This week has had me drawing blanks about what to post. I keep asking myself ‘what could I say that would be helpful?’ and I kept coming up empty. That is until I walked into my kitchen and saw the tray on my counter. It’s cluttered – but also corrals the normal clutter – and has things that are personal to me. I bought the tray because I had a need and the tray works for that area. It isn’t a fabulous tray or something special, but it works. It contains our knife block, butter dish, salt and pepper shakers and it fills up an awkward space in an odd corner. The tray is big and I’ve added a picture frame and a ceramic fruit sculpture to it. I was looking at the picture of my family there on my counter I thought, “is it ok to have a picture right there?” and then quickly answered, “ABSOLUTELY”. That’s when I realized that I was able to answer myself so quickly and confidently because I know that I am an imperfect decorator, and that my friends is a gift.
Being an imperfect decorator allows me FREEDOM. It takes the pressure off of me that things have to be ‘just right’. When I give myself this grace I’m telling myself that it’s ok to make a mistake and not get everything right the first time. It gives me the ability to try different things and to experiment. Through these experiments I’ve tried lots of different things and have learned from them all (good or bad).
Allowing imperfection into my decor tells my guests that no matter what their life looks like that they are welcome in my home because we aren’t perfect either. When I choose things that are imperfect I am less worried about my family ‘messing it up’ or things getting broken. It lets my kids truly LIVE in our house (which I hope makes them LOVE being here).
When I give myself permission to curate my decor over time instead of rushing to the finish it liberates me from having to make every decision all at once (and I’m terrible at decision making). It gives me grace when I make the wrong choice and license to change things up as I want/need. Knowing that my house will be imperfect allows me to be creative and whimsical because I know that my house won’t look like the inside of a catalog.
Friends, I am an imperfect woman living in an imperfect home and I am an imperfect decorator. If you struggle with feeling like you can’t measure up to someone elses ideal of what your home should look like then I hope you will embrace the gift of imperfection too. We are all too old to spend our time trying to meet a standard that was never set for us. And if you aren’t quite there yet that’s ok, I’ll wait for you 🙂
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