If The Creek Don't Rise

To live a creative life, 
we must lose our fear of being wrong.

Thought I'd give you an update on what's going on around here.

My house is about to be upside down for a few weeks.
Eeek.
I'm trying to psych myself up ... getting mentally prepared ;)

I'm getting creative.
Isn't that what decorating is all about ...  
creating a space that you love, totally love?!

For those of you that know me well, you are quite aware of my motto.
A place for everything & everything in it's place.
Yes, that's the one.

Ahhh ... words to live by ... a practice that keeps me sane.
So, will these next few weeks try my patience?
YES, but the end result will be so worth it.

My mission, started yesterday.
Well, technically, it started months ago.
I knew when the winter decorating season was over, 
things would be changing around here.
I'm just to that point.

Yes, I decorate with each season & pick up new things here & there.
I find treasures at the flea market & thrift store that are added in periodically.
But those are small things that are just worked in to my existing decor.
What I'm ready to do is a major overhaul!
I'd even like to replace my living room furniture, but we're holding off on that for now.
James & I have decided that we don't know how long we'll live here.
A 3000 square-foot, 4 bedroom house will be awfully big when it's just the two of us.
We may want to downsize to a little country home with a big front porch one of these days ;)
It's just not smart to buy expensive furniture for this house when it may not be what 
we'd want in the next house.

So, here's my compromise plan.
I'm going to switch gears, decorating-wise.  
I'm going to take down & put away anything that I'm iffy about.  
I'm only keeping things that I am in love with 
& can't imagine not seeing everyday.  
I'm adding in a new motto ... it's my house.  I live in it.  I will fix it just like I want!  

I had this epiphany a few months back while looking at a home decor magazine.
It was full of brightly decorated homes, colorful fabrics & mix-match prints.
Things were put together in a way that I would never put them together.
It was more of a bohemian chic look, & while that's totally not my style, 
I fell in love with the obvious fact that someone had made the space completely their own ... 
reflecting their personality & taste...
thus the epiphany:  There are NO rules in decorating!!
Why do I feel compelled to follow some sort of 'rules' for decor in my OWN home?!
If I want that color, use it!
If I want to hang it there, hang it!
That's what I should always be saying!

Now, that's not too far off from how I operate anyway, but I'm giving myself permission
to color completely outside the lines ... throw caution to the wind.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, when I look at pics & blogs & pinterest, 
I'm somewhat subconsciously confined into someone else's parameters.
There's always something 'in' & 'trending', & I start thinking 
'oh, it's that what we're supposed to be doing now ... 
oh, I must have something chevron in order to be current.' 
Have you ever done that?
I don't want to be boxed in that way anymore.

Yesterday, I hopped on blogger to do a bit of catch-up reading & the first post 
I read was a complete confirmation to the plan that I was setting in action 
that very morning.
I love it when that happens!

Summing up what Patty at Lemon Lane Cottage said, it's my house!
'It isn't my mom's or my sister's or my friend's or that stylish blogger's...it's mine!' 

It's where I go to retreat from the world ... where I go to relax and unwind.
It's my safe haven.

It's where I go to ponder things great and small...where I read, sleep, play, laugh, cry.
It's where I raise my family, teach my children, love my husband.

It's where all my memories are made.
It's mine.

So, I'm giving myself permission to give things to Goodwill & sell stuff in a yard sale.
I'm going to try my hand at sewing curtains on my new sewing machine.
{Thanks, Jenny ... you inspired me too!}
I may even paint furniture ... paint over perfectly good wood?  Maybe ;)
And somewhere, yes, somewhere, I am stringing lights!
How's that for coloring outside the lines?!

Love this!  Same rule applies for hair or for decorating!

There will  be pictures of all this *madness* to follow, I promise.