Hi guys, I have a random room reveal (kinda) to share with you today. All on account of my blogging friend, Melissa of The Inspired Room who invited me to complete a very simple “Love Your Home” Challenge inspired by her new book “Love The Home You Have” . Now, as you know, I’m up to my eyeballs in renovation projects and if you’re thinking, “Challenge? Girl you’re living a challenge you don’t need to take on another one!” — hold that thought…
Melissa shares simple things you can do to help you love the home you have. Not in a “Build this. Make that. Decorate, style fluff, buy…” kind’a way but a, “clean up a bit, rearrange, declutter, put some flowers in a vase and smell them once in a while…”kind of way. That’s how this book is speaking to me right now anyway!
I love the reminder to “find beauty in the simple things” and to “find the balance in beauty and mess”. That last one is an interesting concept for sure. I think I’ve been living in chaos for the last 15 years and I tend to have this idea that once my house is “done” — then It will be lovely. But until then it will just be a mess!
But Melissa has me thinking that it can be a Beautiful mess — right now.
Obviously there will be times when I’m right in the thick of a demolition that it will just be “a mess” and that’s ok. But taking time at the end of each work day, every day to: haul out the trash and debri, stack unused material and put tools away will make a huge difference. Huge! I often take the lazy way out and let it pile up. Really often!
Here’s another idea from Melissa:
Which leads me to the “Challenge”. In the back of Melissa’s book is a section with a bunch of super easy (I promise) challenges to help you take charge of your beautiful mess and enjoy your home. I chose to “DeClutter”. This room is my future office but it’s been housing our “temporary kitchen” for the last 16 months which is about 12 months beyond when we actually needed it. The biggest hurdle to clearing out this room was the granite. That stuff is HEAVY! Luckily my brother and his family came to visit last week with 5 adults, we were able to carry both pieces outside! Then we hauled the cabinets up to the storage/whatever room where I plan to use them when I get to that room.
WaaaHooooo!!!!!!!!!
Seriously!
Walking past this room now is a joy. I’m not even kidding! My heart sings a happy tune every time! It just removes the dark and overwhelming cloud of “Useless crap taking up space and looking really crappy” that had been hanging out there! In addition to hauling out the granite and cabinets, we also took bags of clothes, some unneeded tools and 2 doors to the donation center clearing out even more clutter. Making such great progress started a snowball effect and made me WANT to make more progress!
Did I say Waaahoooooo?
I can’t wait to do every single challenge in “Love the Home you Have”! Madison will especially love the one about “fresh flowers”. She loves having fresh flowers in the house. I tend to not what them unless the kitchen is clean…which is where I need to work on finding balance with mess and beauty!
Love the Home you Have is available at Amazon , Barnes & Noble and iBooks. Be sure to check out how these other talented bloggers “took the challenge” and what they did to make their homes a haven.
Reluctant Entertainer , Julie Blanner , Mom Advice , Michaela Noelle Designs , Liz Marie Blog , Tidy Mom , Infarrantly Creative , Love Feast Table , Balancing Beauty and Bedlam , All Things Thrifty , Just a Girl , Emily A Clark , My Sweet Savannah , Lemonade Makin Mama , Jones Design Company , Fieldstone Hill Design , Jenna Burger Design , DIY Show Off , Not Just a Housewife , Beneath My Heart , A Thoughtful Place , Home Stories A to Z , Southern Hospitality , My Blessed Life , Pretty Handy Girl , The Nesting Place , Shabby Nest , Funky Junk Interiors , Songbird Blog , The Shabby Creek Cottage , Miss Mustard Seed , 320 Sycamore
Well I am inspired! I think I will clean my office this week. And I guarantee, yours looked pristine (Before) compared to mine now. 🙂
No way! I want to see a pic. 🙂
This post!!! I love it! I’m very impressed by your room, that must feel amazing!! Thank you for joining in the celebration of this special day, I’m SO honored.
I’m honored that you invited me AND am ridiculously happy about a huge empty room that has been such a mess for over a year!
Just might have to get this book! A long-term, live-in remodel is stressful, and the living in the mess part is probably the thing I struggle with the most. This weekend, I did a thorough cleaning of our partially finished kitchen to remove the demo dust from upstairs, and it felt so good. Also, I wanted my staining/finishing area to be as dust-free as possible, so that was good motivation!
Wow! DO you want to come and clear my office out next?! Awesome 🙂
I’ll be right there Stacy! LOL
I’m SO down with doing little things to make my home more enjoyable for me. Mostly because right now I can only handle little things. With our house on the market, and people constantly coming over to look at it, I am really enjoying the extra level of clean that my house tends to be in.
The only fun thing about selling a house you’re living in — it’s clean all the time! Woohoo!
I have to ask… what color paint is that on your walls???
Spring cleaning is a great time to clear the floor 🙂 We just take it one room at a time!
Gosh, I know how you feel. We lived for 3 years with boxes and bags stored in the landing and had to squeeze sidewise to go to the back bedroom 🙁 Got rid of the stuff last month and it is a real pleasure to walk there. Now have to do the back bedroom and the study.
Thank you for the link to The Inspired Room, it looks very interesting.
Boxes for 3 years, oiy, I feel your pain!