May 10, 2011
From Homegrown designer Karen Mills, often dubbed by fans as the Martha Stewart of Kansas City, is the force behind Living Large, the luxury design and lifestyle show broadcast on the Entercom Radio Network. Mills, who believes everyone should have access to fabulous design, inspires people worldwide through her broadcast radio show, internet TV show, speaking engagements, nationally published articles and design blog.
“Ever wonder if maintenance free living is the life for you?
I have to admit when my parents moved to Town Village Leawood and began the maintenance free lifestyle, I was a little envious. Suddenly they no longer had to deal with peeling paint on their home exterior, snow on the driveway or plumbing gone awry. They had time to go out with friends, travel, or do whatever they wanted, while also having gourmet meals prepared by an award winning chef every night. That’s when I started to dream about maintenance free living. Then to make matters worse (just kidding) my daughter moved to an oceanfront hotel in Southbeach where she ate chef prepared meals every week and my dream to experience a similar lifestyle got bigger. So I decided to check it out.
Know what I found? I realized that losing square feet doesn’t mean losing luxury or lifestyle, just less to worry about. I also discovered that most of my material belongings really didn’t hold the value I originally thought and was suprised to find that letting go of 80% of my belongings was actually a moment of liberation. Suddenly I felt freed and ready to travel, to discover the world and not worry about what I needed to do around the house. And sometimes when you free your mind up for more fun in life, you often find more ways to reduce your personal workload by having someone else prepare your meals, your taxes, your laundry or whatever is consuming your time. And if you play your cards right, you can spend the extra money on travel or even another home.
If you’re about to take the plunge yourself, make sure that you put together a floorplan for your new space first so you’ll know what furniture can go with you. And if you’re buying new furniture, try to pick pieces that are versatile like ottomans which are perfect not only for seating, but also coffee tables or just to put up your feet on.
For more great ideas about designing for maintenance free living and the advantages, don’t miss Living Large this Sunday at 10am CST on News Radio 980 KMBZ (streams live on kmbz.com) in Kansas City as I talk to Hallmark’s VP of Visual Merchandising, David Jimenez, along with other experts including Kerstin Kluck from Healthy Meals who delivers fresh organic meals to your home!”
