at your best, you can feel at your best. And then there's the process of [00:11:00] creating it to a point where you really love it. And in our prior conversations, you've talked about how going through that process can help a person From a personal development perspective, from a creativity perspective, talk to me about how, how is it that as we move through the process, we're actually going to grow.

[00:11:26] Loree Philip: Yeah. As a

[00:11:27] Zandra Zuraw: person. Yeah. This is the exciting part. So when I, I first talked to people about why it matters and, why it has such an impact on, on us. And then we talk about, okay, how to do it and, and, and why to do it yourself, I guess. So I have nothing against interior designers and I interviewed them on my podcast.

[00:11:48] Zandra Zuraw: I've learned a lot from them, but I believe that you can really get so much out of doing it yourself. That if you have any inclination to do it, I, I think you [00:12:00] should try. So what happens when you are really applying some of the principles of slow style, which is what I teach, is that you are figuring out what you like and what you don't like, and you're really paying attention to why.

[00:12:17] Zandra Zuraw: And there's some soul searching you need to do to figure out how you're going to make certain design decisions. Because really the goal in any room is to have a vision for what you want to feel and what you want to experience in that room. And, While you can just scratch the surface and say, well, I want to feel comfortable and I want to experience relaxation.

[00:12:41] Zandra Zuraw: I mean, that's what most people say they want to feel in their homes, but that, that is not going deep enough. And so there's a whole process you can go through a series of questions you can ask yourself about why certain things are meaningful to you. What how you have assigned meaning to certain [00:13:00] things, what things you need to let go of because they're not serving the vision that you have for that feeling or experience you want to create, and then how to compose it all together so that it, it creates an experience that is, really actionable.

[00:13:17] Zandra Zuraw: So for, for instance, for example, in a in a living room everybody says relaxed and cozy, comfortable in a living room, but what's really, what are you experiencing? What are you doing in that, in that space? Is that a space where you're having really meaningful connections with your friends over great conversation and wine and laughter and all of that?

[00:13:39] Zandra Zuraw: Maybe it's a space where as a family, you, you really try hard to, at least once a night or once a week, do family game night and you're looking for connection between the family at all different ages in that room. And every room has an experience like that that you want to, they're all different.

[00:13:57] Zandra Zuraw: Obviously every room has a different purpose. [00:14:00] So zeroing in on those two things, the feeling and the experience requires you to think deeply about. Who you are, where you've been, who you want to become, and then those things. Are connected to very specific design decisions, and I know this is probably sounding a little bit vague or abstract, and it is, which is why I have spent the last several years coming up with a framework so that I can teach people how to connect those dots, how to translate feelings into tile and color and what kind of furniture you're going to use and all that kind of stuff.

[00:14:40] Loree Philip: Yeah Yeah, I I really like this because I was thinking about as you were describing it We had a con I had a conversation on the podcast a few weeks ago. We were talking about Dressing for success. Yeah, it was a similar process in that First, [00:15:00] you have to figure out who you want to be. Yes. Like, how do you want to present yourself?

[00:15:06] Loree Philip: And there is some functional pieces around that as well, like, are you going to the office? Are you doing a soccer mom type of thing and, and what does that look like? And so it is in my mind a bit similar and I really love, and I think this is something that we have to continue to practice. I really love this idea that we're first creating our vision and really understanding and we're very intentional about how we want to use our space.

[00:15:36] Loree Philip: Who do we want to be? What does that end up looking like? How is that going to feel like these types of questions and the process. Is important in so many aspects of our life if we can actually have the discipline to do it before we just jump into something or we just let something be the [00:16:00] status quo of this is how my home always looks I have kids, it can be quite messy, right?

[00:16:06] Loree Philip: I could easily just throw in the towel and say, until when, until my kids are 15 or whatever, I'm just going to let my house be a hot mess. Yes. And there are moments that I do that, right. But like at the same time, I also want to enjoy my environment. So there's something in between.

[00:16:25] Zandra Zuraw: There is something in between for sure.

[00:16:27] Zandra Zuraw: And I, I think that that that's so true for anybody who's been a mom or a parent that you do feel like your kids take over the house for a while. But there are definitely ways to manage that. And also, well, number one, never, never beat yourself up for letting that slide happen. That is so normal.

[00:16:45] Zandra Zuraw: But that doesn't mean that you have to live with it always just. Kind of like get back on the wagon and, and let's refocus. Why is this room not working? Why is it always so messy? How can we fix that? Maybe from a practical standpoint, an organizational standpoint, [00:17:00] but then also let's create an environment where you really want to be in the room.

