Tuesday, March 27, 2012

YOUR Home.

PHEW. Looking back on the last 3 months, we sure have come a long way here in our humble abode. We have been very busy scratching things off our astronomically long list of projects we would like to putter on. Long nights and full weekends of tinkering and shopping and repurposing and painting and NOT sleeping.

Sometimes we (is it just me?) get in the mind set of wanting to do it ALL right.now. Right NOW. Not later, now. Never mind the fact that we plan on being here a couple handful of years. We just get to thinking that we have to complete the entire property ASAP. Well. That just isn't realistic or even ideal, is it?

Ideally your home has a well thought out, well collected look. You don't want it to look like you just went out and purchased everything out of catalog XYZ and called it a day. You want it to look like YOURS. Lived in. Loved. A mish-mash of all the things you hunted for and uncovered, that were perfectly suited for YOUR home. Not the cute, adorable family next door, or the swanky people down the street. Yours. Ideally, it's not cookie cutter. Because if you're like me, you tried that. Then you wondered why it didn't feel right.

So. Let's slow things down a bit and remember that your home is YOUR HOME. Take it easy people. I like to think of decorating your home like a treasure hunt. You keep your eyes out for the "treasures" and then slowly and mindfully put the pieces together to form YOUR HOME.

But you know, not every idea is or has to be original to be YOURS. If we were all capable of producing gorgeous, perfectly put together spaces without help from anyone else, well, we'd all be designers. Honestly, even designers pull their inspiration from other designers. Pick and choose the pieces/elements you are drawn to from others, and collect them together to form YOUR space. Your uniqueness can come from the way you creatively combine the legwork that others have already done. Add in touches of your family throughout the space, and shoot, there you go. YOUR home.

So how do you direct your search? Pinterest is great for collecting images you gravitate towards, to help you "pin"-point your style. Same idea with decorating magazines. Sometimes I'm not so sure of the direction I want to head in for a space. I head to Pinterest or my file of magazine pages I've ripped out, and take a peek at the rooms I've gathered. What is it about each photo that attracted me? Are the paint colors aLL similar? Furniture the same tones? Are the rooms classic? Modern?

When I was trying to plan our bedroom, I just couldn't decide on bedding. I must have purchased and returned five sets. So I took a minute and carefully studied the images I had collected of master bedrooms. WHY had I been drawn to them? I noticed right away that every single one of the rooms used white bedding. HUH. Isn't that a coincidence. Well, maybe I should try out white bedding. Lo and behold, I found a $12 clearance duvet, stuck our down comforter in that baby, and BAM. There it is. There is the feel I was trying so hard to achieve and was so miserably failing at capturing. Why couldn't I figure that out before!

Same thing goes for furniture. Need a new sofa and don't know exactly what you want? Browse through the rooms you were drawn to. I have had 4 sets of sofas in the last 8 years (thank you Craigslist for feeding my problem, by giving me a way out of a bad choice). I finally feel like I've reached the point where for the first time, I made a good investment on our furniture choice. I used the same technique as with our master.

I think we don't cut ourselves enough slack. We want it all and we want it all NOW. If we don't have that, then we get angry and sulk. We think we aren't as good as so-and-so. We most certainly couldn't have a home like that. Our home could never be as nice as that. I could never do that. Take it easy folks. Creating your home isn't about comparing your space to everyone else's. It is about loving the space your in. You CAN have a home that feels like that but is your own. Just take it one piece at a time. One element at a time. Soon enough, at a reasonable pace, you'll be on your way.

Let's not compare ourselves in this process of building our homes, but maybe encourage one another.  It's just decorating for goodness sake. There are so many more important issues to deal with. Let's keep the decorating stuff fun and light and collaborative.

See you soon friends!

6 comments:

  1. Beautifuuly said Heather. And right on, from my humble perspective. I remember when we built our house 8+ years ago the realator saying, "Now, remember you will be here a long time so take your time and don't try to do all you want to do to this home right now." It is advice Troy and I remind each other of often. After 8 years we finally have a finished basement, fenced in yard, shed, A/C, and a new addition. But it took 8 1/2 yrs to do it all. This year I am FINALLY getting the BIG veggie garden plot I always wanted and there are more projects than I can count inside. But, like you said there are more pressing issues than decorating so when I get to it, I get to it. I need new living room furniture but our trip to Europe is more important to us so the furnitue will wait, again. That's okay...it will come. The stairway and hall DESPERATELY need painting again...the outside porch needs scraping and painting...It.will.come. But not at the expensive of family time and more pressing issues. Patience is a virtue. Thanks for reminding us all of that.

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    1. Exactly! Besides, the years speed on by all too fast anyways. Why not set your priorities, take is slow, and relax a bit! Oh and yes, I agree, family time together is always the #1 priority. Good luck & thanks for reading!

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  2. Thank you for that reminder! We moved in our home a little less than 6 months ago and like you, it seems every free minute is spent working on the house. I honestly thought I would have more put together but we are no where near finishing off our checklist. Will we ever be? Though it's taking longer than expected I'm really enjoying searching for that perfect paint color, trying DIY's, and looking for inspiration wherever I can find it. Your home is BEAUTIFUL. Thanks for all the tips!

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  3. As a new home buyer this post was a refreshing and encouraging wake up call! I think instead of busting our budget to make our little home EVERYTHING I've ever wanted the day after we move in...I'll just enjoy the process of checking off each element i want to add as creatively and inexpensively as possible. I want to enjoy the process just as much as I enjoy the result!

    Thanks again for this amazingly uplifting post!

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  4. I've been reading your blog, and I love the advice in this post! I just noticed that all of the couches I love are modern and usually tweedy, but I couldn't pin point that until I spent some time googling and on pinterest. So good!

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    1. AWESOME! Glad to help! Thanks for reading. :)

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