Your Home, Your Way.

This morning I was reading a post over at (in)courage written by one of my favorite bloggers and biggest sources of inspiration, The Nester, and it really got me to thinking.  She wrote about the encouraging words that you receive that you just can't bring yourself to throw away- the ones you stash away in a special place for afternoons of blissful reminiscing and hoard up against times of loneliness, insecurity, heartache, or just against the dim-growing of memories caused by the inescapable passage of time.

I keep mine in a rather large drawer in my husband's bedside table. Ok, two rather large drawers if you want the truth.  Crammed in there along with my wedding album, ten years' worth of portrait sleeves half-full of glossy images of a happy-grinning little girl, and a needlepoint "Home Is Where Your Mom Is" pillow that I bought online one winter and have forgotten to give to her for at least the last four Mother's Days (sorry, Mom), are the tangible proofs that my life holds meaning.  Special cards received on birthdays, Valentine's and Mother's Days, sweet notes brimming with love that my husband left taped to the morning coffeemaker, and the sometimes unrecognizable pictures colored by my precious daughter, nieces or nephews, each of these things feels like a steel cord attaching those that I love to my very soul.

However, before they graduate to the Drawer(s) of Remembering, they usually spend at least several weeks proudly displayed on my refrigerator, adorning the kitchen window sill, or pinned to the cork strip on my desk.  These things (along with the piles of clothes, toys and assorted junk my child piles on the steps and never takes up to her room) are what keep my house- no matter how much time I spend decorating- from looking like a spread in Good Housekeeping or Better Homes and Gardens.

But I am ok with that. Seriously.  Because (yes, I've just started sentences with "but" and "because") as much as I enjoy being surrounded with beauty and the serenity of a well-ordered home, I've realized that what I truly love about houses is that they are an expression of YOU! 



You know the burger place jingle "Your way, right away..."? Well, that's how your home home should be!  If you like the toilet paper rolling away from the wall rather than toward it, that's how it should go.  If fresh flowers vie for space on the kitchen table with your husband's laptop and work manuals, roll with it.  If the slip-n-slide kills a strip of grass in the backyard every summer, que sera sera.  If you choose to cut a cat door hole in your laundry room door, kudos!- at least your laundry is not on display so the cat can reach his litter box! 

The point is, your home should reflect YOU, make YOUR family happy, and bring YOU peace when you walk in the door.  If it doesn't do these things, what does it matter if it looks photo-shoot ready at any moment?

This blog will be about many things- mostly decorating (usually frugally and/or creatively) and restoring old stuff or over-worked junk to family treasure status.  But I hope that along the way, it will empower you to build a home you love- regardless of how clean it may not be, or how many cards with fluffy squirrels live on your mantel! ;) 

     
 P.S.  I'm glad you're here, and hope you enjoy my blog!  Please bear with me as I have a lot to learn about blogging, taking good photos, etc!