Fall In Love With Home: Preparing Yourself For Your Space.

Today is the day! I have looked forward to this day for weeks now, and I cannot wait to share with y'all my heart and my home in the hopes that you will fall more in love with your home! Before all the pretty decorating beings you have to prepare yourself. If you being to decorate while your still in the mindset of dislike or disgust toward your home, your mind and heart won't be able to create to the best of your ability!

So, maybe you are thinking that you could never truly like your home for various different reasons, trust me I understand. I have always had a creative nature and as I got older I had dreams of becoming an interior decorator, so when you and your soon to be husband are looking at buying your first home together the stakes are even higher! Growing up, I have always pictured a white house with blue shutters in a farmhouse/cottage style, so I thought that my first house, our starter home, should be my dream home. Emphasis on starter home! This was our very first home, not our dream home that we saved up for, but our starter home where we would come home to after our honeymoon.

Dream Home: Photo Source

We looked for houses for over a year, my husband wanted a good home but he also wanted to make sure he got the right price, and being that this was in 2010 and 2011 he was able to have many options. After spending countless hours looking for homes, I had found one! It wasn't exactly the color I wanted, and it didn't have a dedicated master, but it was beautiful and it had a huge porch, with swings already installed! OH BOY! I thought man, this is it! Thankfully, KJ also liked the home and we put in and offer and it was accepted! I thought I was home free! I started buying decor and planning the furniture layout. Then came inspection day and my dream was crushed.... The previous owners had poured concrete in the main pipe outside the house, and all of the pipes had to be replaced. We couldn't get the bank to come down on the price so we walked away. I picked up what was left of my dream and left that home.

After this, I handed the reigns over to KJ and told him not to show me a home unless it could seriously be the one, and he seriously thought I would like it. 6 months later, KJ called me and sent me the address for a home, along with 3 videos and tons of pictures and told me to make a decision on if I liked it or not so he could put an offer in. I looked through them and said it was fine, but lets be real, it is kind of hard to picture yourself in a home that was ripped apart by the previous owners! He put in an offer and 3 days later we were homeowners. 6 days later I saw the house for the first time in person. 

I thought I was going to be happy in this house with my husband, but sadly the only growing feeling was discontentment. I spent my days looking for a new home and seeing what I could have next. My dear sweet husband went me with to model homes, and touring homes that were for sale. He knew in his heart that he didn't want to move, but he let me have my time of discontentment because he knew that only I could change my mind and feelings toward this home. I ran myself ragged trying to get out of this house, until one day it hit me... Why did I dislike my home? What was so horrible about this beautiful home that we live in? 

The answers I came up with did not amount to a hill of beans, and from that day on I have purposed in my heart to no dwell on the cosmetic changes that I want to complete, but instead focus on the life and the love that happens in this home, because truly home is where I am with my husband and our 2 dogs. Home isn't meant to be a place of perfection, but instead its meant to be a place of safety, comfort and where you are free to create and not wear any pants! Unless you have company, then I would recommend that you did. :) 

Loving your home may not be so easy, if you see it as less than perfect. We are conditioned from a young age to strive toward perfection. Let go of the idea that your home has to be perfect and embrace the imperfect spaces because they are unique to you and your family. Take time alone, no phones, no anything, just you and your thoughts, to sit down in the space that you think is imperfect and look around and beauty. Make a list of the positive qualities that you see in the space and open your heart and mind up to the idea of imperfection and being to love your space.