I purchased my home in 2009, after my great-great aunt passed away. After clearing out furniture, ripping out carpet, and hours upon hours of painting and cleaning, I moved in, alone, broke, and itching to get my next projects underway! After almost 3 years of arranging, rearranging, and putting off projects, I am ready to start on making this house mine, not what everyone else in the family thinks it should be. You know, it takes a while for a house to speak to you, to tell you how it feels about its new inhabitants, and eventually, it lets you in on the secret of how to make it a home. I feel like it has taken a long time for me to listen to my house. I have redecorated, rearranged, and edited each room more times than I care to count. Thank goodness for a three car garage to keep all of my craziness in storage! What I have learned from my house is that in order for the two of us to be able to breathe together, I must use the old and the new to make us both comfortable. (No I do not think my house "speaks" to me, hold off on the call to the therapist.)
Thankfully, after four generations of my family living in this house, I have a lot of "old" to put to good use! I also have a wonderful family who likes to swap everything in an annual garage sale (which happens to be at my house), so I can access a lot of great finds. My personal style is eclectic, it rests somewhere between those featured in IKEA, Pottery Barn, and Crate and Barrel. ( You know when you take those style quizzes online? Mine never has a clear answer...:( ) Three years ago, if you would have asked me if I would have antique plates hanging on my wall, and if I would use an old suitcase as a bed side table, I would have told you junk like that would never make it in my house! But the times are a changin! I have always loved auctions and flea markets, much to my sister's chagrin, but I could never figure out how to use them with my style. Now, I shop with an open mind, if I like it, and it's cheap, I buy it. Many things I bought from the estate sale, or kept from the hand-me-downs in the house, are just now being brought in and found useful. I'm becoming comfortable with the way my house flows, and how it wants to be used.
