A Strategy for Our Home

I just read this post and it resonated with me because I have never truly given my design style a lot of thought. I know I have a couple of places in our house that don't particularly feel right. Our guest room has always felt a bit more disjointed than the rest of the house as has our smallest "bedroom" at the back of the house. This year may just be the year for planning what I need to do to improve these spaces, with actually getting down to action might have to wait until next year.

I feel pretty good about our bedroom. We recently rearranged, and I think it's working. It's a pretty small space to work with, but cozy with our choices of furniture. I have one more piece of furniture to add, so I'll go into more detail about that later when I've incorporated it into the room.

Our living room lives up to the hodgepodge style that we love: colorful, lots of vintage mixed in with some new and some natural. I think I might be ready to change out the art above our mantle. I think I want to head in a more architectural direction; perhaps some sort of mirror. I just rearranged the contents of our glass-fronted built-in bookshelves, and they feel more coherent now. I have a project percolating that will probably end up requiring me to rearrange again when I get it done.

The kitchen has some details that aren't exactly what I would have chosen for myself, but those details are too high end to warrant spending money to change them. Perhaps I can add some elements that will tie in the countertops with our style better. I'm thinking slate as a backsplash might be a good direction.

The dining room is an eclectic focus on the farm table, mis-matched chairs, and mirrors and glass, which I feel is a strong design. I do think I'm going to extend the mirrors up the wall higher in the center to take away that straight line that currently runs across the top. Our desk is also part of this room, and I think it adds to the space without crowding. It's not perfect, but Nathan says he won't use it if we put it in the back small bedroom. I am considering refinishing the desk or even painting it, but I'm not quite ready to tackle that yet. The finish isn't really in great shape, so I do feel that it needs some work.

Our guest room needs a little work still. It also serves as my craft storage room, so I have to be careful about keeping it from being overrun with supplies. I've recently added some fun storage that helps keep the fabric, buttons, and myriad other supplies contained while actually adding to the look of the room.

The small back bedroom is the room that needs the most work. It's quite small and meant to eventually be the baby's room. However, I'm not prepared to be readying that nest yet, so I need to come up with something to make the room feel settled and complete without spending too much money on a design that may change in a year or two.

It's a bit odd to be in this frame of mind. I honestly don't think I've ever experienced needing to edit because we've always been in the process of buying/finding pieces. We're finally at the point that we don't have holes waiting to be filled. It's a little overwhelming to try to make a whole house work together, but I think getting it right will give me a huge level of satisfaction with our home.

Pffffffft

It's amazing how long you can keep going on just a spark of hope for something. And when that small flame finally goes out, the room gets cold right quick. Every morning this week has seemed particularly cold and gray, and it feels like people are just out to be crappy. I have the litany of positive things going through my head, but they aren't really finding the toehold they need to improve my mood because the lousy things are busy running amok in there too.

Ever notice when a few bad things happen, it feels like the awful things just continue to roll on through?

I know it's the whole power of negative thinking thing, but I can't seem to brush things off this week. I suppose I'm having myself a bit of a depression. (The extra sleeping has been lovely at least.)

Thank goodness our change of scenery is coming soon. I can't wait to escape on an adventure, even if it isn't the same one we originally planned.
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There is a funny postscript to this...

When Nathan got home after working very late last night, I said to him, "I know that you don't do very well at dealing with this kind of thing right when you walk in the door especially after such a long day, but I am having a really hard time. I am feeling really down, and I just can't find a way to feel better. I am incredibly depressed...."

My head rested on his shoulder as I waited for a reaction. I could hear the peppy electronic music going in the one earbud still in his other ear. I looked up at him.

He looked back. "I feel sad." Seeing my raised eyebrows, he added, "For you."

Luckily, this was just so ridiculous that it cheered me up a bit. "I could have typed those words into a computer program to have them said out loud to me with the same effect, Nathan."

"But I meant it though."

Fabulous Book Covers

I came across these amazing new Penguin Classic cover designs as I was searching for The Lady in White on Amazon. The whole series has such fabulous covers by Coralie Bickford-Smith that I am so glad I don't have any nice versions of the classics yet.

All of these will be on every wish list from now on!

Spine photo from Coralie's portfolio. Covers from Amazon.