My Number One Home Decorating Tip

Hi there! How’s your week been? Mine’s been pretty good! We had some family in town over the weekend and it was nice to spend some time with them. Other than that I’ve been spending pretty much all my time on the house. Tomorrow it will be 2 months since we moved in which I totally cannot believe, it’s gone by faster than I could have even imagined and this seemed like a good time to share an overall update on where things are.

We’ve been working like crazy people, unfortunately you probably won’t notice many changes because we’ve been focused on all those little things that you have to take care of when you first move. We got blinds and gutters, had a bunch of contractors come out to look at the foundation and tell us if we should jack the house up to level out the floors (the answer is no, yippee!), got our clawfoot tub shower in working order, fixed the exposed outlet and light switch in the upstairs bathroom, tightened basically all hardware around the house, slowly swapping out old and damaged outlet covers and j-boxes, and did yard work to clean up the leaves, weeds, and start shaping up the shrubs out front. Phew! It actually sounds like a lot when I write it all out like that! But, if you walked into the house I doubt you would notice much of it. For the most part these are things that when you see them you assume they’ve always been there. Or better yet, you don’t notice them at all when they’re fixed, but probably do when they aren’t. But, that’s okay, because I feel roughly a million times better. It’s amazing how much getting the details taken care of does for my mental state.

Home Decorating Tip

But I am excited that we’re nearing the end of this phase. I mean, there will always be things to do, that I’m sure of. But, we’re closing in on getting the stuff that NEEDS to be done to make living there feel good. Which is awesome, because you know what that means? It means that soon we get to start designing. HOORAY! For me, this is the best part. But, I know it will be a slow process. You see, my design philosophy and biggest home decorating hip have changed a bit over the years and through all the moves. Most recently, we went from an apartment that was about 800 square feet to a house that’s nearly 1,500. That leaves a lot of space to fill. But, right now my philosophy is to only bring in things that I really love. When we first moved to San Francisco we furnished it almost completely with Ikea. Which, don’t get me wrong, was the perfect choice for that point in time. And I actually still have some of those pieces – just because they came from Ikea doesn’t mean that I don’t love them. But, there have also been a lot of things I have gotten rid of (or want to) and gotten something more unique or something that will last longer. But, I struggle with getting rid of what I have, just donating it feels kinds of wasteful. Both for me because it’s not super economical to just donate stuff whenever you don’t want it anymore and in the larger sense, because I’m just not sure how much stuff that’s donated actually gets used. So, then I just have all this stuff that I don’t want but I also feel guilty about getting rid of. And, I generally have no problem getting rid of things. When I’m going through old things I’m ruthless. I get rid of anything I know I haven’t used or don’t want and never look back. Maybe it’s because I don’t feel like I’ve had this stuff long enough to justify getting rid of it? I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s how I feel right now. That’s why I want to try my hardest to bring in new things intentionally. Do I really love it? Does it serve its purpose really well? It is nice quality? Is it the very best I can do for something I really need? Can I wait? I’m telling you all right now, these are questions I’m going to ask myself before bringing in anything. Even things that are free. I don’t want our house to become the weird, disconnected dumping ground for other people’s old furniture. Because you know what? That stuff is always accepted with the idea that “we’ll use it for now and replace it with something better later” well, frankly, it seems like “later” never comes and it’s years later and you’ve still got that thing in your house that someone was going to take to Goodwill but instead gave it to you because they knew you just moved. The thought it so kind, and sometimes people are getting rid of stuff that’s perfect for you or it’s something you can DIY into another something that’s even better. But, most of the time it’s not and it’s about a thousand times harder to get rid of it once it makes it inside. And, right now we have enough. It’s by no means a finished house, but we have the basics. We’ve got a living room of furniture, a bed, side tables, dresser, and the list goes on. So, I’m making the declaration that I’d rather live minimally for a while than have things that I don’t actually want, need, or love. There you have it! Now you can hold me to it! Okay, don’t be too hard on me I’m certain this will be far easier said than done. But, I promise I’m going to try really hard.  Now check-out where we’re at with the house!

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