Guy with an eye is five!

The weekly micro-decorating newsletter * Issue 4 of 13, SS26 * Subscribe free *

Let's raise a glass to this newsletter's fifth birthday! On June 12, 2021, a brief article about a scene from An American in Paris marked the dawn of a new approach to interiors. A few days later, the first issue of guy with an eye appeared, and that September the concept of micro-decorating was born.

We were just over a year into the pandemic and all that confinement had taught us to be more creative in limited quarters. Guy with an eye celebrated this new attitude with weekly bulletins on how our homes – and the way we see them – had forever changed.

We explored how the smallest of adjustments could have huge effects on our well-being, and in time we labelled these changes "micro moves." Something as simple as lifting a sedentary object...

and placing it somewhere else could set off a whole new outlook.

We learned how to garnish...

how to overload...

how to juxtapose...

how to play with primary colours...

and how to deploy many other unlikely techniques, none of which involved handyman skills, and all of which sharpened our sense of self.

As the pandemic restrictions loosened, we started scanning the wider world for inspiration to bring home. We might find it in a shop window...

or in the glimpse of a condo lobby...

or in a stylish TTC entrance:

We might find it in a place as expected as The Interior Design Show...

or as unexpected as a revamped office building in Mimico:

These journeys outward always took us back home, where something as simple as arranging humble things on a windowsill could bring outsized comfort:

So as we begin the next five years, I'd also like to raise a glass to you:

Thank you for being part of this unfolding adventure. Whether you've been with us from the start or joined more recently, I appreciate every minute you've spent on learning to attend to the smallest details of home.

We're a growing community of micro-decorators now and I can't wait to discover where we'll go together next.

Thank you for reading.