Progressive Decorating

"Allow yourself the patience to know it will all come together in time, and enjoy the process!  For me home decor is not a goal, but a continually evolving and kinetic art project."
     -Amy Butler

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How many of you find this difficult?  Seriously -- I want a show of hands.

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With all of the beauty out there in terms of interior decorating and design (take your pick -- TV; internet; literature) it is definitely very easy to feel discouraged about your own space.  I know that it is for me, at least.

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About four years ago, I was still living at my parents' house.  My boyfriend (now husband), Greyson, really wanted to help me get my bedroom spruced up -- I was always complaining about how nothing was decorated the way I wanted it, and it no longer looked like a space that I was growing in to.  It looked like a room that I had grown out of.  So, we purged.  So many things.  And I will be honest with you -- I was an emotional basketcase, for two reasons, really.

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Reason One was because, put simply, this was my stuff.  The things that I had grown so accustomed to over the years (like my Hanson posters and my shelves full of collectibles that I never touched anymore) were being removed from the room that I had done all of my growing up in.  Now, granted, I was the one who wanted them to be stored away; but it didn't take the emotional factor out of the reality that my room was basically a scrapbook of my life and the things I had been interested in since I was a little girl.

Reason Two goes back to my issues with unfinished things.  I was never the girl who could sit down to do something and take a break.  Never.  If I was assigned something or put my mind to something, I was going to do it -- Right.Then.  So leaving a room for a couple of days with things on the floor, blank walls, and curtains that weren't hung really went against the way that I am hardwired.  Greyson lovingly assured me that it would all be finished, and eventually it was.

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Fast forward two years, and we had just found our own apartment (the one we currently live in now).  It is a beautiful little space, and we instantly fell in love.  But when we actually moved all of our things in?  The monster resurfaced.

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I remember one night in particular -- I had my mind set on buying new curtains.  Right at that moment.  We went out in search, but of course -- who can decide on curtains on a whim like that?  Definitely not me.  But I freaked out.  I felt like the giant window in our living room looked horrible without curtains.  Greyson again comforted me and told me that we would find curtains eventually, but in the meantime we could focus on other aspects of the decorating process (seriously, he is so good with me). 

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Over the course of the next few months, something in me started to change.  I began to really enjoy the process of finding things to go here or DIY-ing projects that amazed me when they turned out so well -- in other words, I was enjoying the journey.  Of course, the end result is amazing; but when it comes to decorating, do I really think I will ever be done?  

As it stands now, there are DIY projects all over the apartment that are waiting to be finished.  Sure, we have bought some new things here and there (like a new coffee table -- that was a must); but in terms of my freakishness about finishing it right now or I will die -- it's really disappeared.  So much so, in fact, that we still don't have curtains in our living room, and I really don't care because I haven't found the perfect fit yet.

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My point is to encourage you to enjoy your decorating process.  Garner inspiration, make mood boards, discover color palettes, and then move forward with your approach.  DIY projects are all over the internet on so many amazing blogs and websites, and one of my favorite ways to cure a decorate-or-all-hell-breaks-loose itch is to revamp something that I already have, or add a little bit to a corner or wall.

Make it fun.  Try your best not to get stressed out -- enjoy the discovery of yourself through your decorating, and really make your space yours.  And when you finally get that end-result that you have been wanting and waiting for for so long, it'll only make it that much sweeter.

love, maria