Our kids ran a-muck in their lovely home, the men worked on restoring an old truck,
And I got to spend some time bonding with my newest sister-in-law.
It was a lovely day.
Not only because it gave me the chance to have actual live adult conversation, but I also got to spend the day away from Mt. Laundry.
They have a beautiful home!
It is tastefully decorated with big comfy leather couches, rod-iron accents on the warm-colored walls, and the most adorable little topiaries scattered about.
It is warm and inviting...
I guess you could sum it up by calling it Comfortable Country Elegant.
It is a sharp contrast to our little old famhouse.
There is no clutter.
There is no dust.
They have a place for everything & everything seemed to be in place. (except for the cat who decided to go missing, but thats another story for another day)
Don't get me wrong!
I love our little house.
But it looks like a flea market threw-up in here!
Lots of wonderful things.
Lots & Lots of wonderful things that I love.
Enough wonderful things to fill 4 houses this size!
And MY dust? Well, I like to say that it is a protective covering for the old patina on my antiques. There is PLENTY of it!
One thing that caught my eye in her house was the wall.
This wall is a waist-high half wall running the length of the living room separating the entryway from the actual room.
On this long wall my beautiful sister-in-law has placed a beautiful glass bowl thingy full of balls on one end.
There are feather covered balls,
seed covered balls,
leather covered balls,
& reed covered balls.
Sitting in an ornate glass holder/bowl/thing.
It's beautiful!
One long wall,
With one stinking glass thingy of balls.
ONE thing on the whole looong wall!
did I mention it looked beautiful??
ONE FREAKING Glass thingy of BALLS??
Do you have any idea how long it would take me to have 756 various pretty things stacked on that wall if it were in MY house?
Milliseconds!
I just don't understand it.
It's a Long wall for crying out loud!
It begs for "stuff"
And she has ONE bowl of balls on it??
And it looks like something out of a magazine???
I guess thats the difference between her
Comfortable Country Elegance
and my Decorating style...
Crammed Country Crap.
*sigh*
Don't feel bad, you are not alone. I too covet the homes of relatives and friends whose homes look like they came out of a magazine. I look at it this way, our home is actually 'lived in'. It doesn't feel sterile and if my partner puts her glass down on the coffee table without a coaster I don't have stroke about it. Maybe it's just me, but I just can't imagine living in a magazine page, you know?
ReplyDeleteI hear ya- really I do. My wall would be crammed with old mail, farm tools, and anything else the boys would get out and not put back! It would become a catch all.
ReplyDeleteI like to call that the difference between "lived in" and "loved in"...a house is a home when you can write "I love you" in the dust you have no time to clean up! :)
ReplyDeleteYou are a riot! My wall would be covered with Breyer plastic horses and Scottie dog tchotchkes I have picked up here and there. I'd have the whole wall covered with 'em, and the hubby would knock over at least five whenever he walked in and cuss loudly. Thus adding to the calm quiet tranquility and good taste.
ReplyDeleteThat one little glass bowl is why you didn't see any dust. I have so much stuff, it takes FOREVER to dust. So, I don't.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a wall like that, it would be covered with toys, mail, my purse, ball caps, etc etc.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a bowl of glass balls, it would all be smashed in the floor within half a day.
I just don't get people who don't have STUFF around their house! I've gotten rid of A LOT but still have more than my share! I'm with you on your dust theory! And if I had to pick a name to describe my decorating style it would be "Hectic Eclectic"! Kind of primitive Victorian flea-market cabin.... sort of! :o)
ReplyDeleteheehee! I had to laugh at your post... then picture a beautiful half-wall in my house... except there is nowhere to put such a wall!
ReplyDeleteI used to be a packrat... then I don't know what happened but I feel like getting rid of EVERYTHING! Dusting is such a pain with so much stuff, and I'm allergic... not fun.
I wanna see your farmhouse! I LOVE farms (I should, I live on one)
Yup. I feel your pain...
ReplyDeleteI have not one empty wall,table,floor in my home...
Dana
ReplyDeleteI want to start by saying what a wonderful time I had visiting with you yesterday and I know Clo enjoyed meeting her new cousins!!
One of the best parts was the much needed time my love spent with his brother. They are two peas in a pod!!! Not to mention they play well together no one got hurt, no fires started, but I have to tell you after you left my husband decided he was going to play with the new chain saw he bought needless to say he was fixing fence at 8:00 last night which that is story to be shared over bottles of homemade wine!!!!
I want to thank you for the complement about our home although our home appears to have no dust and tidy believe me when I say our home is very much lived in and where there may be no dust look close for there is kitty hair which by the way per my husband is much worse than dust... on a daily basis our home is taken over by two very spoiled kittys one of which was MIA yesterday
a teenage girl and last but not least my husband which well..... thinks the floor is where everything goes clean,dirty and if its clean or dirty who knows I just rewash.....
But I can not take full credit for our home being some what tidy my daughter helps out its just one of the advantages of having a teenager the ability to hold over their heads if you want to do this I need you.. to do that, its a wonderful thing that bartering!!!
Okay about the wall and the bowl I promise that the next time you visit I will have something or somethings on that wall with that bowl it will be torture and will call for some shopping but a promise is a promise!!!( I need to look into that bottle tree we were talking about yesterday I'm thinking I might need on of those...)
Again thank you very much for the time spent together yesterday and the complement for as a wife and a mother I know how very fortunate I am to have a place for my family to call home...so it is out of much love that I try to keep the abundant amount of kitty hair and all those beautiful balls in that bowl.....which by the way are hardly ever in that bowl because the missing kitty loves them!!!!
Talk to ya soon !!!
P.S Please tell the man of your dreams thank you again for finding the missing kitty !!!!
I hate to admit it but I'm like your sister-in-law; very minimalist. My HUSBAND, God love him, would have your 756 things about doubled in, oh, approximately 5 minutes!
ReplyDelete