As summer stretches open before us, it’s worth pausing to honor a powerful — and often overlooked — truth: this season isn’t just about vacations and poolside cocktails. Summer is the quiet siren call to return to Play. And not the trivial kind. We’re talking about the raw, untamed force that fuels invention, joy, and vision.
After two decades immersed in the business of ideas — shaping them, scaling them, selling them — I’ve come to one unequivocal conclusion: Play isn’t optional. It’s survival. It’s how we access our most instinctual creativity and boldest truths.
We are born wired for imagination. As children, we live in full-color worlds of wonder, experimentation, and intuition. Then adulthood arrives like a slow erosion — filled with responsibilities, deadlines, and to-do lists that edge play off the agenda. The result? We become disconnected from the very source of our originality.
Here’s the truth I’ve found in the trenches of creativity:
Play is the pulse of the human spirit.
It’s not frivolous. It’s not indulgent. It’s the ignition point of your most daring ideas — and it doesn’t require permission. When you give yourself over to joy, you activate your inner compass. And it points exactly where you need to go.
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
— George Bernard Shaw
At Smyth House, our design philosophy centers on the idea of StyleStory — a process rooted in rediscovering your creative DNA. We help people design their sanctuaries with clarity and soul — homes that are not just well-appointed, but deeply personal.
And where do we begin? With a simple but radical assignment:
Notice your joy.
Track it. Name it. Let it lead you. Because those moments — the ones where you feel most alive — are the blueprint for a space that reflects who you really are.
This summer, start your list. When do you feel most expansive? Most at ease? Most like yourself? Let those moments shape your surroundings. Let them shape your life.
Need a nudge to start your StyleStory? Our DesignRX virtual consults are less “decorator on demand” and more creative therapy — a catalytic experience that has sparked clarity for hundreds of clients ready to live in alignment with their joy.
“Those who play rarely become brittle in the face of stress or lose the healing capacity for laughter.”
— Stuart Brown
Here’s to making play a non-negotiable. Here’s to designing joy — not just into our homes, but into the way we live.
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Join us around this topic in our 3rd Salon in collaboration with Sara Chambers of Elly & Nora. Exclusive invites will be sent out via our email, so make sure you’re signed up here.
May 16, 2025
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