Made to Inspire: San Miguel de Allende
There are some places you visit that stick with you long after you leave. For me, San Miguel de Allende is one of them.
My husband and I recently traveled back to San Miguel for a friend's wedding, and somewhere between the cobblestone streets, incredible food, beautiful old doors and flowers seemingly growing from every available surface, I realized I was looking at everything a little differently this time.
I was looking at it through the lens of The Make Room.
One of my favorite things about San Miguel is the way nature and architecture seem to exist together rather than compete with one another. Plants aren't always placed neatly beside a building—they climb it. Trees aren't necessarily removed to make way for a courtyard—the courtyard seems to make room for the tree. Flowers spill over stone walls, vines frame doorways, and greenery softens materials that have been standing for generations.
There's something wonderfully imperfect about it.
And I think that's what inspires me most.
I'm drawn to spaces that feel as though they've developed over time rather than being decorated all at once. Heavy wooden doors. Natural stone. Worn textures. Warm, saturated colors. Greenery that isn't confined to a pot in the corner. Then, against all of those earthy materials, these incredible pops of flowers—bright pinks, oranges, reds and yellows—that somehow make everything around them feel even more alive.
San Miguel does this beautifully.
It's a reminder that a space can be elevated without feeling precious. It can be thoughtfully designed without feeling overly designed. It can have beautiful finishes and still feel warm, lived-in and welcoming.
Those are feelings I want to bring into The Make Room.
As we continue dreaming about the physical space, I'm finding myself drawn more and more toward natural materials and textures: substantial wood, warm stone, greenery, organic shapes and pieces that feel collected rather than perfectly matched. I want to look for opportunities to work with what's already there, too—whether that's natural light, an existing architectural detail or, someday, a beautiful tree or bit of landscape worth designing around rather than removing.
And of course, there will always be room for flowers.
Lots of them.
The Make Room won't look like San Miguel de Allende. It shouldn't. But I hope it carries a little of what I love so much about being there: warmth, character, nature, color and the feeling that beauty doesn't have to be perfect to make you want to stay awhile.
Turns out, inspiration for making room can come from just about anywhere.
This time, it came from San Miguel.
