That quote by William Morris has always resonated with me. But in the rush of life and the reality of costs, I haven’t always been mindful of its principle. As I grow older I am finding myself drawn back to this ideal.
I’ve been working to apply this absolutely in our new home. I’ve done a lot of decluttering with my decisions based on “is it useful” and “is it beautiful”. (I’ll confess tho, I can get bogged down with some of my stash as I tell myself “it’s useful to MAKE something that will be beautiful and useful!”
The same thoughts for when I want to bring something into the house… it must be useful – AND beautiful. It has made shopping harder and easier at the same time. Harder in that if I do need something, quite often I have to search more to find that item. Easier because even if it is beautiful, it must be useful – even if the ‘useful’ means I have the perfect place for it.
Sometimes to achieve the ‘useful and beautiful’ in my home, I must go at it in layers. For example… tubs are very useful for decluttering and organizing. But they are also usually kind of ugly (at least the ones I can/will afford). So my first layer has me buying them (useful) and then later on I pick out a pretty spray paint and some stencils to make them look nice.
And so, with this in mind, I’ve kind of dedicated the February to making my home fit that philosophy. At this exact moment my house is anything but useful and beautiful as I am painting almost every room upstairs next Monday. Complete chaos! But by the end of next week it will be so much better!
I’ll be getting plenty of blogging material from these next 7 days… that is for sure! LOL
Oh my goodness! Painting every room, I can't imagine. But what a great difference you'll have to show for all that work!
ReplyDeleteI too am trying to implement this philosophy into my home....without spending a lot of money getting there. Love the idea of spraypainting and stenciling plastic bins....I've lined them with scrapbook paper on the inside so they don't look so bad in my pantry or closets....but I like your idea better, Teri!
ReplyDeleteHope that the painting goes smoothly! Way to look at the silver lining, plenty of blogging material~ can't wait to see your progress, thanks for sharing the reminder that it is in layers and will add up over time :)
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