Happy Friday! I’m ready for the weekend!
I’ve been thinking about this post for awhile now and I started writing this about a week ago. I’m a bit nervous and hesitant to even hit the “publish” button!!! I’ve noticed recently that often, when I click on Pinterest or organizing or design blogs, my heart starts to race and I feel this overwhelming feeling of “I’m failing at keeping it all together: being completely organized, having my house decorated just so with a delicious and nutritious meal cooking in the oven while doing some super creative craft with my kids after cleaning and doing all the laundry and a walk with my dog.” In reality, if you were to pop in my life these days, more often than I’d like to admit, my kids are watching another tv show while I cook their dinosaur chicken nuggets for dinner and I have no idea where this is or that is and my house is a mess and my dog hasn’t been walked in a week.
The past few weeks I’ve had lots of feelings of being somewhat inadequate and feeling anxious to “get it all done” around here. My home is very important to me. And I don’t like change. Our lives have had a lot going on the past two years or so and I’ve been reflecting on these feelings and my home and trying to answer the question of why am I in such a tizzy to get it all done right now, and I think it’s a bit about having some control over life.
I know that on a lot of blogs, the best is highlighted. And really, most people want to see the “after” photos. But doesn’t it often seem like everyone else has it all figured out? After talking with a few of my good friends recently, I realized that I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Some may call me a bit of a control freak and with all the change and busyness going on around us, I think I’ve tried to grab hold of at least our home and try to get some areas “under control.” And it may seem like we just got a whole bunch of new furniture and we get all this stuff done and in reality our 10 year old sofa I’m sitting on right now is sunken in almost to the floor {these days I feel like I could really use major help getting out of it!} and I’m an exhausted, overwhelmed, stressed out mama! I’ve tried very hard to mix some more “investment” pieces with a majority of inexpensive pieces to stay within a budget. And I’m definitely not at all writing to say woe is me. On the contrary, I feel so lucky and blessed to have what I have, and I am so grateful to be able to work hard and have a husband who works hard for his family. But it has caused me to analyze a bit of why I have these feelings of getting it all together and keeping it all together. In reality, a clean and organized home does wonders for my mental health, which in turn is felt by my family. But I think there is a balance to find between having a home life that runs smoothly and feeling the need to have everything perfect.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my round of daily blog reads, and Pinterest is fun and all. Yet they all pose a space, home or person of organization, beauty and togetherness that can sometimes be a high bar to meet. And I love coming in to the rooms in our home I have somewhat finished; spaces that are organized and functional and restful, although most of the time, not as clean as I’d like. I think that’s what keeps me frantic to complete some of the most often used spaces in our home, because it really does make a difference to me and my family.
I mentioned in my 1 year update post that I didn’t have many “blog worthy” photos of the office and boys room, etc., because who wants to see spaces that aren’t organized, styled and finished? We’ve tried to keep this blog more of inspiration, ideas and our “design life” with throwing in a bit of our own style and looks in along the way. But all this reflecting got me thinking of showing you some more of my real life, at the likely risk of totally embarrassing myself and horrifying my parents, I’m sure.
{These photos were taken last week before the big shift of furniture happened around here. This room is now I’d say even worse as we get everything moved back to where it belongs!}
This is what our office looks like most of the time. That pile of paint stuff has been there since I started on the upstairs hallway. Quite a few months ago.
This tape and paper has been up for at least 2 1/2-3 months.
{It finally came down this week because painters came to finish up. More to come on this hallway soon.}
And I still have 2 more dining chairs to put together. Again…like this for almost a month now, I think.
{The chairs now have been assembled, however the 2 slipcovers still need to be ironed and put on and the stack of Ikea frames just got moved to another corner :) }
The pile of our old brass light fixtures on the other side of our living room.
And these large pieces leaning up against the sliding door have been in this room since July 4th. They’ve moved around the room. Hope to hang them before 2014.
I feel like a broken record the past 2 years-I feel like there is so much to get done in every aspect of our lives and I don’t ever feel like I’m on top of it. I’m trying to start to focus on finishing up some projects around here without focusing on making it perfectly perfect. Knowing that it will, eventually, get done. Not feeling like I’ve failed when systems don’t work or every thing’s a mess, and knowing it’s ok to wait to have an organized, better functioning laundry room {so thankful to have a laundry room, by the way} and the bathroom all our guests and our family use multiple times a day with all kinds of grape wallpaper all over the ceiling and walls is fine just the way it is until we can save up to make it more “us.”
I don’t want to look back and think I fretted so much about organizing, if the bills were in the right spot, never getting my laundry completely folded and into the closet and drawers. However, I also want my children to look back and remember a warm, loving, put together home, and feel peace and relaxation as much as we can when we walk through the door. I guess it’s all about finding that balance of doing the best that we can to make our home functional, restful and inviting but not at the expense of living :). And I’m trying to work on that day by day!
So I’ll continue to work on my “organizing our home, one project at a time” {I haven’t written much about it because I haven’t done major overhauls, but I’ve updated and organized little spots around our house that have needed some attention} and making our house a home that will create many memories for my little family.
I’ll leave you with this little quote that I found awhile back but has stuck with me recently…
Make your home as comfortable and attractive as possible and then get on with living. There’s more to life than decorating.
Albert Hadley, The Story of America’s Preeminent Interior Designer
Have a great weekend!
Hopefully you can fit in some projects and some living :)
I love you. Goose bumps from head to toe. I think you pretty much summed it up for us all. Thank you for this post!