Right now you probably will not find a decorating blog out there in blog land that has not dedicated at least one post to seasonal changes. And why not!! It makes for great blogging material. By the time fall and spring come, we are ready for a change in scenery, both inside and outside of our homes.
And...change is good, right?
Let me start out by saying that I never have nor will I ever claim to be a writer. But just like I imagine it would be for people who write for a living, I often have thoughts and even words swirling around in my head that will not go away until I write them down (or type them). Sometimes I share and sometimes they remain private. Obviously if you are reading this then I have decided to share my thoughts on my blog but promising not to make a habit of it.
I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not decorate. When I was young I was always redecorating and rearranging my bedroom. When I went to someone else's house I would lie (or is is lay? See I told you I am not a writer) in bed at night and in my head I would redecorate it in its entirely. I know, obsessive, huh? I never pursued decorating as a career. And now that I am at a point in my life that I feel it's a little too late, I am making a hobby out of it. Again, I don't claim to be better at it than anyone else. Trust me, I doubt myself more than anyone else could ever possibly doubt my abilities. There ARE areas of the decorating process that just come natural to me but that is to say other areas do not and that is when I rely on other sources: blogs, the internet, and magazines. I strive to rely on my own taste and instincts but copying is not beneath me. I will and I have. We all do.
At times I fear someone may look at this blog as something that it is not. Those who know me know that I am a private person. I have never been a "look what I have" or "look what I can do" type of person. I have no desire to send anyone into a decorating or antique and thrift store shopping frenzy. But, if shopping and decorating is what you love to do than all I can say is go for it! I only want to be an inspiration. Hopefully, I can achieve this. I believe God has given me a talent and a passion and I don't want to waste it.
Someone told me once that my house was different every time they came to visit. This is only because I am constantly moving things around. I operate on a shoestring decorating budget, so I try to be creative. Moving things around is about the easiest and cheapest form of transforming a room you could possibly ever do, even easier and cheaper than painting, and we all know what a new paint color can do for a room. However, there are some things that paint will not fix! There are many things around my house that I have to wonder what we were thinking, were we even thinking? For instance, why did we put green tile in the kitchen and breakfast room? Why didn't we utilize the attic space to have a vaulted ceiling in the living room? Why did we put carpet in the dining room? This is only to mention a few.
Oh, if I had it do over again! There would be changes for days! But I can't so I decided a long time ago to change what I can and work around what I cannot. And the older I get the list of things I work around seems to grow. For instance, we COULD change the tile out, but realistically probably never will so I work around it. We COULD raise the ceiling height, but again probably never will. Some things just don't seem as important as they once did. There are still; however; many things such as the carpet and a kitchen update that I am hopeful of changing in the future.
I KNOW this post is entirely too long and I apologize. If you have made it this far and you've had enough please by all means get back to what you were doing. I am close to the end, but I have a little more to say. Remember! Those silly words in my head. I've got to get them out. Sorry.
Changes! In the past five or six years some unforeseen changes have taken place in my life.
One incident caught me off guard, knocked the breath out of me, and sent me to my knees, literally. My parenting ideas are different today because of it. My relationship with my Heavenly Father is also different. I came to rely on Him in a way that I never had to before. He made His presence know to me many times during that journey. It changed me and made me better.
Another change that took place: a job change (not mine, his). It was an unexpected but at the same time welcomed one. And ultimately I am blogging today because of it. I thought a physical move was going to take place for us a little over four years ago. It caused me to put house projects on hold and to give other ones quick, makeshift redos in order to make the house appealing to potential buyers. I will not go into all the details involving my frame of mind when I realized this move was not going to take place. You would need an office with a couch as well as a door with a nameplate. I WILL tell you it was NOT smooth sailing. As far as decorating goes, I did nothing for two or three years. Nothing! I had the wind knocked out of my sails, completely. But I did; however, come to realize that no matter how hard you might paddle in the direction of something as clear as "land in sight" if others are paddling harder in the opposite direction you can never reach the place you're striving for. Maybe the "land in sight" was occupied by pirates or head hunters, but I'll never know. Realizing the need to stop going against something a lot bigger than me, I started turning my little vessel around to hopefully catch a wind that would take me into a different direction. By this time I had already started following several decorating blogs and then one day I said, "Why not! I can do this! Maybe not better than several, but surely as well as and even better than some."
So...here I am: Still waiting for clear direction clouded by things beyond my control but back to decorating and now writing about it. (Well, except when I am writing stuff like this.)
When all else fails... go decorate!!
No comments:
Post a Comment