It’s the new year and all of us have goals, aspirations, projects and the like on our minds. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always make a list of projects that I hope we can work on and see through to completion for the coming year…. it’s my New Year’s Resolutions–for my home.
It starts out with what we “need” to do (like change the ancient air conditioner), then what I want to do (paint our bedroom) …and then what my hubby wants to do (finish organizing the laundry room) …and then what we can actually afford (yet to be determined)! We always manage to get a few things crossed off the list, but there are always those things that just never quite get done…and get added to next year’s list!
Can anyone relate?
This past year we did get a few things off our to-do list. The biggest being creating a separate office for my husband and increasing our storage options in the laundry room, painting our front and back door and purchasing some small furniture pieces for the living room–all things you will hear about in future posts! The biggest and most rewarding (for me) was getting drapery for our dining room. Yes…the drapery was hung just before Christmas and I LOVE them! As with anything that goes on around here, there is a story behind the process. I won’t share all of it with you now, as we plan to also change the living room drapery to the same fabric as well and that’s when I’ll share all the behind the scenes info on why THIS fabric…but until then, here’s the short story! …and yes, there is a reason why drapery and New Year’s Resolutions are part of the same post…
After 4 years I was tired of my brown drapery in my already brown-filled dining room. They didn’t close properly as they weren’t wide enough, and with all the dark brown wood in the room, they just didn’t do anything to cheer up the space. So, in the summer I just took them down in hopes that maybe we’d replace them on the sooner rather than later side. I had been looking for fabric for over two years and never found anything that I loved…and even when I saw this fabric, it took me a month to really decide that it was “the one”.
Yes, I get that serious over a fabric choice!
Now while I was going through this process, we also had plain, ugly plastic blinds on the windows…I REALLY don’t like plastic blinds but as they gave us the privacy we needed, they had to stay! Well, in early November, the one blind broke and there was no way to repair it and there was no way we were replacing it either! No other windows in the house are this size so I had to live with a lop-sided window covering for a bit. To add insult to injury, my hubby insisted I put up paper to cover the other side too. Don’t get me wrong…every fibre of my designer being knew it would look HORRIBLE…but he can’t stand it when people can “look in” so up the paper went…even now I shudder….it was SO not pleasant!
This REALLY made me speed up my selection process and once the decision was made…to the seamstress they went! I am lucky to have a wonderful seamstress in the family—my mom! Within two weeks of getting the fabric to her, they were done. I purchased the hardware, and instead of waiting for my husband to switch out the old to the new, I just put up the rod and hung those babies up! So, with no finials and wood brackets that didn’t match, I chose not to care—it’s a huge improvement from my blind and paper combo!
But as much as we plan, organize and prepare for what we want to see done in our homes, at times things don’t go the way we hope they will! Sometimes it works out better…sometimes it doesn’t happen at all! I am not a big fan of waiting…but somehow, it’s just a part of how things go, so I’ve kinda gotten used to it…and after 11 years of brown drapery that we kept from our first apartment that was not wide enough for this window, I finally have lovely new curtains! I have to rejoice in that victory!
So, what is the lesson to be learned here?
1. It’s ok to wait for things. It isn’t always easy, but it must be done sometimes.
2. Even though what you see on social media and in magazines makes it all look picture perfect, in real life it takes time to make it all work together—sometimes years of time—and that’s ok! I’d rather have a home full of pieces I have collected over time, of rooms that change and evolve with our family’s needs (we said good bye to the exersaucer…yahoo!), and loads of non-magazine-worthy imperfection than the debt of a perfectly completed room that I can’t enjoy because I’m too stressed on how I’m going to pay for it all.
3. Relish a completed project rather than just moving on to the next thing on the list…even if it’s a small thing like getting a closet organized. It’s progress!
4. Don’t compare your efforts with others. I’m preaching to myself here as well. Do the best you can with what you have and be content!. After all…to me a Resolution is a resolve to meet a goal; but life happens and the resolve doesn’t go away–it remains! …even if it all doesn’t materialize in this calendar year.
Can I get Amen! (I hear your voices echo….)
So…my 2018 Home Resolutions include…
Along with putting up the proper hardware, we also have vintage shutters that we bought…oh…almost a year ago that were never hung. I am looking forward to seeing them go up!
Living room drapery that has to be done…and shutters that we might get in the spring (to match the ones in the dining room).
There’s our Master Bedroom that I’d love to paint… And I have this whole plan on how we can move our old furniture into our kid’s rooms and get new bedside tables and maybe a dresser for our room…and maybe new curtains here too? Don’t think we can afford all of that though…
I dream big, people!
The inside of the front door that needs to be painted, and touch ups in the basement that we never got around to doing after the reno was complete.
The porch railings need to be done, as well as installing a new light fixture (that we’d purchased last spring…) and the back deck needs to be stained…
I’d love to paint the dining room chairs too, but will I have the time?
There are So. Many. More. Things!
It’s all part of the 2018 New Year’s Resolutions for my home…and myself! Little by little…they will get accomplished!
Now I’m going to sit and have a coffee and admire my new Dining Room Drapery!
Up next week…from Disastrous to Delightful—the makeover of an Antique Chair
