UPDATES
I was going to begin yet another post with “sorry it’s been a month since my last post, I’ve been busy”. But I figure, why bother? You guys know and love me. You know I’m busy, you are too. This blog is my heart, not my business – so why should I apologize for that? I know your sun doesn’t rise and set on my posts. I know you understand why I’d much rather be enjoying this…
because, chances are you’re enjoying the same thing in your home. And rightly so! I am enjoying the three teens as well, but they’re not as keen on having their picture taken.
REVIEWS
In the coming weeks I have some reviews of products you don’t want to miss. Truly, I have fallen in love with Economics for Everybody and Mimic Creme Healthy Top. And I’m very excited to share with you about a great, family friendly, historical, dramatic-series from Colony Bay!
PROJECTS
I’ve decided to do my best to start a new posting series. A while ago I read The Little Stuff I Leave Undone at Raising Arrows. This post really resonated with me. You see, we’ve lived in this new-to-us home for about one and a half years already. And in all that time I haven’t painted one room or hung one photo. This is our home, but it doesn’t feel homey.
I leave so many things undone, waiting until I can do it all. Why hang the picture if I haven’t painted the wall, why paint the wall if haven’t sanded that spot, why sand that spot when we might put up new drywall…and on and on. This has left us with stark walls and uninviting rooms.
We’ve been blessed with a large home, I say that in profound thankfulness-not in pride. It’s a big old brick monstrosity of which the original section was built in the late 1700s or early 1800s (I need to research). A large addition was added in the mid 1800s and a tiny addition in the 1990s. It was divided into multiple apartments, we’ve taken over all but one of them. Many of the rooms are large and we call them hoity-toity names like the “den, study and library”.
But don’t envy us. The only reason we were able to afford this grand old home is because it’s falling down around our ears. It needs a ton of work – I would estimate at least half a million to restore it to its former glory. And surprise, I don’t have half a million laying around.
When it comes to doing projects, my mind tells me “why start what you can’t finish”?? But my heart tells me it’s time to make this place a home. So, even though I can’t replace our drafty old windows, or rip out the plaster walls for drywall, or replace the lovely 90s style mauve and dark green carpets – I can still make this house feel like home. Fox and Tony are 16 – I want them to have memories of a house that felt like home. I want to create a home they’ll want to return to and visit often once they’re grown.
It’s up to me to do what I can to accomplish that goal. And like most things it life, it’s not the big budget renovation that will make a difference, it’s the little things.
I can hang pictures, and stencil designs, I can decorate and paint. We might not have the budget for a remodel, but I can bless my family with a comforting, inviting space that feels like home.
So here’s my plan:
- I will do one project a month – something, anything – to make this house feel like home.
- I am setting a budget of $50 per month
- The first Monday of each month I’ll share my project with you. What I did, how I did it, how much it cost and the effect it’s had on my family.
I don’t have a lot of time and it’s a small budget – so some months may just be about hanging pictures or planting flowers. Others may be about purchasing supplies for a larger, upcoming project. But this is what I’ve resolved to do. I hope you’ll join me on this journey and hold me accountable.
I want my husband and kids to have a home, not a house.
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