[00:17:04] Zandra Zuraw: And so you may, you decide that the battle that you're going to pick every day is you got eight battles. You're going to try to pick with your kids every day, right? You're going to pick this one battle, which is, this is the room that is cleaned up every day, no matter what or whatever, whatever it is.

[00:17:18] Zandra Zuraw: whatever way, like you were saying, you need to be be motivated to not just let it slide and stay there. But I also want to pick up on something else you said about, or maybe go back to this thing about personal development. The whole way I came up with my slow style approach is, you Is looking backwards at how I trained my own eye and how I, how I have, have come to be where I'm at today with my home.

[00:17:43] Zandra Zuraw: And I've had lots of homes to experiment with, lots of different kinds of budgets to experience, to experiment with. And every time I moved, setting up my home was so important to me. I knew it intuitively or innately. I knew I would feel better when I saw myself [00:18:00] reflected in my, in my space, when it felt like, Oh, this is, this is really me.

[00:18:04] Zandra Zuraw: This is where I belong. This is something I've created for myself. And that is that act of. Changing what my walls have on it and what colors I'm using and how I'm arranging a room always told me something about myself. It reflected what was going on in my life. It was reflecting new values I might have.

[00:18:28] Zandra Zuraw: It was reflecting new passions that I had. It was reflecting new environments that I was living in. And so there was this really natural kind of back and forth. between the stuff of our homes and the person who I was. It was like this dialogue. So that's maybe a better way to answer your original question about that, the personal development thing.

[00:18:52] Zandra Zuraw: And I just didn't want to skip over that. Sorry.

[00:18:54] Loree Philip: I'm glad you brought that up. I really do because it is, we evolve, right? [00:19:00] So it's, it's one of those things where we may have moved into our home 10 years ago. And 15 years ago and it no longer reflects. That's right. We are today. And you know what, if it still looks beautiful and you love it, great.

[00:19:14] Loree Philip: But if you don't. Yeah. What is that environment? How, what kind of impact is that having on your ability day to day to feel your best, to be effective, to be confident in yourself, to present who you want to be. And, I'm actually quite curious about the phrasing of slow style and. Because when I think about, because I'm not naturally gifted interior designer, have a style or all this kind of stuff, something that I aspire to do at some point, but the idea of redoing my home or even a room feels quite overwhelming to me.

[00:19:57] Loree Philip: Yep. And so talk to me a bit [00:20:00] about the benefits of a slower approach and why, why you.

[00:20:06] Zandra Zuraw: for that. Yeah, well that

[00:20:10] Zandra Zuraw: I allowed time to figure out who I am and how I want to see it reflected. I didn't, it didn't feel like I was waiting. I don't mean to say that, Oh let's go back to the mom example. Oh, I need to wait 15 years until my kids are at least in high school before I can have a nice home. It was constantly experimenting.

[00:20:32] Zandra Zuraw: And so if you look at my style today, I will tell you that it, it. It has evolved over 30 years. It's not it's not something that is new that I just, I just figured out in the last year or maybe I made it, I did a makeover. And so this is a new style for me because it's a new, newly made up room.

[00:20:50] Zandra Zuraw: I've always allowed for, for the evolution. And appreciated it and got excited about it because change I think well, I'm one [00:21:00] of those people that likes change I didn't know not everybody does but I think especially if we're talking on this show about courage and about confidence and about Taking a leap that really is just about embracing change and being willing to allow the change to not fight it, to lean into it.

[00:21:20] Zandra Zuraw: And that is so much about, in my experience, what it has felt like, it's actually physically, emotionally, mentally felt like. Creating a style has been for me is this, is this leaning into change, leaning into the evolution. So slow style, first and foremost, first and foremost takes the pressure out of having it all done at once.

[00:21:40] Zandra Zuraw: There are no quick makeovers. And there's no pressure to make all these decisions at once. Because again, this is a philosophy, not for trained designers. It's for everyday homeowners, who, who, for whatever reason, are not hiring someone to do it for them. So.

[00:21:57] Zandra Zuraw: Sorry, I'm just I just lost my train of [00:22:00] thought. So taking your time using the slow style philosophy means that you do not have to have that feeling of overwhelm that you just mentioned, because, you're not going to start with. A Google search on new couches and new rugs and new lamps and new colors and all that, that's not how slow style starts.

