Putting down roots and creating a cocoon with Lucy Green, founder of Homebody Club.

#06 INSIDER interview exploring home as a place of nurture, creativity and an anchor to our surroundings as the seasons turn.

A warm hello to any new faces, I am so glad you have found your way here… I’m Lyndsay — mother, creative and storyteller with a background in interiors PR.

Step inside Story & Thread., a cosy, layered home where the threads of creativity, interiors and mothering meet. Here, we unearth the stories from the seasons of our lives, with a house & a garden at the heart, and everyday beauty as our guide…

At home with Lucy Green.

“I feel like motherhood has made me the protector of the peace for our home and family, so the energy of our home is very important to me”.

—

Lucy Green

.

Hi everyone

How is August feeling to you?

I have always loved the quote below,

“August is the border between summer and autumn;

it is the most beautiful month I know.”

—Tove Jansson.

Here in the northern hemisphere, the first day of August marks the first harvest, Lammas or Lughnasadh in the Celtic calendar. These thresholds are a time to notice and observe the subtle shifts that are taking place and to align our own energy with the changing season. Being September born, August feels like a pathway towards a new year to me, and to those early autumnal days that are tinged with lower light and faded magic.

Lammas feels like a gentle rounding of the circle — at Imbolc on 1st February we began to sense the signs of awakening in a prelude to spring, initiating the upward curve of growth — Lammas is the first time I feel the quiet whisperings gathering me inwards once more…

I am delighted that we can taste a little more of the continuous turning circle of seasonal energy as we hear from

Lucy Green

, founder of Homebody Club. Lucy is based in South Australia, where they are moving into late winter and perhaps seeing a scattering of the first promises of spring, just as we did in February.

Lucy’s interview is the sixth instalment in the INSIDER series — a deep dive into home as a foundation of nurture and creativity, weaving a sense of place into our stories, providing an anchor to our surroundings as the seasons turn…

Meet

Lucy Green

, mother, yoga teacher, creative and founder of Homebody Club, a wellbeing community that supports all bodies.

Lucy recently moved from Melbourne to Adelaide to lay down roots with her young family. I loved hearing how Lucy reoriented herself and the choices around her home towards a sense of anchoring, both in the living world and in a place she has a deep relationship with, in preparation for starting a family of her own…

Describe who you are and what you do.

Hi I’m Lucy. I’m the founder of Homebody Club which is a mindfulness and self-care community on Substack and Instagram. I’m a certified yoga teacher and have studied EFT, breathwork, reiki and more. I also have a 12 year career in marketing, creating strategy for some of Australia’s largest retailers. Most importantly though, I’m a new mum to a beautiful boy named Harvey, which has totally rocked my world (in a good way!).

Lucy at home.

Where is home?

Home is in Adelaide, South Australia. Although Australia is known for its summer and surf, in Adelaide we get to experience all four seasons, which I really love. I live there with my husband, 6 month old baby boy, our Bordoodle pup and two cats.

Lucy’s family.

What led you to move from Melbourne to Adelaide?

There were a couple of reasons. It was during pandemic lockdown times and unfortunately, Melbourne was one of the strictest places in the world for lockdowns. My husband and I had been talking for some time about moving back to Adelaide to lay down roots, as it’s my hometown and we had lots of family and friends there, but it always felt like years away. (For context, Melbourne and Adelaide are in different states in Australia - it’s about a 9 hour drive or 1.5 hour flight.)

Lockdown started to feel incredibly isolating and lonely, and we talked more and more about our vision to move back to Adelaide, to get married, buy our first home and start a family. About six months into lockdown, my partner was approached for a position in Adelaide and it felt like a sign from the universe to take the leap and make the move.

How has the move shaped how you live?

Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia, and we lived a very busy, city based lifestyle. We would always be out at restaurants and bars or seeing the latest show or exhibit. There was always something happening and new to see and we loved being busy.

When the lockdown happened, we felt so trapped. Only being able to go outside once per day and not seeing any of our friends, it was not only isolating, but the city felt suffocating. We were so sick of being indoors and surrounded by buildings.

Adelaide on the other hand is a lot smaller and more laid back. I grew up on the coast and would walk along the esplanade on the beach every day to get a coffee at my local bakery.

So the move very much changed us as we wanted to prioritise being with nature, having our own safe space to ground and being close to our friends and family.

Brighton Beach, Adelaide.

Describe your home and garden.

We bought our first home in a suburb that’s at the base of some beautiful hill ranges and an amazing wine region. We have an abundance of parks, and live a few streets away from a beautiful lake which is home to hundreds of kangaroos - we see them grazing or sleeping on the grass every day which is pretty special.

