Yes, we love our "new" house (built in 1978), but we have more than a couple of challenges (besides all three leaky toilets that my wonderful Mr. Fix-It man already, well... fixed).
1) We lived full-time in an RV for almost ten years, and what we didn't carry with us in the motorhome was back in VA in a 5x5 storage space. What does that mean? Well, it means that we came to this home with NO furniture...zip, zilch, nada, NOTHING! (In my defense tho', I must say I have lots of scrapbooks...you know, the really important things!)
(And that's not all of them!) Have I said yet that LOOOOOVE scrapbooking? I love the act of putting some of those precious memories into something that can be pulled out and looked through in years to come....bringing to mind some of those wonderful moments that tend to get lost or forgotten as the years go by. What is really neat is that some of the grandkids already like to sit down and look through them with us....just does this mom/grandma's heart good!
Back to the house challenges....
2) My decorating style (such as it is) is very different from what it was "before"...before RV living. I guess maybe it comes with living without so much "stuff" (the "stuff" was back in the storage space), but I really do like the minimal look now. I want our home to be comfortable, cozy and attractive, but I DON'T want a lot of STUFF (even if it is pretty stuff) sitting around. Nor do we want to dip into our "what-if" savings...after all, we ARE debt free (except for the house)....thanks, Dave Ramsey! So we are doing all of this on a "as we can basis." We were able to negotiate with the previous homeowner, and so we had something in the livingroom...couch, love-seat, two end tables and a coffee table. The style was not something I would have chosen in the past, but after sitting in that living room, looking out the windows and just feeling a sense of peace and quiet....mission style ain't so bad! In fact, it has grown on me....think I'll keep it! We were also blessed to find a dining room table and chairs in the same general style at a consignment shop, so on the evening we moved in there were two deliveries...our dining room furniture and our BED! (I so wanted to sleep IN the house and not in motorhome....and we did!)
Now that we have basics out of the way, we decided that it was time to start on some of the things that would make our lives easier, and for me...that would be an office where I can finally get all of our paperwork in one place and get it ORGANIZED! When we first moved in, I was working at the end of the dining room table, with piles of papers "tastefully arranged" all over that end of the table. As one of my grandsons used to say...."Not so much"! The room we decided to convert into an office has two windows with LOTS of natural lighting so it was the logical choice. The big problem was, the previous owners had used it as a storage are for some family-type pieces of furniture. Before THAT, I think it must have been a girl's room....complete with purple (not lilac) paint and a fading floral mural on the back of the door. It DID have sheers at the windows (almost none of the many windows in this house had any window coverings or treatments)....which I have left for now. Willie jumped right in and painted it for me (kinda wish I had gone for the darker blue on two walls instead of one.....?). Next came the bookshelves....took me longer to bring the books up and put them on the shelves than it did for him to assemble them! (We searched thrift stores, Craigs List,etc., but finally ended up at Big Lots....hey, they'll work for now!)
You can't really tell in this photo (not the modesty panel, which matches the desk, but the section on the far right), but it REALLY stands out like a sore thumb....thinking of turning it into a chalkboard or some type of bulletin board. Any ideas?
See all of those old books on the second shelf? They are books that were in my dad's library when he was a pastor! It is so neat to have them here in our library/office and I can't wait until I can find just the right chair to put in here for those reading/browing times. Spring and yard sales can't get here fast enough!
There is another small bookshelf on the opposite wall which I will show you tomorrow as it sits right next to my scrapbooking closet. Wait til you see where I used to store all of this stuff when we were in the RV....no wonder I didn't get it out very often!
Yesterday I looked out the kitchen window to see this.....
....a woodpecker sitting awkwardly on the deck railing, trying to get those seeds from between the rails! It made me think of all the odd and awkward situations I have found myself in through the years. Situations and circumstances where I felt out of my element or forced to do things in ways that did not feel natural to me. God was using those times to help me to realize that it didn't have to fit into my preconceived ideas of what worked or what was good for it to BE good....good for me! He continues to stretch me and mold me...bringing things and attitudes to mind that He wants to change. May I be willing to not be bound by my own, or others, preconceived ideas, but instead know that He has a plan and a purpose for me.
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