Have you ever done something that you’ve wanted to do for a really, really long time but didn’t want to do it because you were worried about hurting someone’s feelings but once you did it, you feel really, really good?
Yeah, okay, that was confusing.
See, every now and then I get this gigantic hair up my . . . um, I get an urgent desire to redo my writing area. Call it a mindset or clinging to Dumbo’s magic feather, but it always gives my writing a boost. My ‘office’ is actually our dining room. But, it looked and felt like a dining room. So my wild hair screamed out MAKE-OVER!
While listening to Anna Nalick’s Wreck of the Day album, (which is AWESOME,) I stared at our china cabinet. It was full of wedding memorabilia and presents that I never really liked, like pastel photo frames and pink/blue knick-knacks. (If you can’t tell already, I’m not the pastel pink/blue kind of gal.) But I am the kind of gal who feels obligated to never throw out presents given to me, whether I like them or not, so they’ve been there for fifteen years, as well as the dried-out, dusty bouquet from my wedding that someone dried out for me.
I mean, what kind of woman throws away her wedding bouquet, right?
Then there was the framed prints of pastel gardens on the walls that were professionally framed. I mean, if something is professionally framed, you should use it, right?
Wrong.
I decided to reclaim the dining room and turn it into a room I enjoyed working in. So, I stripped the china cabinet of all things that I don’t like, even though I love the people who gave me them. I put in things that made me feel good, like the cool horses my father has been giving me over the years, made of brass, gold or leather. I bought new picture frames and got rid of the pastel ceramic ones. I put in old books for a more office feel, rearranged the rest of the furniture, got rid of the dining room chairs, took a leaf out of the table and brought up a gorgeous recliner that’s been in the basement to make a reading nook. Those pastel garden prints? Gone. I treated myself to some new prints at Michael’s and ripped out the neat professional framing work in exchange for prints that brought me joy.
And my dried-out, dusty bouquet. It took me a while to get up the nerve, but I threw it away. Sorry–the person who dried it out for me was so sweet, but I don’t need it to remind me of my wonderful wedding.
End result? I love the room now. It looks fantastic.
But . . . if the person who gave me the pastel ceramic frame is reading this, please don’t take it personally!