[00:22:20] Zandra Zuraw: Slow style starts from within. It starts with a vision. Like I said, of how you want to feel and what you want to experience. There's all kinds of steps in there. Then we figure out how to connect those dots and then. You may or may not be buying something new. You may be using what you already have. You may be switching around how it, where it is in your home and how it fits together.

[00:22:41] Zandra Zuraw: The overwhelm is, is gone or mostly gone because you're so much more clear about what it is you're looking for in the first place, because you've done all of that foundational work beforehand. If that makes sense,

[00:22:54] Loree Philip: it makes total sense. And I, I, I think it's just my energy [00:23:00] to want to jump into something.

[00:23:01] Loree Philip: And so even if it's like an outfit or a, like a home style, I'm doing exactly what you just said. I'm looking online at lamps or artwork or like trying to get inspired by what I see. And I say it's okay, well that's nice. Maybe that'll work. Maybe I want to do something around that. And so when we flip it on its head and start with.

[00:23:29] Loree Philip: That vision and intention and feeling and then what you're searching for becomes easier at the back end if you need to search at all, right?

[00:23:39] riverside_loree_philip & zandra ... _ mar 6, 2024 001_daring_to leap: Right.

[00:23:39] Zandra Zuraw: And you, and you make way fewer money mistakes because when we have that impulse to change things up and I'm like that too, actually, it's, it's I mean, some people laugh at me because I'm a very impatient person.

[00:23:51] Zandra Zuraw: So it's really funny that everything I do is named slow style. So I understand that impulse, but, but that's great. You recognizing, I need a [00:24:00] change. I need a refresh. I need to, I need to stop being surrounded by the same old things. I mean, we, we stopped seeing. And everything in our rooms after we've been sitting in there for a few years, right?

[00:24:11] Zandra Zuraw: So what we, what we put on the shelves so lovingly three years ago, we may not even be looking at anymore. So, so that impulse to change is great. I'm just saying, let's dig into. The deeper reasons why you want to change and come up with a vision for, for what the new you is going to, is going to look like, how the, how the room is going to reflect newer parts of yourself before we buy stuff.

[00:24:37] Zandra Zuraw: I mean, I'm not against buying things. I love buying things. I tend to thrift and antique more than I do buy new. But when you, when you take your time that way and you're have much more clarity about what exactly you're looking for, you are not going to be buying. Yeah. Trendy pieces that will be boring to you in a matter of months or [00:25:00] years.

[00:25:00] Zandra Zuraw: So I do think it saves you money in the long run because you're not, it's not as disposable. It's not the, the, the, the churn isn't nearly as fast. So I think that's a huge benefit to thinking this way as well. Not, not just for your wallet, but also for the planet.

[00:25:17] Loree Philip: The, the question I have for you, Zandra, is how can we make it more fun?

[00:25:24] Loree Philip: Like I, we were talking a bit earlier about embracing change and having the courage to do it and taking some risks creatively, create to creatively and getting to know yourself on a more deeper level and what it is that you really want. Yeah, for yourself in your home. And all of that to me sometimes sounds so serious.

[00:25:50] Loree Philip: Yes. And I'm, I'm really into lately trying to make things a bit more fun. I love it. Enjoying the process, right? Lightening it up. Because we go from this [00:26:00] like instant gratification culture. And so if you're telling me I can't, Overnight create a new, beautiful room for myself and it's going to take some time and I'm going to have to think about it and I'm going to have to do planning.

[00:26:15] Loree Philip: It sounds like work. It does sound like work. How can we enjoy this slower process and, and really make it something that we're looking forward to.

[00:26:27] Zandra Zuraw: Yeah, I love that question. I'm so glad you asked it. And it's true. I mean, bottom line here, when I'm talking about interior decor, interior design, it's not brain surgery.

[00:26:36] Zandra Zuraw: I'm not curing cancer. I'm not saving the world here. So yeah, I like to, I like to keep it light as well. For me, this process is fun. But if it sounds like a little daunting, all of this self reflection and all of that kind of thing, then my suggestion is just do one thing that changes things [00:27:00] up. That is all it takes is a little bit of elbow grease.

[00:27:03] Zandra Zuraw: It doesn't take any money. It doesn't take a whole lot of time. And by elbow grease, I mean, Pick up a rug in one room and move it to another room or move every big piece of furniture you have in your living room and create a new focal point. Find, find a new vantage point that you're going to, that the energy of the room is going to be pointing towards.

