serenity

Ahh. To have a place of sanctuary. A place that's not only functional, but beautiful as well. A place filled with things. Pretty things. Things that you love.

In the 15 years I've been married, I would have to say that I've never had this kind of space. Especially in the master bedroom. The first years were great, but I was still in college and working part-time while Jason was just getting started in the construction field. Later, when we both had good jobs, our money was tied up in doing what smaller remodeling projects we could handle on our growing income. In the years that followed, three blessings arrived one by one. Our desire for me to be a stay at home mom over-rode the income issue and we were back at square one. Now the kids are growing so we have more time. Jason has certainly learned his profession well, and is very skilled, but we are still living on 1 1/2 incomes. We live in our "dream" home in the country - but there is lots to do to make it a dream to live in. Have the years been blessings? Resoundingly yes! But you know the saying the shoemakers kids are shoeless? Yeah, well, you get the point. I love design and decorating, so I do what I can with what I've got while I wait for my space to what I want it to be.

But something has happened while I have been waiting. Clutter. I'm not sure if it's because our master bedroom is on the first floor - right off the living room. Or if it's lack of storage space elsewhere in the house, but our room was awful! I'm talking a hodge-podge of furniture. Dvd's and video games around our little TV. Crafting supplies. A mish-mash of books. Fabric "to-do" scraps. Clothes to donate to the thrift store. Broken jewelry. Board games. Cards. Children's artwork {not displayed}. And dust. Lots of dust.

I'd been looking at our room like this for a long time now. And it just kept getting worse and worse. To top it off, our ceiling is currently open to the floor joists above. So I look at rough drywall, bare wood and insulation as I slip off to sleep. Then yesterday, I caught one of my favorite shows to watch when I get the chance. I love love love The Nate Show. He's got a great sense of style and design, and most of it is budget-friendly. Well, wouldn't you know, but the topic yesterday was a bedroom re-do. A master bedroom re-do to be exact. Of course the finished product was phenomenal. And more than I am able to do at the moment, but it did inspire me to get to work cleaning and organizing. To make the best of what I had to work with. So during nap time, I did just that.

I want to start by saying that I've always been awful at taking a before shot when I get into moods like this. I still kick myself for not taking more photos of the horrendous flower gardens we had when we moved in here and did all the landscaping! Anyway, enough digressing. It took some doing, but not as much as I would have guessed. In fact, it was one of those moments where I said "Why didn't I do this sooner?" I found places for the games and cards. I stored away my crafting supplies {it's amazing where you can find spaces that are not being utilized fully!}. I threw out things that I wondered why I was keeping. I put away jewelry. And I dusted. Whew. Then, I got rid of things that didn't need to be in the spaces they were in. Like this white sauder shelf thingy that served no purpose really. Finally, I brought things into the space that made me smile. Photographs of the kids. A stack of antique books. A basket to hold my lotion and sewing essentials. And then some natural elements. I put away the yearbooks that Jason had looked at weeks ago, and replaced it with my favorite pictures of Jason and I. I primped. I bought nothing new. I didn't paint. But wow the difference. Jason was even amazed at the difference.

Is it what my dream bedroom will look like? Nope. But it works for now, and it makes me happy. It's a more serene space.

And if that weren't enough, my Weight Watchers flyer for the week had an article on how creating a sanctuary space in your bedroom will help you feel better about yourself! I got the message from every direction, and I'm so glad I did a little bit of unexpected fall cleaning and have this great space to enjoy... until the demo begins of course.

What would my dream bedroom look like? A king size bed. End tables for each of us. Luxurious fabrics in a variety of colors and textures. Interesting architectural finds. Mercury glass bottles as lamps.