An Open Letter to a Goodwill Donor –

I cannot thank you enough for donating your unwanted home goods to my local Goodwill.  With your donation, you are helping to provide jobs and training for people in Central Texas, and that is an extremely important and worthwhile endeavor.

However, I must ask if you recently found this black velvet painting in an attic or if it has been hanging on your wall since 1973.  Either way, putting it back into circulation for the general public to find was inappropriate.  You are lucky that I am the one who came across it.

My mantra for 2012 is to only bring things into my home that are useful or beautiful.  Luckily, I found this before the calendar had rolled over to the new year, so I don’t have to lose karmic points for this one.  Both the wolf and I are all smiles about it.

Because I brought this masterpiece in my home, I feel that I must incorporate it into my decor somehow.  So, I have extended and accepted a challenge to myself to work this beauty in somewhere by the end of the year.  Who knows?  I could end up with a 70’s kitsch styled room before 2013.  I do have a dead tree in my living room and a drum hanging from my ceiling, so I guess anything is possible.  I hope my readers have some good ideas about what I could do with this painting.

P.S. You don’t happen to be the genius behind the Britney Spears/Kid Rock coffee table, do you?  I’m still searching for the person behind that collaboration.

This year, I’m letting a pillow guide me through every design choice I make in my home.

I was lucky to pick up this French Laundry pillow for a steal during a recent sale on One Kings Lane, and I think its message is a great sentiment to remember as we begin a new year.

I try to evaluate everything I bring into my home, as I have long thought any item needed to serve at least one of two purposes: 1) Function and 2) Happiness.  If an item can serve both purposes?  Even better.

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.“

-William Morris, 19th c. textile designer and artist

I’m not always successful at following this advice, but I’m going to make a more concerted effort to keep it in the forefront of my mind this year.

Do you use this sort of thought process when you are looking/buying/creating things for your home?  What type of mantra are you using for 2012?