Do you ever get so utterly tired with your saturated colors and patterns that look like a circus and NASCAR and rainbow all got together and had a love child and that love child is your house and you just want to whitewash and neutralize everything so you remove any and all elements in the room you possibly can to make it seem serene and quite and even grab some neutral premade curtains just to see what they look like even though you know they won’t work because they are too short and then you realize that you have a loud and happy perfectly wonderful 6 year old toile sofa that you will have to work around and your house ends up a big empty looking mess and you are mad at yourself for not being content with all your perfectly fine stuff when people are dying in Haiti?
Yeah, me too.
Kimba has a sickness too, makes me feel better.
I find sometimes its a control thing! When things are crazy I all of a sudden want to introduce a new color scheme to the room. But its OK your not sick, your just creative!!
Welcome to the last 6 months of my life. If you check out this blog post, you’ll see pics of my new “lighter and brighter” living room, along with a “before” shot somewhere in there, too.
http://getyourmarthaon.blogspot.com/2010/01/peek-at-my-living-room.html
I thank God that these things are my worries, as it frees me up to help others.
I am SO right there with you!
I heart you.
That’s all.
Oh… I so {heart} you! I am in the midst of a similar tirade in our home… must be in the water. ;0)
Having just moved into a new home, well a rental because we have to rent out our house because of the market, I’ve experienced the same sickness, wanting my current home to be beautiful and stylish and all things good to all my senses…and then right when it borders on spoiled child not getting her way I’m reminded of the majority of the planet who just wants walls to keep out the cold, the heat, the rain, the snow and once again I’m humbled. My cure is on my knees thanking God that He could have planted me in a mud hut, a tin shack or a red light district. He didn’t. I’m here so what ever color my walls are what decade my tile came from, I’m thankful.
amen to that.
Guilty as charged here as well…if you can find a cure, I would love to know!
Dearest Nester,
I am writing to thank you for Tobacco Road. I have been reading your blog for what seems like ages, although I don’t (SORRY) comment much. Way back when you discussed your love for TR, I vowed that I would someday paint my walls with TR. Last May we moved and we have been VERY SLOWLY decorating and making this house our home. My husband agreed that TR might be just the thing for our family room and last night, on a whim, we stopped at Lowes and bought the paint. Since I can’t find that a Duron store exists anywhere on this planet, we went with the Lowes recipe. We finished about half of the room last night and dare I say it is fantastic! The TR is so cozy and warm. I am a little nervous about continuing with the TR through the breakfast table area and kitchen, wondering if it will just be TOO MUCH! But I think we will just go for it. Yahoo! So thanks for sharing your TR love. Step two: window mistreatments. AAGH!
Wow! I am sooo in that mode right now! Yet, white walls scare me… and to just declutter. I feel a before spring yard sale coming on. Everything is a MESS right now, as I try to sort this dilemma out.
I really think we all feel that way from time to time. The good news for me, is that God created me and He understands me. One of my good friends reminds me, “I am not my thoughts!” Luckily she’s right. So go ahead and have your thoughts. It doesn’t make you selfish and it doesn’t change what happened in Haiti. It really just makes you human.
I just painted a ton of rooms in the last 2 months to neutralize. Prior to that, almost every room was a different color!! So you’re not alone. But how petty is it that it’s even a concern when, like you said, people are devastated in Haiti. So true.
Gosh, a lot of us are sick that way. Maybe we need another Swap Meet so you can have some of my perfectly fine stuff and I can have some of your perfectly fine stuff and between us we can all see that our stuff is really perfectly fine.
Whew! My face started to turn blue reading that sentence. lol
I have that sickness too . . . it’s chronic. :)
How is it that with every post you write I think, “Could she BE any cuter?” {said with a Chandler inflection, btw.}. Seriously, I wish we had met while I was still in NC, but maybe one of these days…. :)
I personally think that your toile couch would look great with colorful pillows or with neutral pillows and throw. Experiment & enjoy! Neutral or colorful, or a bit of both….you’ll find a way to make it all work. Cause you’re the Nester. You’re good like that.
Stacey
yes, yes, yes.
Read somewhere once that more chips & salsa and sonic happy hour cures this.
Afternoon coffee works well too, but only if it’s mostly creamer.
I can so totally relate!
Please oh please bring back all your color–that’s what I love about you and your beautiful house–it makes me happy.
