a gift from julia to brighten our home on our first christmas here
moving back to the states with only the boxes we took on the plane offered me a unique experience 4 years ago. i started over from scratch as a mom in her 30s with virtually no money.
we'd just done this 2 years prior in a different country…and i'd learned a few things. my perspective had changed a bit, and i had a different set of resources. in london, we'd relied on ikea. i had created a lovely, inviting, comfortable home out of minimal ikea purchases. here we were without an ikea and held the idea that used is better anyway. i scoured craigslist and a once a month flea market of sorts to find everything except our washing machine and mattresses. i feel blessed to have found all the treasures we did…but i also think our greatest assets were a clear idea of the necessary and the willingness to wait. i thought through each room and listed only what i felt necessary for each:
livingroom: couch, comfy chair, coffee table, lamp
kitchen: table and 4 chairs
girls' bedrooms: mattress, bookshelf, and eventually desk and chair
our bedroom: mattress
i so appreciate that nothing we own is too precious, nor was it so overpriced that i feel i can't make a change.
spring weather has brought up a desire to recalibrate, and i plan to go room by room carefully asking if i've accumulated too much…as i spring clean (always motivation for decluttering). :) i, too, read marie kondo's popular book the life-changing magic of tidying up: the japanese art of decluttering and organizing. while it wasn't my favorite book on the subject, i decided to look at each of the rooms in our house and list the things that bring me joy in each. obviously, things are not what bring joy…so i'm not sure that is the right word for it. the people that fill my home are truly what bring me joy. we just like to have places to sit and books to read. :)
tomorrow is the living room.
what is your idea of the necessary? are they the same things that bring you joy?
love,
jane
we'd just done this 2 years prior in a different country…and i'd learned a few things. my perspective had changed a bit, and i had a different set of resources. in london, we'd relied on ikea. i had created a lovely, inviting, comfortable home out of minimal ikea purchases. here we were without an ikea and held the idea that used is better anyway. i scoured craigslist and a once a month flea market of sorts to find everything except our washing machine and mattresses. i feel blessed to have found all the treasures we did…but i also think our greatest assets were a clear idea of the necessary and the willingness to wait. i thought through each room and listed only what i felt necessary for each:
livingroom: couch, comfy chair, coffee table, lamp
kitchen: table and 4 chairs
girls' bedrooms: mattress, bookshelf, and eventually desk and chair
our bedroom: mattress
i so appreciate that nothing we own is too precious, nor was it so overpriced that i feel i can't make a change.
spring weather has brought up a desire to recalibrate, and i plan to go room by room carefully asking if i've accumulated too much…as i spring clean (always motivation for decluttering). :) i, too, read marie kondo's popular book the life-changing magic of tidying up: the japanese art of decluttering and organizing. while it wasn't my favorite book on the subject, i decided to look at each of the rooms in our house and list the things that bring me joy in each. obviously, things are not what bring joy…so i'm not sure that is the right word for it. the people that fill my home are truly what bring me joy. we just like to have places to sit and books to read. :)
tomorrow is the living room.
what is your idea of the necessary? are they the same things that bring you joy?
love,
jane
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