Finally Decorating

This is not typically a post I would write.  I am NOT a decorator.  My mother has the most beautiful Better Homes and Gardens home.  I didn't not inherit that gene.  If I did, it's dormant and has been for a LONG time.  But I would really love to decorate my home and make it beautiful.  So I am taking baby steps in that direction.

Here are a few things I am doing to spruce up the place:  (I wish I had pictures.  Maybe later.  You'll just have to use your imagination.  I'll show the finished products.)

1.  Several years ago my mom gave me an antique desk that she bought years ago.  It was originally green but she painted it black and put a really pretty handle on the fold down part of the desk .   The pretty handle has disappeared somewhere between having it downstairs to hold diapers and giving it to my 13yod to use for a school desk.  The desk is now in my room.  I intend to stain it in this summer when I can be outside.  I have really pretty cherry wood furniture suit that Underdog and I bought in our early marriage.  My dad also built me a beautiful chest for the end of my bed and matched the stain.  I want to use that stain for the desk and replace all the handles.

So today I bought a lamp.  That may not seem very big but it's huge for me.  Because I really don't know how to decorate well, I never spend money on my home.  But I bought a lamp today.  My room doesn't have good lighting so it's hard to see in my little corner over here.  So I bought a lamp.  I know, I keep saying that.  It's so cool though.  It has a pretty shade and all.  I can now see while I am typing and working at the desk.  I've always wanted to make use of this desk and now I can.

2.  The biggest decorating project that we've taken on in our home is to put in new hardwood floors.  It's beautuiful downstairs.  We're also painting the walls an antique white.  I LOVE it now.  We're going to paint the kitchen as well.  It still needs lots of work but this is a start.

3.  My favorite project so far is what I am doing in the little girl's room.  When Jennibear was a toddler my dad built her a play kitchen cabinet and stove.  He modeled it after the kitchen cabinet that my grandfather built me years ago.  It's always been white but I have had visions of painting it for years.  I have never had the chance to do it (although my mom did help the older girls repaint it white several years ago.)   I finally have the chance to do what I've really wanted to do.  I am starting with their new table though.  We're painting the table pink and the chairs blue.  When that is done I am doing to decoupage scrapbook paper that matches the colors onto the top and then coat with clear paint that can be cleaned off.  I'll follow this up with the kitchen cabinet and stove.

I am really excited about decorating their room.  They don't have matching bedspreads yet.  I really want to learn to quilt (which is something I promised the older girls we would learn over the summer) and I think I am going to take on that project so that they are finished about the time they really start learning to take care of their room.  I am also on the look out for some pretty posters and art work for their walls.  This is a good start for me.

I think as part of the mild depression I have felt for so long, I just stopped caring.  I assumed that I didn't really have a decorators eyes and just never really tried.  I want to pull out of that and begin to bless my family.  The fun thing is that Schmoo has a really good eye for decorating (apparently it skipped a generation.)  Tonight she started painting with me and it was just fun to work along side her.

So that is my start to decorating my home.  Hopefully I'll remember in the future to take pictures.