Yes, all the time! Except that the colors and patterns unfortunately seem to camouflage the sippy cup spills and gold fish cracker crumbs. ;) I LOVE the neutral look that everyone seems to like right now, but I don’t think I could make it work right now in the stage we’re in. :s
I’m having the opposite issue. I thought I wanted neutrals. I became obsessed with it (even packed up lots of things that were “too much”) and now I sit on a beige leather sofa with chocolate colored pillows.. on beige/brown carpet.. surrounded by “Churchill Hotel Maple” walls (yes, in other words… BEIGE). I have tile that’s a mix of beige/grey with chocolate grout, painted WHITE cabinets, crown molding, trim, interior doors. It’s all a sea of neutrals. You can tell it’s starting to drive me mad because the last two purchases were my daughter’s bedding and it’s BRIGHT stripes on crisp white with HOT PINK sheets and the bathroom rug I bought this week was bright white with circles of BRIGHT colors on it. My husband saw it and said “interesting”. I’m pretty sure he thinks I’ve gone bonkers. I look at that bathroom rug and keep thinking it’s REALLY not me and kind of obnoxious. I’m not in love with it but I’m head-over-heals in love with the bursts of color all over it in my stark white bathroom!!
Just wanted you to know that you aren’t alone and we all strive for a little change in our lives every now and then. Just, don’t hastily get rid of any of those wonderful patterns because you may just as quickly wish you had them back. :)
I wish I had something profound to add to your comments section. But really, all I’m thinking is “I dig those red tennis shoes.”
PS…I happened to look at my stats today and I was all “Huh. That’s a little high for a Thursday. Wonder what’s going on?” Thanks, babe!
I totally noticed those kickin’ tennis shoes, too! Super cute.
Sweetheart, you can switch back in a flash. No worries. We all have emotions, palette fixations, and tastes in wardrobe fashion that change from time to time. Don’t feel badly…but be glad that you have a soft heart that hurts for those who are hurting, no matter how fluffy our lives may be in comparison. It’s a good hurt.
P.S. I have a BFA in Design, so I must say this: “look at all that texture you notice when there’s little or no color variation in your palette!” there. I’m done.
Yep. I had that too. Really bad. Bought everything I could get my hands on that was white, cream, ecru, beige, off-white, linen….piles and piles of fabric, rugs, towels, bedding, table linens….you name it….put it all out, hung it all, cream, cream, cream, every where. (sigh!) for about 5 minutes. Then I puked.
Pulled out my two cranberry toile throw pillows, laid them on the sofa, took a deep breath, and sat down. My stomach settled. I ain’t going back!
Love your blog!
Colorful Kolein
I always want to throw everything away too and start over but then I gravitate to the same type of stuff and colors. I’m like a dog chasing my own tail. Believe me it’s SO productive.
I love all of the pics of the neutrals and whites, but then I think about what that room would look like if my kids spent a day in it. Doesn’t take long for me to remember how much I love my colorful home- reds, blues, yellows, greens. I love my eclectic mix of inherited, thrifty and new treasures in my home. The neutral palette is beautiful, but not very meaningful to me. I love looking around at all of the things w/a story. Not to mention everything has a dent, scratch or imperfection.
Sorry for the use of the word *puke*. A bit abrasive. I wrote it for effect. I get carried away. Hope it didn’t offend anyone.
yep… it’s a terrible disease
I hear ya girl……..I’m in the process of ‘neutralizing’ my home right now.
Yes. Only I’m nuetral and think I may need some color. Want to swap?
perhaps my favorite post of your ever…… =)
I feel the.same.way.
Nester – couldnt help but notice Diary of a Wimpy Kid on the coffee table. If you haven’t ever read them, read them. Huge laughs. My 7 year old reads it to me before bed bc he got sick of me reading over his shoulder.
You boldly inspired me Monday to paint the crown moulding in our kitchen to match our kitchen cabinets with several differernt Apple Barrell paints until I got the look right. Amazingly, my husband loves it! Now we are debating, do we do the baseboards? Then the doorframes? Where do we stop?
That was priceless…and precious! Yes, we’ve all been there, and that’s why this made me smile. Thanks for the sensitivity to what we sometimes are thinking and what we SHOULD be thinking more of. …We are so human and that comes through for most of us more than we want it to. But… God made us, He knows us and He understands. He also made us with a love of beauty and a desire to have things as nice as we can make them. Finding that right balance is a constant learning thing.
Good post, I loved it!
Ouch! I drove around this afternoon looking at more expensive houses and neighborhoods telling myself I want to live there! Oh yeah, what is that about us that makes us always want more? I should want to give more, and I do. I want both. Help me, Lord!
As an interior designer by trade, a missionary at heart (who was in Haiti 18 months ago), I get it… I totally get it.
I will admit to being a candleholic, but many years ago I realized frequently tearing my whole house apart was an outward sign of unhappiness inside. Once I got all that taken care of, found a style I liked and calmed down…the house stayed (and still stays) fairly stable. This helped the kiddos and me. Gave me more time for them and more time to just enjoy home! Food for thought…..
Si, yo también hay veces que me siento fatal por saber que hay seres humanos que lo han perdido todo :(
un abrazo,
SIONA
I guess I am not so much with the sickness….I mean we did just paint floors,lol. I do have a red kitchen that I would like to neutralize but then my toile curtains wouldnt look so good and, well I do love my toile curtains so I think my kitchen will remain red for now!…Oh an I do love those red shoes!
