A new perspective on life

As much as I love photography, I also love interior decorating. My house is cluttered with decorating magazines and design books and I watch design shows non-stop for inspiration.

I think it ties into my love of photography. I can sit for hours pouring over beautiful photographs in my magazines, and love to surf online reading design blogs. I love to look at beautifully decorated rooms and although I have my own style, I can appreciate other styles as well.

I never tire of it. I have worked long and hard to decorate my home, not for others to admire mind you, but for me and my family to love.

Too me, its all about painting a picture, the one I have imagined in my mind or reproducing something I have seen in a magazine. Its also a past time or a hobby...one that keeps me happy and often occupies my mind. Its all about the quest and the pleasure of hunting for that perfect item or great bargain.

As my patient husband will tell you, it as to be just right, in fact, it has to be perfect. I have purchased and returned items that were less then "perfect" on so many occasions, you would not believe. I am lucky that Serge shares my passion (or pretends to :) as I have been dragging him to furniture and decor stores for the past 30 years. Funny that our first outing together was to go to Ikea to buy furniture for his apartment, and this, even before we were even a couple!

Some women love shopping for shoes or clothes but me, its shopping for that special item to decorate my home. Véro also shares my love of decorating, so our shopping trips and discussions are often focussed on decorating.

On numerous occasions, my friends and colleagues have asked me for decorating advice and I've done virtual shopping for them to help find that special item to decorate their homes.

All this said, over the last few years, although we have done some renos, the house has felt a bit neglected because of other priorities, e.g. illnesses, family commitments, etc. and the renos we started have not been completed.

Then 2 months ago, my perspective changed. With the purchase of our cottage, I no longer feel invested in my house. In fact, we are thinking of selling it for a much smaller place in the near future; one that does not need as much tlc so that we can spend more time at the cottage.

I now have "Cottage Life" and "Home and Cabin" magazines on my coffee table and I am now watching "Chic Shack" instead of "Design Inc" (decorating shows). I spend all my waking hours thinking of how I will decorate the cottage, you could say its my new project and I am now at the planning stage. Surprisingly, I am focusing on a more minimal decor to avoid having to dust and clean and to spend more time relaxing and living instead. And because we have had to start with replacing the roof and some windows, my budget for decorating is almost non-existant so, I am looking forward to the summer so that I can visit flea markets looking for bargains and unique items.  In any case, I will start with the furniture left by the previous owners as a starting point and built on that.

As for the house, we will complete the renos over the coming months, but this will be done so that the house is ready to sell to a new family.

 

In my mind, I've already put up the "for sale" sign and I've moved on to my next decorating adventure, my cottage.

Oups, I almost forgot that our new smaller house will also need decorating...I guess I will have many projects to entertain me for a while yet!