Our home was built in the ‘90s and when we moved in each room was a random funky colour… think bright mustard yellow, fuchsia and turquoise (what a combo!). Two months after closing on our house, we found out we were expecting our first baby so the big renos have been put on the back burner. We’ve done some painting (our mustard room is now a calm warm beige room), but now that our little boy is six months old, we have lots of plans for getting stuck into some DIY.

How do you feel in your home?

I feel safe and grounded.

What is your favourite part?

Our garden is my favourite part of our home. For most of my adult life, I’ve lived in apartments and only had a tiny balcony that could fit a couple of plants. Having our own garden feels like such a luxury! Now we have our own beautiful trees, lawn and veggie patch. I look out from our kitchen window every day and feel so grateful for having our own bit of earth to look after.

In Lucy’s garden.

How do you bring meaning to your home?

Connection to my family, current and past, is super important to me. I have furniture and little trinkets that are from my grandparents. I’m very sentimental and keep all of my cards and notes that our loved ones give to us, and I have them peppered throughout our house.

Where do you feel most creative at home?

In the bath. I know it sounds weird, but that’s where all my creative thoughts connect with me. I like the temperature of the bath sweltering hot with epsom salts, bath oil and some lavender bubble bath. It’s gotta be a whole vibe. I spend the whole time thinking, imagining and adding ideas to the Notes app on my phone.

Where do you feel most nourished?

Our bedroom is our safe cocoon.

We have a big king bed that my grandmother gave me for my 30th and it was such a safe haven for me during my pregnancy and postpartum.

It’s where we relax, read, debrief on our day. I like to have slow mornings with my son Harvey, and he often has a quick feed and then falls back asleep on me for a nap, while our dog and cats sit at the end of our bed.

Where do you spend most time in your home as a family?

We spend the most time in our lounge room. It’s chaotic, but in the best way. We have lots of baby toys, a comfy tan leather couch, a stack of ever-revolving library books and a ton of cushions and blankets.

How have you considered the needs of your family within the design of your home?

We moved into our home with the intention of living and embracing the home before making any big changes. Our future renovations will reflect how we want to feel grounded and relaxed in our home, which includes opening up our kitchen so that it can be more of a place of connection.

The design is currently warm and cosy. We have lots of textures, candles, incense, fresh flowers and family pictures hanging up.

Fresh flowers in Lucy’s home.

Do you have any family rituals and rhythms?

If my husband is working from home, we like to go on a family walk at lunch with our baby Harvey, and Bordoodle pup Cosmo. We walk to a park a couple of minutes down the street, which has a beautiful rose garden. We stop past trees and flowers to show Harvey and we glide his hands over the leaves and petals so that he can feel the different textures. We don’t really walk far, it’s more of a slow meander. It’s family time I really cherish.

How do you pay attention to the seasons within your home?

We honour the seasons with our garden and cooking. Right now, we’re in late winter. At the beginning of winter, I noticed everything slowing down. Our beautiful big tree in our backyard lost its final leaves and we planted our winter veggies like cauliflower, kale and broccoli. We also started cooking slow and warm foods, like chicken soup, stews, roasts and curries to ground us for the colder days.

Is your home complete or do you have any further aspirations and plans?

Oh my gosh, it is about 10% complete! We have so many visions, plans and dreams for it and now we finally have the capacity to put some dreams into action. Here’s a little sneak peek into our Pinterest vision board:

Lucy’s Pinterest board.

The next steps for us are a lot of painting, installing new floorboards throughout and creating a fun and bold gallery wall (this is my current inspiration).

Lucy Green

is a mother, yoga teacher, creative and founder of Homebody Club. At age 7 Lucy was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and in her early adult years, she has been additionally diagnosed with Lupus, Anxiety and Chronic Fatigue. Growing up with this unique lens on life from her invisible illnesses, Lucy continually experienced a lack of wellbeing resources available to those with different physical and mental requirements.

Homebody Club® was created in 2018 as a blog to share self-development and spirituality tips and has bloomed into a beautiful community and comprehensive, accessible wellbeing resource for all bodies.

You can explore more of Lucy’s work via her publication Homebody Club, on Instagram and via her website.

I loved learning about how Lucy’s move affected the way she and her family live, and how her feelings towards home and her role in creating a grounded and peaceful energy within it, have shifted since being a mother.

I would love to know if you have made a move that has changed the way you live? What sort of energy do you wish to create within your home?

Thank you for reading and I really look forward to your thoughts, hope we can chat more in the comments.

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