I felt exactly like that this week. I was painting my daughter’s bedroom & feeling kinda sorry for myself that I had to do it all by myself. Then I thought hey, I am very privileged to be able to have a house, my daughter & the ability to do something like this. Thanks for sharing & letting the rest of us know we aren’t the only ones to feel like this!
Hope you remembered to breathe, typing all that out!
For what it’s worth, I think that most of your readers LOVE your living space. It’s what we aspire to. But I guess it”s in our nature be dissatisfied with the status quo.
Remember that you have to actually LIVE in your home. You don’t want to go snow blind and you don’t want to drive yourself crazy looking at every smudge that pops up on those nice pristine neutral surfaces.
Dear Nester,
Start neutral and I bet little by little you’ll add color back! BTW, I love your warm, welcoming home! I love your table/wallscapes! Your furniture is so homey! Don’t change too much! We won’t be able to handle it!!!
I, too, am VERY sick!! I have not decorated since I put away my Xmas decorations. I need a new look. What I have been doing for the past yr is “collecting” white/cream decorating accessories (ode to you, actually) to neutralize my decor. Gonna use paint canvas and white cotton fabric (bought w/coupons or on sale) to neutralize windows.
I’ve also been decluttering. Sounds dumb but after watching news about Haiti, I got going. I’ve been holding/hording stuff for a yard sale that I haven’t had. Frankly, why hold on to stuff when I could donate it and someone else could buy it from Goodwill for pennies/a few dollars? I felt I was being greedy so I’m blowing thru rooms just holding my breath and getting rid of stuff. My sons’ rooms are almost empty, next my mbdrm closet then storage bins!
We’re military so a move is coming up before the summer, I think. I don’t want to have a gazillion boxes to unpack. BUT, I do look forward to our next abode (whatever that may be) and look forward to the decorating possibilities!
Sorry for the novel! Go with what you feel but STILL stay true to yourself!
I can totally relate. After I visit certain friends who have embraced a more modern, minimal but still warm approach, I return home and try to get rid of the “clutter”. The thing is that I really like to have layers of deliberate things in my house. They all have memories and reflect the personality of me and my family.
I love the shabby chic look and feel insoired to try it after visiting with friends who do it well. It doesn’t take long for me to realize that this is not my true style.
I worry that the colors I chose 7 years ago will be considered out of fashion…until I remember that I still love them.
I lived with beige for years upon years. It always felt cold and unwelcoming. I vowed to have color in my life and my decor.
I just have to remember to be true to my own sense of style and color (not always an easy task)
I find that your sickness and syptoms are seasonal and will pass without any major medication or therapy.
(BTW, my other sicknesses are furniture refinishing and serial home remodeling but I don’t think I want a cure…the first step is admitting ou have a problem)
I have the sickness too, in my case it’s in the gene pool!!
when you say Hate me, what does that mean?
I’m blogging about my “sentimental objects” and today I look around and my house is a mess and it all feels too full, too heavy…so much STUFF! Not feeling very sentimental about it all…YES…would love to swipe my paintbrush and start all over and NO…none of this matters…and yet it does…sigh.
Have mercy, sister, I have a fever and I think I have the same thing that’s ailing you!
I just admitted to the entire Soft Place to Land land and now all of Nesting Place land that I have a problem with blankets, throws and pillows. I almost can’t resist one when I see a lovely.
Do you lurve us at all???? Would you really change all your stuff after we have all spent countless hours hunting down the exact fabric, furniture and goodwill finds you have around your house, your just mean if you do that!!!! LOL. Lurve to hate you!
OK, brace yourself. It’s about to get weird.
I have this sickness, but, on top of that, (and I can NOT believe I’m going to say this out loud) I also have days where my walls and doorframes seem just a little “off” to me. Like, crooked in some way. Next day, they’re fine.
Is that strange or what? Do you feel better now?
Yep – that pretty much summed it up. :)
Great post. I whine and fret waaaay too much over the little things meanwhile people are struggling for life — in Haiti or Africa or Mexico or much of the rest of the world. And here I am worrying over the color of the sofa pillows. Yikes. Very humbling.
Gwyn Rosser
http://www.gwynrosser.blogspot.com
The Pink Tractor
Ah, the post-Christmas,January blahs. Me too– but love the red tennies! And oh, to be content with what we have…a challenge for sure in this “rich” country of ours. Yet your posts always seem to inspire me to love what I have so thank you for that!
I loved this post. I have a similar problem. Do I decorate with a restrained, sophisticated use of color or can I run amuck with hot pint, orange, lime green … all in the same room. The problem is I’m both those people (sophisticated, restrained and crazy!) I’m at a point where it’s time for the next layer of decorating and am stuck on which direction to go. Come check out my new blog to see what I do!
Kat
BlackKatsDesign.blogspot.com