Today is Day 25 of a 31 day series on creating and cultivating an eclectic home. For some crazy reason, I have accepted The Nester’s challenge to write on the same theme every day for the month of October. This may end up killing me. Or you. But, I appreciate you reading and welcome your comments.
Earlier today, one of the gals I follow on Twitter sent out this message:
Ha! I can relate. Just last night I was stressing over not being able to figure out why the lamp dimmer I was wiring into my lamp wasn’t working. Tom told me to relax, and it made me so much more frustrated with the lamp. I knew that I needed to relax, but I certainly didn’t want someone else to tell me that!
I ultimately got the lamp working, but I realized that the only reason that I couldn’t just put the lamp down and come back to it later was my internal drive to get my bedroom finished. I’ve been working on this bedroom for months (literally), because I wanted to make sure I was taking my time and making the right choices. Now that I just have a handful of tasks left to complete, I find myself stressing to get them finished NOW!
The thing is, an eclectic room takes a long time to cultivate – years and maybe even a lifetime. In order to give your room that “collected over time” look, you really do need to collect over time. Part of the fun of having an eclectic home is that it’s never really finished.
So, I’m giving you the go ahead to just relax. Don’t worry that your coffee table doesn’t work perfectly with your sofa. It’s no big deal that your kitchen chairs aren’t the right look for your table. One day it will all workout. Until then, just enjoy the process.
Do you need to allow yourself to relax more when you are putting together a room?
Brooke @ Inside-Out Design says
YES I do….I get an idea of how I want things to look, and then I feel an overwhelming compulsion to make it happen asap. I end up driving myself (and my husband!) crazy. But it’s hard to “relax” till it’s finished, because I keep reminding myself of how amazing it will be to actually relax in my perfect room!
Edith says
I think that the fact that this is the last week of the series has everyone a bit up tight. But I can totally understand the frustration with the lamp. When you are down to those last few tasks, it’s all about the details.