SPA BATHROOM DESIGNED BY CELIA ALIDA RUTTE
The year 2026 marks the twentieth anniversary of DESIGN FOR CONSCIOUS LIVING. I started building the foundation for my design company in 2006 as I was wrapping up my interior design studies. In this new chapter of my business, I have rebranded; and NUITH has become the parent company, and part of the new name. Design for Conscious Living now takes a secondary position as the tag line for my interior design work.
In this design post my aim is to first go back and clarify what the name DESIGN FOR CONSCIOUS LIVING represents, specifically in relation to my work as a residential designer; and then from there to illustrate what NUITH brings to the design process. Let me begin by adding some context to the concepts of HOME, and DESIGN FOR CONSCIOUS LIVING.
BEDROOM DESIGNED BY CELIA ALIDA RUTTE
Our home—at its most fundamental level—is a place that allows us to effectively attend to our life by addressing our most basic need of self-preservation. It is a roof over our head that shelters us from the external elements and protects us while we sleep; essentially acting as another layer of our skin.
Mankind has made profound advancements in shaping this outer layer, moving from rudimentary animal skin teepees and snow igloos to the modern built environment. Our home at its most basic level now contains spaces for food preservation and preparation, sleeping, bathing, and entertaining.
Where we may choose to shelter is often of our own volition, especially as an adult. Life events and perspectives will influence the choices we make, as will our family, our relationships, our job, and our income level. These choices shape the environment around us. The place we call home is therefore an important representation of what has influenced us throughout our life, and the core beliefs we hold about ourselves. From a broader theoretical perspective, the home can be viewed as the primary external field in which we experience “Self”.
Conscious Living—or living a more conscious life—is to bring a heightened level of awareness to our personal growth and our activities for improved wellbeing. It is generally understood that when we improve our own wellbeing, we also improve the lives of those around us; as our positive mood or mindset influences our interactions.
Here is a simplified example of living consciously in the daily task of feeding ourselves. If we are acting on autopilot there will be less critical thought around what we eat, how we prepare our meals, or how much effort we apply. However, when we bring more awareness to the task, we might make better choices in the food we purchase, the meals we prepare, and the cooking instruments we use. If the choices we make result in improved health, we may experience more joy or comfort in our body, and this experience is shared with those around us.
We can expand on this example above, by including how we might renovate our kitchen to enhance our food preparation experience; designing an efficient time and space saving layout; or updating food storage and cooking appliances for better performance; or replacing a tile floor for a softer material underfoot. If the design choices we make result in improved wellbeing, once again this positive experience will be shared with those around us. Reflecting on the words of Winston Churchill—we shape our dwellings, and afterwards, our dwellings shape us—our quest to live a more conscious life leads us to design a better home, which leads us to improved wellbeing.
MEDIA ROOM DESIGNED BY CELIA ALIDA RUTTE
In this new chapter of my business operating as NUITH | DESIGN FOR CONSCIOUS LIVING, the intention of designing towards improved well being is expanded to include vision boarding—viewing the home as a powerful vision board for our life.
We have all heard about the concept of a vision board: setting the intention to manifest something in our life that we wish for or dream of, by creating a collage of ideas and concepts, that visually represents what we wish to manifest. If you haven’t tried this before, I highly recommend it. I have had a few experiences myself of witnessing the power of a vision board in action. A case in point: after many unsuccessful attempts at finding a healthy long-term romantic relationship, I created a vision board to represent what I was dreaming of. I believe this vision board provided the road map that led me to my husband. I have heard many stories from other people of vision boards successfully manifesting their dreams.
Let’s consider the words of Mark Twain the famous 19th century author who wrote, “To us our house was not unsentient matter–it had a heart and a soul and eyes to see us with, and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies; it was of us, and we were in its confidence, and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction.”
Twain describes his house as a living breathing presence with a heart and soul. The home is a sentient being intimately connected to the inhabitants, and motivating them through its offerings of peace, protection, and divine grace. Expanding on this sentiment—the home motivating us through its offerings—what if, within the design process, we were to focus in on your dreaming, and weave together a tapestry of intentions. These intentions can be aimed at increasing your wellbeing or providing a road map.
The desire one might have to “Age in Place” is a great example of setting an intention to increase your wellbeing. Some of my clients are entering the “Autumn” of their life and they wish to live in their home as long as possible. During the design process we put foundations in place for universal design applications like grab bars, which can be incorporated immediately, or later when they need them.
Creating a picture gallery on a prominent wall space and filling it with art or photographs which represent all the places you still want to travel in your life—this is a powerful example of setting a visual intention that acts as a road map.
SPA BATHROOM DESIGNED BY CELIA ALIDA RUTTE
Another way to initiate possibilities within your home is to create “material mantras”. I created this expression twenty years ago when I started working in the design industry. Material mantras are material things, or visual cues, that can remind us of positive affirmations, or our key objectives in life. Many of us are familiar with the idea of writing a cheque to yourself for a large sum of money, dating the cheque, and hanging it up in a picture frame. A supporting Feng Shui example is to put a bowl of gold coins in a prominent location to continually remind yourself, “I am a magnet for abundance and prosperity.” An example of visual forecasting would be to create a physical representation or image of the book you hope to one day publish.
The overarching theme in all these examples, is that if we wish to make changes in our life, we can shift our views and experiences by making changes in our surroundings. It is the idea of proactively designing a home that not only reminds us of what we believe and have achieved in our life but also motivates us towards what we still want to accomplish.
In this new stage of our residential design work, rebranded as NUITH | DESIGN FOR CONSCIOUS LIVING, we incorporate this visionary design process:
UTILIZE THE CANVAS OF YOUR HOME, TO FOCUS IN ON THE DREAMING, THAT WILL BECOME YOUR REALITY
All the written content within the Nuith website comes directly from the consciousness of humans, and mostly from the consciousness of Celia Alida Rutte. No artificial intelligence has been employed to write these messages. The writer’s hard work and creative struggle were real. Credit to the author noted above is deserved and greatly appreciated.
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