--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The decor bowled me over. Everywhere I…" description: "\"The decor bowled me over. Everywhere I looked, there was something more to see. Botanical prints, a cross section of pomegranates, a passionflower vine..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a7e/janet-fitch-717_art_the-decor-bowled-me-over-everywhere-i-lo_2879558.jpg" --- # The decor bowled me over. Everywhere I looked, there was… ![“The decor bowled me over. Everywhere I looked, there was something more to see. Botanical prints, a cross section of pomegranates, a passionflower vine and its fruit. Stacks of thick books on art and design and a collection of glass paperweights filled the coffee table. It was enormously…” quote by Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a7e/janet-fitch-717_art_the-decor-bowled-me-over-everywhere-i-lo_2879558.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a7e/janet-fitch-717_art_the-decor-bowled-me-over-everywhere-i-lo_2879558.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a7e/janet-fitch-717_art_the-decor-bowled-me-over-everywhere-i-lo_2879558.jpg) > “The decor bowled me over. Everywhere I looked, there was something more to see. Botanical prints, a cross section of pomegranates, a passionflower vine and its fruit. Stacks of thick books on art and design and a collection of glass paperweights filled the coffee table. It was enormously beautiful, a sensibility I'd never encountered anywhere, a relaxed luxury. I could feel my mother's contemptuous gaze falling on the cluttered surfaces, but I was tired of three white flowers in a glass vase. There was more to life than that.” [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator discovers a rich, sensory world in a house filled with art and objects, contrasting with her mother’s disdain and a desire for deeper meaning. **In simple terms:** A beautiful, sensory environment offers escape from superficial expectations. Key Takeaway Seek depth and personal taste beyond imposed norms. Themes art sensory escape family tension personal growth Mood reflective nostalgic contemplative Type observation personal narrative descriptive When to use this quote - home decor exploration - family conflict - personal reflection - creative inspiration - cultivating taste Key Concepts aesthetic appreciation rejection of conformity search for meaning Questions to Reflect On - How do personal tastes clash with family expectations? - What does “relaxed luxury” mean to you? A Different Perspective The mother's contempt may reflect generational clash, limiting appreciation of new aesthetics. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful/) [Beautiful Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful-sensibility-3983011/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Coffee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/coffee/) [Collections](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collections/) [Contemptuous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemptuous/) [Crosses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crosses/) [Decor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decor/) [Design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) [Enormously Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enormously-beautiful-3983012/) [Fall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fall/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Filled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/filled/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Fruit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fruit/) [Gardening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardening/) [Glasses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/glasses/) [Looked Botanical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/looked-botanical-3983010/) [Luxury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/luxury/) [More to life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/more-to-life/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [Pomegranates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pomegranates/) [Print](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/print/) [Relaxed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relaxed/) [Sensibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility/) [Sensibility Encountered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sensibility-encountered-3983013/) [Surface](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surface/) [Tables](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tables/) [Three](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/three/) [Tired](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tired/) [Vases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vases/) [Vines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vines/) [White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white/) [White flowers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-flowers/) ## Related quotes > [“And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers—shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/and-i-have-by-me-for-my-comfort-two-strange-white-flowers-shrivelled/) [H. 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He stood in front of the spray of white flowers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-pacat/look-it-s-those-flowers-from-that-boring-poem-that-you-like-ancel/) [C.S. Pacat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-pacat/) > [It was an evil doom that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest lady of a house of queens.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien-2/it-was-an-evil-doom-that-set-her-in-his-path-for-she-is-a-fair-maiden-2/) [J. R. R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien-2/) > [Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, Before a thousand peering littlenesses, In that fierce light which beats upon a throne, And blackens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-lord-tennyson/wearing-the-white-flower-of-a-blameless-life-before-a-thousand/) [Alfred Lord Tennyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/) > [Verse should be as natural As the small tuber that feeds on muck And grows slowly from obtuse soil To the white flower of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-s-thomas/verse-should-be-as-natural-as-the-small-tuber-that-feeds-on-muck-and/) [R. S. Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-s-thomas/) > [If you are feeling more yourself, there is a problem best addressed immediately," said the queen. "In my nightshirt?" The king wriggled, as ever,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-whalen-turner/if-you-are-feeling-more-yourself-there-is-a-problem-best-addressed/) [Megan Whalen Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-whalen-turner/) > [It sometimes strikes me how immensely fortunate I am that each day should take its place in my life, either reddened with the rising…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/it-sometimes-strikes-me-how-immensely-fortunate-i-am-that-each-day/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [The white flower of a blameless life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-lord-tennyson/the-white-flower-of-a-blameless-life/) [Alfred Lord Tennyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-lord-tennyson/) > [Shed no tear - O, shed no tear! The flower will bloom another year. Weep no more - O, weep no more! Young buds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/shed-no-tear-o-shed-no-tear-the-flower-will-bloom-another-year-weep/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [It was an evil doom that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest lady of a house of queens.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-was-an-evil-doom-that-set-her-in-his-path-for-she-is-a-fair-maiden/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose breathes of love; O, the red rose is a falcon, And the white rose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boyle-o-reilly/the-red-rose-whispers-of-passion-and-the-white-rose-breathes-of-love/) [John Boyle O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boyle-o-reilly/) > [“Wherever her feet pass, white flowers part the grass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-j-smith/wherever-her-feet-pass-white-flowers-part-the-grass/) [L.J. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-j-smith/) ## More by Janet Fitch > [How could anybody confuse truth with beauty, I thought as I looked at him. Truth came with sunken eyes, bony or scarred, decayed. Its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/how-could-anybody-confuse-truth-with-beauty-i-thought-as-i-looked-at/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [I love Derrick Brown for the surprise of one word waking up next to another. One moment tender, funny or romantic, the next, visceral,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/i-love-derrick-brown-for-the-surprise-of-one-word-waking-up-next-to/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“That fucking crow-bodied thing had won. How gleeful it was now. All because he'd wanted to live, forget genius and destiny, and simply be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/that-fucking-crow-bodied-thing-had-won-how-gleeful-it-was-now-all/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [No matter how unappealing, each of them imagines he is somehow worthy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/no-matter-how-unappealing-each-of-them-imagines-he-is-somehow-worthy/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [The nearest I'd come to feeling anything like God was the plan blue cloudless sky and a certain silence, but how do you pray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/the-nearest-i-d-come-to-feeling-anything-like-god-was-the-plan-blue/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [When most people looked at Josie Tyrell, they only saw a certain collection of bones, a selection of forms filling space. But Michael saw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/when-most-people-looked-at-josie-tyrell-they-only-saw-a-certain/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“They can't touch us. We're the Vikings. We go into battle without armor for the flush and the blood of it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/they-can-t-touch-us-we-re-the-vikings-we-go-into-battle-without-armor/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“But I knew one more thing. That people who denied who they were or where they had been were in the greatest danger.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/but-i-knew-one-more-thing-that-people-who-denied-who-they-were-or/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“To dare to see is to steal fire from the Gods. This is mankind's destiny, the engine which fuels us as a race. Three…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/to-dare-to-see-is-to-steal-fire-from-the-gods-this-is-mankind-s/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [This is what happens when you fall in love. You're looking at a natural disaster.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/this-is-what-happens-when-you-fall-in-love-you-re-looking-at-a/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“If I were a poet, that’s what I’d write about. People who worked in the middle of the night. Men who loaded trains, emergency…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/if-i-were-a-poet-that-s-what-i-d-write-about-people-who-worked-in-the/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“what was the point in creating something that was so futile and so precious? everything beautiful was like that. a little bit of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/what-was-the-point-in-creating-something-that-was-so-futile-and-so/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [“We received our coloring from Norsemen. Hairy savages who hacked their gods to pieces and hung the flesh from trees. We are the ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/we-received-our-coloring-from-norsemen-hairy-savages-who-hacked-their/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [¨Loneliness is the human condition. Cultivate it. The way it tunnels into you allows your soul room to grow. Never expect to outgrow loneliness.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/loneliness-is-the-human-condition-cultivate-it-the-way-it-tunnels/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [I was tired of men. Hanging in doorways, standing too close, men who made you love them then changed their minds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/i-was-tired-of-men-hanging-in-doorways-standing-too-close-men-who/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) [Explore all 388 Janet Fitch quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The decor bowled me over. Everywhere I looked, there was something more to see. Botanical prints, a cross section of pomegranates, a passionflower vine and its fruit. Stacks of thick books on art and design and a collection of glass paperweights filled the coffee table. It was enormously beautiful, a sensibility I'd never encountered anywhere, a relaxed luxury. I could feel my mother's contemptuous gaze falling on the cluttered surfaces, but I was tired of three white flowers in a glass vase. 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