[00:27:24] Zandra Zuraw: Buy a can of paint and paint a wall. I mean, paint is the cheapest way to make a very big change really pretty quickly and go for it. I mean, pick a favorite color and, and do it. I mean, I think that. Those little, those little steps you could, those little changes you can make will give you, give you that dopamine hit that you're probably looking for.

[00:27:49] Zandra Zuraw: And then that's going to spur on more ideas. I changed the furniture around and I'm like, wow, I never even thought about facing this wall. And now all of a sudden I'm like, oh, wow. I see the light is different in here. I want to bring in [00:28:00] a plant or. Oh, my gosh, this bookcase is too tall because now it's covering the window because I moved it around.

[00:28:06] Zandra Zuraw: I need to look for a shorter bookcase and then maybe put this one over there. So you're churning out ideas about what you want to then be on the lookout for, for what you want to bring into your home or what you might have in another room that you can move around and exchange. And then you start thrifting or antiquing or dipping your toe in and maybe, maybe going to a store and buying something new.

[00:28:31] Zandra Zuraw: But when you take these small baby steps and these little bits of change, you're going to increase your confidence. You're going to have fun while you're doing it. You're going to get a little bit of instant gratification and a dopamine hit. And I think it's going to motivate you and excite you to keep going.

[00:28:45] Loree Philip: Mmm. Thank you for that answer. I was thinking about it while you were talking that, this is an energy that we can bring into our home of taking a few risks, giving it a shot, like [00:29:00] low stakes type of thing, but the truth of the matter is that if we get comfortable with taking a little risk here, we start to get comfortable taking a little risks over there, whether that's in our career, in our life and with our friendships.

[00:29:18] Loree Philip: It's. We're not a compartmentalized human where, if our creative, we're only creative in this one tiny space, we can use it as a playground to experiment. And then start to leverage that and bring that in, in other aspects of our life. Absolutely. And, when you were talking about the functionality of the living room earlier and, and maybe we do game night.

[00:29:46] Loree Philip: So me and my family, we play a lot of games on the weekends. I mean, just like here and there we have, we always have one that's going that everybody loves. Yeah. And. I was thinking, you know what, what if I just, cause we do it around the coffee [00:30:00] table, what if I had a few Ottomans that I bought? So we had a place to pull them over and sit.

[00:30:06] Loree Philip: Right. Because otherwise we're like on the floor on our knees or what to make it more easy to do. And so I think there are like once you start coming up with a few of these answers to how you want the room to feel, what is the main purpose of the room for you and your family, The ideas start to flow in.

[00:30:29] Loree Philip: They do. But if you're not thinking at all about it, you're just like, it just needs to be different and you don't know what that is. I think that's where you can easily be blocked and, or it's too overwhelming because it's quite messy or whatever it is. You don't know where to start. Yeah. Right.

[00:30:45] Loree Philip: Exactly. Right.

[00:30:46] Zandra Zuraw: For sure. Yeah. I want to, I want to go back to the thing you were just saying about, this little, these small acts of, of, Being bold and, and painting a color on your wall or moving the furniture around or taking I don't know, [00:31:00] taking the furniture from one floor to another, I think it absolutely does then help you in other areas of your life because not only are you taking a little bit of a, dipping your toe and just sort of that, that area of, Ooh, should I, shouldn't I, I don't know, should is bright fuchsia really gonna be okay in this wall?

[00:31:18] Zandra Zuraw: I'm afraid, but it's my. Favorite color. Once you do something bold like that, you're flexing those muscles, but you're also reflecting back to yourself a more out there version of who you are. You are putting yourself on display. So another great thing I tell people to do if they need a little bit of confidence boost is to put together a vignette.

[00:31:44] Zandra Zuraw: It can be anywhere on any surface. It can be on your buffet. It can be in your, on your bedroom, on your dresser. It can be on a mantle. And, and grab some objects that you have around your home that you feel like really represent who you are at your core, [00:32:00] or maybe who you're becoming at your core.

[00:32:02] Zandra Zuraw: And they don't have to, they don't have to mean anything to anybody else. It doesn't have to make sense to anybody else, right? So let's say you are, you're becoming passionate about gardening, like this hobby of yours is taking over and you're even starting thinking about, Oh, I wonder if I could be a landscape designer or something, right?

[00:32:21] Zandra Zuraw: I'm not saying that you then need to go get pick out a mug that has a picture of daisies on it because bam, that represents me as a gardener. I mean, you can be literal like that, but you don't have to be. It just needs to make sense in your own mind that this object represents These aspects of who I am, my values, my passions, my personality, what I believe in, what I want, what excites me.

