All of a sudden I’ve started to get interested in decorating blogs. Which is really strange for me. Because I’ve always thought I had no hope in that department.
I typically have the decorating sense of a 19yo frat boy. I didn’t decorate our first house. I didn’t decorate our last house. All of the stuff that was left in the house we bought a year and a half ago is still just the way it was when we moved in. The walls are still the same colors. The valances in the family room, which are an ugly red and beige plaid, are still up. The previous owners left us their huge entertainment center, which is kind of an early 90’s oak. All of the shelves in the clear glass area are gone so things are just piled in there. The previous owners also left the nails in the walls when they painted, so I’ve used the nails to hang things like clocks. I’ve got my kids’ art work stuck to the walls with tape.
It’s not that I don’t like nicely decorated rooms. I do. But whenever I read decorating magazines or watch decorating shows, I just get frustrated. Those people just seem to know what to do. They take a pillow or a picture and can magically design a room around it. Complete with art work, knick knacks and decorative painting. I just don’t get it.
Every once in a while I decide I’m just going to decorate and start shopping. But everything is SOOOO expensive. I can’t stand the thought of spending thousands of dollars on furniture, wall hangings and knick-knacks that I’m not going to like anymore in five years. I’m way too practical for that. If I’m going to spend that much money on something that’s just pretty to look at, I’m keeping it for a long, long time. I mean, a plain couch serves the same function as a pretty couch, without the extra money spent.
I do get decorating ideas. I’ll look at a room and think of things I’d like to do. But I never do them because I know in two or three years I’ll hate it and want something else. But I’ll keep it anyway because of all the money and time I spent on it. Over the last 8 years since we’ve been homeowners, I have gone through four distinct decorating schemes – all imaginary because I never did any of them.
First was the green with sunflowers. I was going to do kind of a country thing. Cute little signs. Sunflowers. Watering cans. Stuff like that.
That was followed by the lavendar flower phase. I bought a beautiful quilt set that had lavendar and yellow flowers. Kind of shabby chic, but not. I was kind of commited to this one. I even covered our couch in fabric that had big purple flowers on it. I used duct tape. I wrapped the fabric like I was wrapping a package and just taped it. It looked fine. You couldn’t tell unless you lifted up the seat cushions. And really. Who’s going to come over to your house and start pulling your couch apart? Nobody. So it worked fine for me. Loved it.
Then there was the deep colors with gold accents. Burgundys, emeralds and golds. I was just going to do a couple rooms like that but I was picturing things like heavy velvet curtains and gold cording. I’m especially glad I never commited to the burgundy bedroom with wrought iron accents. Or did I? I seem to remember a burgundy comforter set with the gold cording… Hmm.. But I never did anything more than that.
That was followed by the orange phase. Which is my most recent phase and one I thought would really stick. I loved it. All the warm colors. Very comfy. But about six months ago I could feel myself losing interest. Now? I’m totally over it.
That’s about an average of two years per decorating phase. So you can understand why I’m so hesitant to commit to anything. Could you even imagine all of the money that would have been wasted if I had completely commited to any one of those? O!M!G! It makes me nauseous just to think about it.
So I end up not doing anything. Which I hate. A lot.
But recently, I started reading decorating blogs. Blogs like the Nesting Place , Bienvenue, Just a Girl , Joys of Home , Shabby Nest and A Soft Place to Land, among many, many others. These women are geniuses. They have taught me so much just by writing their blogs. Here are some of the things that I have learned -
- Thrift stores, garage sales and clearance racks are awesome. If you buy your knick knacks here, who cares if you give that vase to goodwill in two years. And who cares if it gets broken. It was only five dollars in the first place. No big deal. No long-term commitment.
- Spray paint is a decorating tool. If you don’t like it, spray paint it. If you still don’t like it, try another color. When your favorite colors change… hey look! Spray paint. Or goodwill.
- You can use scrapbooking paper for anything. Cover a canvas with it and you’ve got a wall hanging. Put it in the back of a shelf. Use it as a matt for a picture. Cover a canister with it.
- Mistreatments. The Nester, at the Nesting Place, coined this phrase. She doesn’t do everything decorator perfect. Her curtains aren’t sewn. If you look really closely, the main thing she used to put something together was probably either upholstery tacks or hot glue. Maybe both. But like I said back when I duct taped my couch, who’s gonna look?
- It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. Another thing I learned from the Nester. So what if your valance is a little off center. It looks cute.
- Somewhere on one of these blogs I also found my new favorite color pallete. Black, white and apple green. Too cute. I can’t remember who this is from, but I love it. So bright and breezy after my cozy warm colors phase.
I actually went to Goodwill last week and found a couple of really cute items right away. I’ve got them on my mantel right next to each other. I’ll have to take a picture one of these days when I don’t have a half nekkid 4yo trying to jump in front of every picture.
