Caution: Life In Progress

One of the main reasons I began this blog was to document the many projects we have completed over the last decade in our home.  I have come to realize lately, however, that...oops!...there are no finished rooms in this house!! How can that be?? We have been chipping away at projects for almost 11 years and nothing is completed?  I've taken some time to really analyze how this could be possible and I think I *kinda* figured it out.

Our house is constantly evolving....

Hard hats required :)

There is always a room undergoing some sort of project in order to serve our family better....currently it's the laundry room (although you wouldn't know it because there has been zero visible progress, haha).  As our family grows and changes, how we live and what we need from this house is under constant revision.  I was given the book "A Good House Is Never Done" as a gift.  I instantly adopted the title as my motto, haha.  The changes which take place aren't always huge and sometimes they're not noticeable to anyone but us, but change is always happening. 

The challenge in blogging about our ever-changing house is that I really don't love showing my half-finished work....I'm a perfectionist...remember? :)

For almost as long as I've known blogs exist, I've been reading posts from The Nester on Nesting Place.  Her mantra is "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful"...just the kind of encouragement a crazy perfectionist like myself needs to hear!  She is a fantastic example of using whatever resources you may have efficiently and creatively to make not only your home beautiful...but your life as well...all while not stressing out about the nitty gritty!  I recently came across a post Nester wrote for (in)Courage called "The During".  She says...

"I'm learning that the biggest, best, and most informative part of the story happens in the during."

It was exactly the motivation I needed to proceed in showing all of our unfinished"ness"!  The more and more I think about this statement the more it's truth resonates with me.  Realistically the during is a *much* bigger part of our lives than the finished project...especially if you consider "finished" to be a relative term as I do.  Those who visit here frequently don't even find it odd anymore to see a color sample painted on the wall or a piece of fabric draped over the curtain rod, haha!  Or maybe they still do and they just gave up trying to understand my craziness? ;-)   While finished rooms really *are* the goal...the how and the why are a pretty large part of their story...so I guess that makes them pretty important too!

I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that if I wait to document only our finished projects, I may have nothing to write about...ever...  And since I've already mustered up the courage to show current pics of the kitchen, bedroom, and entry...what better time than to venture into the living room.  This room sees probably the most frequent changes of any room in the house....read...lots of during. :)  Because it gets *a lot* of use, things are always coming and going!  Sneak peak?

Come back tomorrow to see the rest of the room!  We've got oodles of "during" going on all over this house....so brace yourself...I know I am! :)

xo,