A Return to 90’s Living

A quieter approach to home, connection, and everyday life—and why I’m bringing a little of the 90s back for 39.

Less noise. More presence. A slower way of living at home and everywhere else.

Life is too loud now.

Too many notifications. Too many opinions. Too much access. Too much pressure to be reachable, productive, informed, inspired, available and somehow still well-rested.

And somewhere in all of that, I think we’ve lost some of the texture of everyday life.

The slower mornings. The music playing in the kitchen. Magazines on the coffee table. Dinner made without filming it. A friend stopping by. A walk with no headphones. A home that feels lived in instead of constantly documented.

That’s the part of the 90s I keep coming back to.

Not because everything was better then. It wasn’t. But life felt more contained. More tactile. More present.

You called someone and hoped they were home. You wandered through antique stores or the mall without checking your phone every few minutes. You watched the movie that was on. You flipped through catalogs and magazines. You sat outside because there wasn’t always something else demanding your attention.

There was less access to everything, and somehow that created more room for life.

As I head into my 39th year, that’s what I want more of.

Not a complete rejection of modern life. I love the convenience of what we have now. I love being able to create, connect, work and find inspiration so easily.

I just don’t want convenience to replace presence.

I want mornings that begin before my phone does.

I want music on while I make dinner.

I want candles lit on ordinary nights.

I want to read real books, cook familiar recipes, thrift slowly, rearrange a room just because it feels good, and leave the house sometimes without documenting where I went.

I want a home that supports that kind of life too.

Less clutter. Fewer things bought just because they’re trending. More pieces with age, story and usefulness. Rooms that invite you to sit down. A table that actually gets used. Lamps instead of overhead lights. Blankets within reach. Things collected over time instead of everything arriving in one delivery.

I want stronger boundaries around work.

I want to get physically stronger, sleep more and stop treating exhaustion like a normal part of adulthood.

I want more dinners around a table.

More people dropping by.

More Sunday mornings that move slowly.

More boredom.

More silence.

More ordinary days that don’t need to become content.

More time with people I love where nobody is halfway somewhere else.

Maybe returning to “90s living” isn’t really about nostalgia.

Maybe it’s about designing our lives the same way we design our homes.

With intention.

Leaving breathing room.

Choosing what deserves to stay.

Letting some things be imperfect.

Collecting slowly.

And creating spaces—and routines—that actually feel good to live inside.

So that’s the experiment for 39.

Less noise.

More strength.

More sleep.

More people around the table.

More beautiful, ordinary moments.

More life happening away from a screen.

Maybe we don’t need to go backward.

Maybe we just need to bring a few things back.

— Harlow Living