Hi
One of the things I say a lot when I'm talking about making decisions in our homes is that we can (and should!) learn from every place we go.
You can learn just as much from what you don't like as from what you love.
That means that you can probably come up with a few take-aways to apply or make sure you aren't applying whether you are sitting in a waiting room for an oil change or walking through the model home in the neighborhood around the corner.
But, you can also learn from your own house.
One of the main ways I educate myself as a creative who is making home decisions is by paying attention to what is bugging me in my own home.
Beyond that, I really pay attention to the things that bother me so much, that I actually take the time to change them.
It's taken me years and YEARS to learn one of my own private and personal decorating truths that only applies to me and this rule is not for you. It's my own rule of home.
Are you ready?
I want my life full
of color and my home full of neutrals.
For years I've been at a secret war with myself.
I think I've felt like if I don't embrace using bold colors in my home, then it means that I'm afraid of them or don't know what I'm doing or not risky or on trend or flat out boring.
And maybe that's all true.
All I know is, every time I've taken a risk and added a bold color, within a year or two all I can think about is how to neutralize that color.
For me, bold color on large pieces takes away my freedom and bosses my attention and hems me into one particular look and scheme for way too long.
And without fail I always end up changing it.
Even though I love and crave color, for me, using color on large investment pieces is using color incorrectly.
After painting my beautiful teal TV stand a lovely quiet off white this weekend (more about that here), I had a moment with myself where I made a personal decision of no more big statement pieces that married me to a particular bold color.
As for me and my house, I'll keep the big stuff neutral.
A few years ago when we bought our new bed, I had decided to purchase a green velvet bed. I LOVE green and blue--and so many other colors!
Anyway, when I went to order the bed, the green was on backorder. I was so impatient that I bought the black one instead and almost every day I'm grateful that the green wasn't available.
I would have gotten SO tired of that beautiful green within a few weeks.
When I want to add color to our room--usually along with each season I crave some color, I add a pretty pillow and a throw.
I'm SO glad I'm not married to a green bed.
By paying attention to what I end up changing in our home, I've learned that even though I love color, I shouldn't invest in large, brightly color statement pieces unless I'm willing to paint over them.
Now, I invest in large neutral pieces and add color with pillows, throws, flowers, vases, books, and small items that don't cost a lot of money and that I can easily move when I get tired of the color. Lesson learned. I hope.
What about you?
Is there something you find yourself changing or hoping to change time and time again? Maybe you need to make up your own rule to save yourself from your future self.
This is something Chad and I have wanted to do since before we even moved to this property. We love hosting The Nest Fest and have wanted to invite smaller groups of women over for an in depth weekend.
Every year when I talk about Mantime, you all are like--where's the event for us women?! And all that time I knew I wanted to plan something like this--and here it is!
There are only 20 spaces available.
If this works and we all like it, we'll do it again. If no one wants to come, we'll pretend I never announced this.
Consider this your formal invitation to spend the weekend with me learning about all things home, shopping second hand and being inspired together.
Until next week!
Here's to home,
myq
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