Every year, around this time, I have a scent memory that comes to me unbidden. It’s an odd memory in that it’s not from anything extreme. You always read about someone having negative experiences and certain smells trigger them, but this is a memory of something fairly mundane that comes to me every single year when the season changes from Winter into Spring.
It’s the scent of a white and yellow primrose in my first real apartment in Towson, Maryland. Along with this scent memory comes a feeling of well-being and I can picture sunlight streaming through a window. This sounds so Proustian, but it’s real. My mom gave me the plant and the scent of it filled me with happiness while it was blooming. I think there must be something about being on your own for the first time and a feeling of contentment that stuck with me. Maybe I should look for a primrose plant next time I’m in a garden shop, but I guarantee you it would be nothing like my memory of the original primrose.
Here are some recent interiors that are making me smile these days:
Beautiful yellow kitchen with stunning cabinetry. (Photo Source)
How fun are these Imagined Ancestors paintings from Hugo Guinness? What a good idea. (Photo Source)
What a captivating basement laundry room (although this takes some serious $$$). I could eat this whole house up. (Photo Source)
Cheerful colors in this adorable apartment in Stockholm. (Photo Source)
How lovely! It looks like these are very subtle lavender cabinets? Love the window colors and the wood furniture piece here. (Photo Source)
I love bedrooms that are tucked into porches like this. Sleeping porches came into fashion in the early 1900’s when tuberculosis was running rampant and sleeping outside was thought to boost your immune system. I love the well-maintained vintage look to this one. (Photo Source)
Here’s an artist I really like who sells his smaller studies at affordable prices for good causes. Love this one. (Photo Source)
“It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.” Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Laura is a Denver Interior Designer who runs an Interior Design Studio based in sunny Colorado with a strong commitment to livable and interesting interiors. She also runs The Colorado Nest, a Denver blog about Design, Art and Life in the Mountain West and co-hosts the book podcast "The Inside Flap" on iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play.
View all posts by Laura Medicus Interiors
5 thoughts on “The Scent of a Primrose”
Kelly Mathews forwarded your wonderful Colorado Nest.
The Colorado Nest 
Kelly Mathews forwarded your wonderful Colorado Nest.
Can you please include me in your emails🥳
My best to you
Kathy Forchas k.forchas@gmail.com
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Hi Friend, Your email always makes me smile, and I love hearing your thoughts. Much love to you always!
from Julie T.
Aw, thanks Julie! Love you!