[00:32:45] Zandra Zuraw: Gather, I don't know, three, five, seven of these objects, and then just start playing around with how you're arranging them. Look for different heights. Look for different shapes. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't need to go on Instagram. [00:33:00] Stand back, take a look at it, futz with it a little bit like, oh, maybe, oh, there's no, wow, there's all the same height here.

[00:33:05] Zandra Zuraw: Okay, I'm going to go get a vase from another room and I'm going to give it a little height of, or I'm going to put a few things on books, right? So just give it some height. That act of playing around in and of itself is being creative. And then leave it up for a little while. Don't be afraid. To put yourself out there in this very safe environment that you have, which is your home.

[00:33:26] Zandra Zuraw: The first people that are going to see it are your family and they may look at and go, what are you doing? What is this? And so you immediately have to practice being comfortable saying, this is what I feel like doing right now. This is, this is how I'm feeling about who I am and what I want to be. Ask me questions about it or don't, but it's staying up for a little while, right?

[00:33:45] Zandra Zuraw: Just even getting beyond our family sometimes with maybe the, the assumptions that they have about who we are sometimes is a big enough leap to make, right? And then you're going to invite a friend over and they're going to see it up there and maybe then a few more friends or [00:34:00] Just this very act of playing around with your objects.

[00:34:03] Zandra Zuraw: Having it mean something to you and then leaving it up for other people to see is a way to build that confidence muscle that you can take in any part of your life and then sitting with it and having and seeing it reflected back at you just fill it fills up the bucket. Hmm.

[00:34:20] Loree Philip: The word that came to mind for me was vulnerability, like practicing being vulnerable.

[00:34:26] Loree Philip: Yep. In a safe place. And then in which case in this example, where we're playing around with aesthetic, with choosing things that reflect who we are. And I think it's a really great idea, Zandra, just to start to play around with it, have fun with it and see what happens and know

[00:34:49] Zandra Zuraw: that you can change it, the other side of the coin of confidence, isn't it?

[00:34:53] Zandra Zuraw: I mean, you really do have to be vulnerable. At least to yourself by being very honest about what you [00:35:00] really want. And sometimes we're taught not to want things. We're taught that don't get, don't get greedy, don't think too highly of yourself, know your place all, all of that. But when you actually Say out loud, even if it's just to yourself, you start with yourself.

[00:35:16] Zandra Zuraw: I want this, I want this for my life. I want this thing or this experience in my life and then representing it on a shelf, kind of like a, like a little, like a little shrine Oh, this is, I'm going to remember it's like people putting sticky notes all over of with with feel good expressions to, to in the morning, it's like that. It's like having little sticky notes everywhere. Only you don't nobody else knows what they mean. But you do have to be vulnerable first. You have to admit what you want and then, and then you have to have to have the confidence to go for it.

[00:35:51] Loree Philip: And share it.

[00:35:51] Loree Philip: Yeah. The vulnerability I was thinking about was Was to put it out there even if it's just for your family Yeah, and [00:36:00] that's that it continues to grow and then you build confidence around Who you are and how you express it and your willingness to express it expands, right? So, I think we're going to start to wrap up here, Xandra, I'd love to hear any last pep talk for listeners that are like, I think I want to start playing around with this.

[00:36:22] Loree Philip: You already gave us a few great examples, but maybe somebody who's I'm just not stylish or maybe not sure. What would you say to them as, as something to a little bit of a pep talk?

[00:36:35] Zandra Zuraw: Yeah, so I do believe that we all are creative. So we're just creative in different ways. And sometimes some of us are creative problem solvers, using one side of our brain and others are maybe creative problem solvers on another side of our brain.

[00:36:49] Zandra Zuraw: Any, any act of intentionally assembling things, whether it's a small vignette or an entire room, [00:37:00] Is creativity. So give yourself a little bit more credit than maybe you have been. If you think, if you're like, oh, I'm not creative, that's, I'm not the creative one in my family or, or in my friend group or whatever you, you are creative, you've been telling yourself you aren't maybe to protect yourself a little bit, but, but you are creative.

[00:37:17] Zandra Zuraw: And creativity is a skill that needs to be practiced. It's not something you're just born with or not. It's something you can learn, and I'm talking about the kind of creativity that's required to create your own beautiful, meaningful home. Yes, I think that maybe if you're going to be Michelangelo, maybe you need to be born with something, right?

