Yesterday, Apartment Therapy posted about compulsive redecorators. Although I am not extreme as some of the cases they talked about (I don't change my whole house from shabby chic to minimalistic in a week), I am a compulsive tweaker. I'm not exaggerating when I say nearly every day I change something. It might be something as little as a pillow or an entire gallery wall. Rearranging. I have no issues changing a paint color or an area rug. To make it sound less threatening than "nothing is safe in our house!", the only constant in our home is our family and love. See? Nicer.
I don't share every little change that goes on 'round here because that would be incredibly boring for everyone else but me, but now that spring is in full force--in addition to opening windows and spring cleaning--I challenge you to do some spring tweaking of your own. Let's face it, money is a factor when re-decorating, but just shifting things around is completely free and can rejuvenate a space in very little time.
For instance, Monday during my daily tidy up/tweak session, I realized I grew tired of our mirror message board I put in place on the wall in between the dining area and living room nearly a year ago. I wasn't using it all that often and I just wanted needed a change.
So, I swapped it out for the wall clock that was hanging above our open shelving in the kitchen and a hand-written quote I framed months ago. Turns out, we have a clock on the oven and the microwave, but no way of telling the time from the family room, so the switcheroo worked out perfectly. Except now the open shelving was left wanting.
Admittedly the open shelving is constantly evolving. Last you saw, we had it looking like this:
Chris's cookbooks went to live on the built-ins and I had just moved the clock--so things were bare and primed for tweaking. I decided to go for a clean and classic black and white look this time:
I added a large oil-painting I did last year up top and kept everything else pretty low profile. We went to visit our parents (Mine and Chris's parents both live in the same town about 4 hours away) over the weekend and my mom gave me the best little gift:
Her metal dessert bowls. She has had them forever and I remember using them when I was a little girl. I asked her a long time ago to will them to me when she dies. She's not going anywhere anytime soon, but she wanted me to have them and enjoy them now--so of course they went on the shelves, too.
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Little metal dessert bowls! Best claim ever!
I love the bowls from your mom! They are awesome! I have a feeling I'll be more of a tweaker after I actually get paint and basic furniture and decor in each room. How long does it take to move in??? Lol
Ha! I love that I'm not the only one who asks my parents to will me dishes. I asked my parents for their Arabia dishes (from Finland)-- see http://www.designed-in-finland.com/arabia_anemone.php for years... this year for my birthday my dad sent me one bowl from the set. I was confused.... uhhh... thanks, for the one single bowl (?). Then he explained that it was a sign that he was sending me the whole set,- hooray! (finally!!!) He lives abroad so I'm waiting until he's back stateside. I love that I'll get to enjoy serving my own family off the dishes I remember eating off of as a little girl!
Also, thanks for the reminder to keep things fresh by rearranging, rather than having to get something new. I am good about moving things to new places, but get stumped when I want to remove something altogether (and I don't want to toss/recycle b/c I feel bad about getting rid of something perfectly fine, but no longer my style/fitting in my house). Hmmm... for example, what did you do with the mirrored message board?
I'm getting the green devilled egg dish.
I love this post! Just a simple switch that makes you feel much better about how your home is functioning. Plus, the dessert bowls were even cute before you mentioned the story behind them!
can i just add that i would not be bored, i love your little tweaks! the open shelving is amazing with that oil painting! there is something about the grey-metallic-black-white color palette that is really working for them! i love the updated clock on that wall too, it looks awesome!
Love the bowls! I always say stuff like that to my mom, can I have these when you die? I'm sure she's like great, you want a LOT if things from me after I die! I just wanna claim them now, but I just can't.
(the pictures in this post are so nice and clear!!!!)
I definitely don't feel the urge to do anything really in our current space. Everything has found its spot, and it works. Granted, I am so happy to move in less than 2 months because that means, Good Will a TON of stuff, and also rearranging things. We are downsizing into a 2 bedroom so we'll have to decide what goes into storage Aka the golf clubs...shhhh :-)
Hi, my name is Amanda and I am a compulsive re-decorator/tweaker. I typically change things up for different events/seasons or when I'm feeling antsy and need a little change. A whole new house is going to be therapeutic for me. ;)
Those bowls are to die for. I want some silver dessert bowls! I used to be a compulsive tweaker. I'm sure I will be once we move into our own place again. It's nice to get a fresh look even if it's on the daily!