Recently I shared how I felt as thought I had gone "
decorating blind". It had been so long since I had spent any time decorating our home and showing it any love. So much time had gone by, I wasn't even noticing it anymore. And, as it turns out, my family wasn't noticing it either.
So, about a week ago, I got a bug in my bonnet and I decided to go ahead and start decorating our
spring mantel and add some touches to our family room. I had switched out the side table next to our couch when I found this one at a vintage shop a few months ago. Truth be told, I really want to use it as a nightstand, but I haven't found a companion for it yet, so for now it is in our family room. I was adding accessories and plants when I decided to add this tray that I found on our trip last year to Europe. While in Amsterdam, we happened upon the prettiest little vintage shop and this tray was so reasonably priced. I calculated quickly in my mind that it was the perfect treasure for me to bring home and best of all, it would easily fit in my carry on bag.
So, for each round of travel, I perfectly placed it in my bag, and then added everything around it in a very particular order. If I did it just right, everything would fit. And so for each round of travel, the rest of my family waited while I unpacked every item from my carry-on, while working up a nervous sweat, to pull out said tray that apparently blocked the
security scanners from seeing anything else in my bag and was "suspicious". After finally being allowed through security, I would then shove everything back in my carry-on bag because I was so flustered and nothing would fit and I would have to do it over again about three more times. When I got the tray home and first laid it on a table, I realized that all of the travel woes had put a bow in it and it wouldn't sit flat. Truth be told, I developed a bit of a dislike for the tray after all of the hassle it brought with it. Until I went to take its picture. After all this time, there was something else I was blind to. As the image came into focus, I saw a detail I had never seen before. The number 15.
Now, this piece that already had
our story attached to it had more of a story, even if it was untold. It was obviously part of a group of at least 14 other trays. What did it hold? How old was it and why do factories not use trays like this anymore? Now the number showed that my troublesome tray was worth the hassle.
The "amazing numbered tray from Amsterdam", as it will now be known, was also a reminder of how much I love when the pieces in our home tell a story. They tell our story. Like the
library ladder in our family room or the window on our mantel, I love to tell their stories so often that they become interwoven with our own stories.
In discovering a number on a tray, maybe I also discovered, or maybe reminded myself, why I love to decorate my home, why I write this blog and why I named our business Finding Home. It really is about the stories of our home that I love to tell and even the "new" items in our home are part of our story and link us and connect us in the space that we spend the most time in. And maybe, some of this will connect to my children and they will have "touch points" in their memories and to their childhood. Maybe they will understand the reasons to care about how you pull together your home, whether it be a full house, an apartment you are renting or a room you are sharing.
Waking up to our home again and not being "blind" has spread beyond just me. Several times in the last week my husband has commented how me he has been enjoying the family room being pulled together and the space getting a little sprucing. I can not deny how much I love that.
I "shopped the house" for pretty much everything in this room with the exception of one major change, the rug. Our rug was beat down, chewed on and other unmentionables-ons. A new puppy last year took an already tired rug and sent it to overdue for retirement. Not wanting to invest too much since said puppy is not totally trustworthy, I decided to get this
seagrass rug from Joss & Main. I purchased the 8 x 10 size and figured that even if the puppy did anything unmentionable, the investment wasn't anything too great. Although our schedule is much busier than it was a year ago, I am going to make decorating our home a priority once again. It is worth the hassle. Thanks so much for reading.
