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Here I am just believing in myself.

Item No. 1

The tile has been ordered! I am so excited and it has lit a fire under me to get other things done in the house that I have just let go. Honestly, because it costs money and takes time to decorate. Who has any of that?!? It adds up! I mean just the other day I bought some spackle $5, new curtain rods $100, and a rug $145. Not cheap! However, I had forgotten the joy that creating a comfortable space makes me. I had started to feel a little sad like my house wasn't so cute anymore. I have been pouring over Pinterest and Instagram looking at new ideas. I like the new style it's so clean and not like 1999 USA/Americana decor on twenty nine shelves and every crevice of your home. I had that AND a Van Gogh Starry Night bathroom, AND a bathroom painted in the corners with sponges to look like moss and teeny tiny little tendrils of vines that I had carefully painted on the walls. That was my first house.

In this home...home number four where I have settled I had the glorious decor of 2005. Rusts and Olive greens, Browns, Earth tones.....you know the heavy French/Italian look. A lot of my decorations are from my house when I was married. I have painted and re-purposed a lot of stuff to blues and grays, but still as I looked around at my heavy black curtains with the jacquard lining and my big heavy curtain rods I felt....well...heavy. I made those curtains from scratch back when I had more time and when my sewing machine and serger worked. Maybe that is why I have kept them for so long. I know what painstaking work it took to make them, just right, the perfect curtain for my once perfect house. You know though here's the thing, I purchased white curtains at IKEA like three years ago so finally I bit the bullet and went to Target to get new rods. It was actually really exciting. What was also exciting that I just soaked up and loved every second of was wandering around Target aimlessly through the departments that I wanted to look at. I wasn't on a time crunch I was luxuriously shopping at Target! Anywho, I have been in this home for over ten years. It is time to update a few more things.

But also, on the flip side, I like my stuff and I like blues and grays. I thought I would get rid of my kitchen table but the truth is I like the lines of my kitchen table. They are simple and clean. Plus a lot of memories of just the kids and I have been made around that table. So I will keep that...maybe eventually new chairs but for now there are still things I like. My old window that I bought on an antiquing trip to Miami/Globe with my Aunt Margie and cousin Vanessa. My hutch that was gifted to me from my Grandma when she passed away. I love the art that I have purchased to hang in my home, mostly religious art but that is who WE are in this home. I guess the conclusion I have come to with this whole redecorating thing is it is ok that I am not getting everything new, but to update a few key pieces to help my home feel fresh is really exciting to me!

I found a bottle of touch up paint and I spackled the walls where all the nail holes were and I am going to touch those up tomorrow. I like to tape my Christmas cards to my pantry door however, when I take them off it peels off the paint. So, I am going to repaint the front of that door and think of a better method for the cards. I also have a chalkboard which was painted on the back of the door that leads to the garage that could use a fresh coat or two. I don't think chalkboards are in style anymore but I love it because I can make grocery lists, to-do lists, menus out of the ingredients I have in the house and then write down meals for the week. Currently, it has a list of things I am grateful for. So, it might not be cool but it serves an amazing function for me.

I think the fact that my BFF is buying a home for the first time in years has kind of helped me to feel excited too. I can't wait to see what she does! She is so creative and always has a beautiful home. I am really, really, happy for her. Just like it's time for me to do a little updating it is OVERDUE time for her to get to decorate and design a new home. It's so fun looking at ideas and honestly...I stole some of hers.

Here is the tile going in...the blonde brown closest to my foot. You know tile is funny...colors are funny. I don't have any plans to re-do my kitchen any time soon so the tile that I liked in the store looked too pink because of the cherry cabinetry, or made the granite look too yellow. This one was just right.

Old curtain on backwards...we just threw them up there since there are no blinds on the window. BUT NEW curtain rods! Thanks to my awesome helper Matthew, who put them all up he was like the curtain rod doctor and I was the curtain rod nurse.