Through the Keyhole

When I became a mom in 2017, I opened social media to find a culture shift had begun. Countless influencers who were suggesting that "less" was everything. The trends at the time told me to declutter, simplify, and strip my life of anything unnecessary. Nurseries were to be filled with wooden toys, that realistically, no child actually played with. Living rooms were swathed in sterile white and beige, with no pops of color and no personality. The goal was calm, minimalism, order... homes that looked more like hotels than havens of family life.  To be honest, I bought into some of it. It did look nice - clean, polished, serene. But the need to assimilate faded quickly. I believe it was because, a hotel is a nice place to visit but home is where you live. Our home is a picture of our life story, clues to our interests and life stages. Home is a place to make memories, to grow up, raise a family or grow old in. Home doesn't feel like home when it looks like a hotel. I no...

Let it be understood from the outset— I am not merely the woman with an Etsy shop. Eidel’s Ideas is ever so much more than that. Why yes, you will find my storefront on Etsy, it is, of course, my busiest shop location at present —but there is far more to her story, dearest reader.  You see, Etsy is rather like a grand and bustling marketplace—a place not unlike a modern-day emporium (mall), wherein many small merchants gather to display their wares. It is quite a convenient locale to be seen and discovered, to be sure. But just as a fine shop within such a place is not defined by the walls which house it, so too is Eidel’s Ideas not confined to, nor dependent upon, Etsy. Should Etsy vanish with the morrow, Eidel’s Ideas would yet endure—steadfast and ever so distinguished. For this endeavor did not begin with Etsy—nor shall it end there. In days gone by, many years ago, I began at humble venues such as Trader Jake’s and the local flea markets, where I arranged my wares upon simple ...