To Settle or Not to Settle.

Since I moved to the West coast of Florida, from the Orlando area, exactly 7 years ago I have struggled with making this area my home. Always longing to be somewhere else I didn't commit to friendships or favorite parks or even paint colors. My goal was always to finish school and then get out of here! Ha! Really I can't believe I am still surprised when God shows me he has other plans for my life.

So here I am still longing to be somewhere else, somewhere cooler, somewhere I can soak in the view of the mountains and stand under the waterfalls, somewhere that I get goosebumps every time I walk out the door and look around me. Maybe it's just a fairy tail love story, that once I get there the romance will wither away and I will be longing for somewhere else again. It's extremely possible. I have the itchy need for change bones. Growing up, from the age of 10, we moved on average about every year and a half. Actually, except for my childhood home from age 4-10, my first home with my husband was the longest I had lived in one place. Needless to say I have come to enjoy and almost need that clean slate feeling on a regular basis.

But God is telling us we need to stay here, and while I'd almost rather him be telling us to move to Africa I am coating my itches with Cortisone and trying hard to settle in. God has been so faithful over the years to bless us and meet our hearts desires while also keeping us on the path that has taught us so many great life lessons. Because of that I wouldn't change a thing in the past 7 years, except maybe chosen a different DJ for our wedding and kissed my brother while he was sleeping the last time I saw him. So here I am trying to settle in again, hoping this job, for my husband, is a more permanent one and even thinking about buying a house again.

It has been a huge lesson in trust this past year but God has shown us great things come to those who trust in him. And as I finally let go and let myself get comfortable here I find I finally feel at home. I have made great friends and involved myself in things that have made my life so much more enjoyable to the point that leaving here would be hard now. Yes, I am complicated :)

So anyways, what to do about those itchy bones...

One way I have found to console the itch is to decorate, or rather redecorate. If you know me or have ever been to my house more than once, you know things are always changing. Furniture is moved, walls are painted, new things are hung on the walls. I am always trying to find a way to make things more functional or fit my mood better. But most importantly I look to make the biggest impact for the smallest price. We don't have the money to spend on my redecorating the house every time I want to go antique from modern or want to be surrounded by bright instead of natural tones nor would I spend it if we did. Honestly I find I come up with some of my best ideas when given limited resources, like that dinner you make when you look in the cupboard and think you have nothing that everyone thinks is the best thing you've ever made, yeah like that. So here are a few ways I have spruced up my house to make it more functional for our ever changing living with a toddler life and give our home some new life.

Tips to my madness:

1. Garage sales, garage sales, garage sales. I can't tell you how many things I have gotten for a dollar or two that I repainted or ??? and now could not part without.

2. Dumpster Dive. I don't know about you but people in my neighborhood throw out some awesome things that might need a drawer fixed or a sanding or just a new purpose. Using things you find in nature works great too. I have some great stones and sea glass I have collected as well as unique pieces of wood or bark that have a great story behind them as well.

3. Salvage Stores/Antique Stores. This takes a little diligence, patience, and getting to know your area but we have a few places we go to somewhat regularly that we have gotten some amazing deals at. Ask what they have in the back that may still need to be cleaned up before put on the floor or has a messed up drawer. We have found some amazing treasures that nobody else even noticed.

4. Ask your friends and family. If they know you are in the market they might call you before throwing something out. While as a designer I would love to go to Sherwin Williams and buy the exact color of paint I want it gets pretty expensive. So I often do a shout-out asking if anyone has any left over paints etc.. .tho I must admit some of my walls are only half painted. If I prioritized it I could go back and get the same color- still saving money, to finish the job.

5. Buy what's on sale. The only things I spend good money on are the big ticket items like hutches and dressers and tables or maybe the perfect rug, tho quite a few of those we've gotten for free from people too. Everything else is off the clearance or oops rack.

6. Use what you have. This is the most important one. It helps if you are the creative type like me with a bin full of paper and ribbons and .... well it's kinda like the Barney Bag. But when you can use what you already have in a different way you can't loose.



Here is a Big impact of color with no paint. Old frames my mom gave me that I have repainted a dozen times and filled with fabric (easy to change out too). The Leaf explosion is just Colored Card stock paper cut into leaf shapes and taped to the wall.

Got these simple frames at a garage sale for $3 for the pair. Took out the pictures inside and made my own quirky stick figure drawings. 

Ok one more example for today... I used large pieces of matte board I had laying around and painted the trees on them and just nailed them up. We also found an old roll of piano tape (a lullaby) on vacation, you know the kind they put in automatic pianos, at an antique store for $5 and I put it up behind the picture frames, which were all random finds or gifts (Ross is a great place for cheap frames). [hint if the frame doesn't have a wall hook on the back- take a ribbon and a few flat thumb tacks and make a string to hang from] The book shelf is a top to a hutch that we found at one of our favorite antique stores for $30 and had been painted a mustard color and the bed is an IKEA craigslist find for $60 including mattress and mattress cover.

Hope you got a few good tips to help you liven up your home. Until next time.....