Do you Want to Go Home?

Contributed by Michael Hennessy

How important it is to have an aesthetically pleasing place to call home?

In my earlier days of life on my own, design was not even a consideration. Whatever I could get my hands on as far as furniture was concerned was good enough. This being the case, plastic milk crates took over as a major staple of my motif. They acted as side tables, coffee tables, album holders, bookshelves, extra seating as well as moving boxes. It wasn’t until after many years of learning design and creating beautiful spaces did I realize just how important it was to have my home be a place of beauty.

It started with small things; an antique frame for the hall, a Danish armoire to hold my clothing, a small French cupboard to hide the TV. These were incredibly expensive purchases on the limited budget I was working with, but I began to feel more comfortable in my own space.  With less milk crate motif, each new place I moved into posed different challenges to overcome, giving me more experiences to back up that feeling of enjoyment when it all came together in a comforting way. When I started building my own designs and bringing them home to get a sense of how they would feel in a home setting, I began to truly appreciate the whole scope of my work.

Having now made thousands of pieces of furniture for others to enjoy and hopefully helping them create their own comfort zone, it seems to almost have become an obsession. Although now I look for the beauty in all things and that is what helps to inspire the creative thoughts and actions. Maybe one day, I will find inspiration from those milk crates.

To learn more about home design, art and furniture, visit Michael Hennessy Home at 207 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011 or www.mhhome.net.