[00:37:37] Zandra Zuraw: Some kind of innate talent. Yeah, right. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking just about our environments in our homes. So first of all, let's, let's just delete this idea from our minds about not being creative. And then I would say, start with one room in your home, or if that feels overwhelming, start with a corner of your room and just think about [00:38:00] what do I want to What do I want to feel here?

[00:38:02] Zandra Zuraw: What do I want to experience here? And if it's helpful, think about a time in your life when you were really, really happy or really, really motivated or really, really energized or, or proud or whatever the feeling is that you're trying to trying to recreate. And don't. Don't lean on the word comfortable because that's like a cop out.

[00:38:20] Zandra Zuraw: Think a little bit more deeply about what you want to feel. And then just run through some things in your mind about what color does that feel like to me? What color represents that feeling to me? What materials is it leather? Is it wood? Is it marble? What do I want to be doing in this space?

[00:38:36] Zandra Zuraw: Do I need to be energized because it's going to be my workout space? Do I need to be relaxed because it's my cool down space? Do I need to be alert because it's my workspace? And then think about, okay, well, what, what things need to, do I need to support that? Do I need a mirror to reflect light? Do I need a more comfortable chair?

[00:38:57] Zandra Zuraw: Do I need a rug to delineate this space [00:39:00] within a much larger space? So that, that at least I know visually that this is, this space is meant for this activity. My morning tea and meditation or whatever it is, and start playing around and don't buy anything new, but do very actively pull things from other parts of your home.

[00:39:17] Zandra Zuraw: They can be placeholders. You'll learn something from them. You can say, Oh, well now, good. Now I have a place to put my drink, but it's way too high. This, this, this. Whatever I've pulled in, it's too high. So now I at least know I'm looking for a little side table that's lower. And then, so then I bring in a a garden stool from the garage that's lower, Oh, that's the right height.

[00:39:41] Zandra Zuraw: And actually now I like the idea that it's not a side table. It's a garden stool and I like that it's round because I'm looking at this corner going, everything here is right angles. It needs some softness. So now I'm glad I have this round garden stool. And you haven't bought anything yet. You can buy stuff.

[00:39:57] Zandra Zuraw: I'm not saying don't, but, but I think when you [00:40:00] play around like this and take the pressure off of getting it right the first time, I think you're going to start to have fun. And I think you're going to build up your confidence in yourself that you can do this. Is that too

[00:40:12] Loree Philip: much? I love all of it. I love it all.

[00:40:15] Loree Philip: I'm going to go start playing around with some of the stuff in my room. Okay, Xandra, please share with us how our listeners could connect with you, learn more about you and your work.

[00:40:27] Zandra Zuraw: Yeah, sure. So slowstylehome. com is my website, so Pretty much anything you need is, is there I have the Daily Pod or the Weekly Posh Daily.

[00:40:38] Zandra Zuraw: I have the weekly podcast called Slow Style Home. That's really for inspiration. And then if you want to work with me and learn the slow style framework that I teach, I do that through our membership called The Slow Style Society. But which is a paid membership. But if you wanna. Just get a sense of who I am and my teaching [00:41:00] style and all of that and a little bit, learn a little bit more about slow style, the process, I do have a free quiz.

[00:41:05] Zandra Zuraw: It's called fix my room. And it's an assessment tool to help you really figure out what's working, what's not, what do you need to work on so that you know what to do first. So again, to take away that sense of overwhelm. Okay, this one little thing is what I need to do first. I, I think that that is, I think that, that people breathe a sigh of relief when they realize I don't have to do it all at once, and I'm gonna figure out what the, what the, the little changes that I can make that's gonna set off the spark for them.

[00:41:37] Zandra Zuraw: Playing around like I was talking about earlier. So that's the fix my room quiz and that's free.

[00:41:42] Loree Philip: Great. Well, thank you so much. I've had such a fun conversation with you. I have a lot of ideas. I really appreciate you. Great.

[00:41:50] Zandra Zuraw: Well, thank you. I've loved being on your show and I think it's such a great premise for a show.

[00:41:55] Zandra Zuraw: I think these are such interesting conversations that I like to have just even with friends over [00:42:00] coffee or wine or whatever, and it's, it's nice to have a bigger community to do that in as well.

[00:42:05] Loree Philip: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. If you've enjoyed it, I would love for you to subscribe. If you're already a subscriber, don't forget to share the podcast with a friend.

[00:42:17] Loree Philip: Make sure to tune in next week. We'll be speaking with Tammy Alvarez about the five lies that are holding you back from having a thriving career. I hope you have an amazing week. It's your time to shine. Bye.