By Elle Ford
For me, the need to feel at home in a strange country is paramount. With no close family nearby, my house is a sanctuary, somewhere to feel safe and feel at home, a place to relax and take time to unwind. I’m not going to tell you what to do with interior design — because I just make it up as I go along. I’m just going to tell you what my approach is to a new house or a new posting. This is my way.
Who am I?
I’m Elle. I’m Dutch. I love being creative. I followed an interior design course years ago, and after that I took a Degree in Fine Art followed by a Masters in Fine Art. I’ve also had plenty of practice with moving, from the Netherlands to Oman, Sakhalin to Houston, Kazakhstan to Dubai, Trinidad to the UK and now to Brunei.
Maybe we have not all been given the choice of houses we would prefer, so we have to make the most of what we have been given and see how we can make it work. So how can we make these houses, our homes, just look that little bit better?
What do I do?
Emptying: I always find that less is more. You don’t have to have loads of things you brought from your previous posting. When I move to a new country, I empty all the packing boxes and spread the contents throughout the new house. My house becomes fuller and fuller and I then totally lose focus. I realise that this does not feel at all like a new start, and a new posting is supposed to be a new start. Not everything has to be placed in the same way as my previous house or location.
I find that to be motivation enough to change things up. I’m not doing myself any favours by unpacking absolutely everything, but I have to do it so that I am forced into the conclusion that it is time to declutter. I wonder if I’m the only person who thinks about decluttering after a move, instead of being sensible and doing it before moving! Maybe there’s a little voice in my head thinking that all the old junk I drag around may be useful in the next location. Wrong!
Keep it or bin it?
I struggle with unpacking the same things time and time again. All those framed items like an Omani dagger, maps from the Middle East, matryoshka from Russia, that I have collected during my travels over the years. No doubt you know what I’m talking about: we all have a personal globetrotter collection — I seem to have lots of them! Ideally, I would sell them or give some of them away, but I have to keep everyone else in the household happy. Throwing or giving away those items is not an option because they are, in all fairness, memories from our past adventures. However, my perspective has totally changed over the years when it comes to bringing back souvenirs from postings or holidays. While I was never a fan of bringing back a little Eiffel Tower or a tea towel, from my last posting in Trinidad and Tobago I decided to buy more day-to-day items for the kitchen, like a large cutlass, which is useful — for opening coconuts and scaring visitors — as well as being a souvenir.
You don’t have to have everything on display. Based on the season, you can put things away for another time. You can also try an alternative way of displaying them, or an alternative location from how they were kept at your previous home. I tend to display them in smaller clusters, which gives them a more cohesive, curated feel, rather than spreading them throughout the house. I even repaint frames in the same colour — for example, all black – then I can bring the countries and cultures together in a modern, cohesive way but still reflecting the journey we have been on.
It’s also not necessary to have all these collections displayed in the lounge or central living space. It’s nice to place them in an office or study, in a hallway or on the way to the bathroom.
Another problem I have encountered over the years is moving from a location where houses are huge to a new place where houses are usually smaller. The furniture just doesn’t fit! So another reason to offload it — but maybe before you leave the first location!
Bringing local flavour inside
My interior aesthetic is a combination of old and new, modern and traditional, with a harmonious feel and a strong link to where I am living, so I’m now looking to evoke the Borneo jungle vibe. I bought a machete from the local hardware store and now I go into my garden on a weekly basis to get some fresh foliage. I look like a complete idiot when I go out there in the wild, covered from head to toe in body armour because I’m scared of absolutely everything that lives in the jungle, even the geckos. But the end result is fabulous and worth the risk and danger.
Once I have a good harvest of banana leaves or other foliage, I give them a good rinse off outside so that they’re bug free before I take them inside. Then you just have to put them in your house and it will look fabulous. Find a nice vase or bucket for the new foliage.
Recycle and reuse
I try to bring different elements of our travels into our house. The wooden packing crates used during transfer are great to recycle. What you can do is add some wheels or castors under them, and used them as side tables (or they could be storage boxes for your kids toys). With a little bit of DIY they turn into designer pieces of furniture and look fabulous.
What I particularly like about our wooden packing crates is that they are stamped as being from Port of Spain, West Indies, and now they have made it all the way to the East Indies. It adds interest to a piece of furniture, gives it a little bit of character and a story. Dec 2022/Jan 2023 18 Bringing foliage inside the house. Using packing crates as tables.
Settling in
It’s all about a fresh start, drawing on the energy of my new surroundings. I’ve been given the opportunity to start over and over again in every new country for the last 20 years. Honestly this can be really, really hard, I’m not going to lie. But 90% of the time being surrounded by a new environment and culture gives me energy and fresh inspiration from absolutely everything around me. Let the Borneo adventure begin!
