Dubai-based, French-born interiors blogger Emilie Jacob (@stellaandthestars) talks family life with The Early Hour. And offers a refreshing take on possessions, having moved countries five times in the past 20 years…
Emilie Jacob, 34, lives in Dubai – where she’s been for the past six months, following after 12 years in London. She lives with her husband Pete, and their daughter Stella, who’s three.
Our mornings are… a blur on weekdays (my daughter starts school at 7.30am and I am NOT a morning person so getting out of the house on time is a daily challenge). And heavenly chilled at weekends. We go to the beach every weekend first thing in the morning. That was one of the perks of moving here and we are still not bored of it after six months.
My kid mainly wears… flip flops and shorts now that we live in the desert. A mix of high street and independent brands. It’s been weird not being able to wear proper shoes or long sleeves but we can’t complain, really.
I cope with clutter by… I don’t, actually. I have major OCD tendencies and can’t function with an untidy house. Apart from the weekends where I try to let myself go, Elsa style, I run a tight clutter-free ship. The only exception is Stella’s bedroom and playroom, where anything goes.
I never leave the house without… my phone, and a gallon of water (the change of climate from London to Dubai means I get more dehydrated than a cactus if I am not careful.)
When no one’s looking I… binge on Netflix and scroll endlessly through my Instagram feed.
I encourage creativity… by turning little mundane things into fun activities. Every time there is something utterly dull that needs to be done at home, I think how I can make it a bit fun and involve my daughter. There is almost always a way!
I’ll never be able to part with… nothing I can think of actually. After moving countries five times in the past 20 years, I have learned not to be precious about physical belongings. We left most of our stuff back in London when we moved to Dubai and started from scratch here and it’s actually quite liberating. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the things but I have learned not to be miserable when I don’t have them. As ridiculously cheesy and cliché as it sounds my small family is the only thing I need to be happy. It took me years to get to that mindset though!
When all else fails we… take a chill pill and laugh. Life’s too short to take yourself seriously and be mad at someone.
Follow Emilie (stellaandthestars) on Instagram: @stellaandthestars