It’s Monday! That means it’s time for another installment of Making Your Dream Room a Reality.
I hate to admit it, but there are things that are inspiring to me that simply won’t work around here:
- We have two dogs – one that is a nearly 100-pound, long-haired white dog and a smaller one who destroys everything from books to Spanish Moss and everything in between.
- We have a three year old son who manages to spill his milk out of no-spill cups and has huge plastic toys all over the house. And Hot Wheels. Oh, the Hot Wheels!
- I also have a husband who will do things such as file metal on our kitchen table the evening after I spent the entire day cleaning the house.
There are just some aspects of our life that I just have to accept and decorate around. At times, it gets completely annoying to the wannabe decorator inside of me, but I guess that’s just life.
For example, I would absolutely love to have this coffee table in my living room (and, okay, the rest of the furniture shown, too), but it’s just not practical with our son. I can’t imagine the tiny hand prints. It is tempered glass so it wouldn’t actually break, but I would be absolutely devastated if Lightening McQueen or Thomas the Train shattered it.
The rest of this room, however? D.I.V.I.N.E. It seriously makes my heart race. It will become mine. Oh, yes. It will.
You see, I know that I have decorating challenges due to our family and the way we live our life together. I’m sure you may have some of the same challenges as me or even an entirely different set of challenges. It’s all part of living our lives the way we choose.
But, did you notice that NONE of the things I mentioned were money related? There’s been no “I love it but can’t afford it” spoken so far in this series. We’re going to be addressing those types of issues soon, but not quite yet. I want to make sure you aren’t letting dollar signs stop you from finding your dream room.
Until then, go through your inspiration photos and determine what won’t work in your home. What are your challenges that you have to decorate around? Let us know in the comments and maybe we can give you some suggestions!
We have similar issues. With three dogs and two cats a white sofa is out.of.the.question. I make due, though, by having white side chairs slipcovered for easy cleaning. Oh the things we do for our pets and kids. 🙂
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http://songbirdtiff.blogspot.com/2009/08/its-time-for-giveaway_17.html
Mine would have to be white furniture. I love it, but it wouldn't last around here with children, a dog, and a husband who comes in with messy shoes from the yard. But I do love the look. I just don't have time to take a slip cover off to wash it every couple of days. 😉
Thanks Lindsay, You already know my delimas (Color etc.) I'll be sending you my pics soon. 😉 I look forward to more of your thoughts/ideas to bring your room/s to kife without spending $$$. I had never thought to eliminate items from inspiration photos – I guess I just appreciated the photo's as a whole and not looking at them for what they are ….the sum of several parts working together….hhhhmmm you've given me a project!
This is an encouraging post. I have a corgi that sheds like nobody's business – literally, I sweep up a dust pan full of hair every day and goodness forbid I miss a day of sweeping! That with 3 kids, a husband, and living on what feels like a construction site {a glorified shanty due to our ongoing remodeling, lol!}, sometimes I wonder why I bother with the decorating at this point. But it's real life and we have to live within our limitations – key word being *live* and not just giving up in frustration:) Thanks for sharing!
I'm totally with you on this post…it's funny how I know I have certain things in my house because I'm single and have no animals, children or husband to destroy them. There are several LARGE pieces, however, that I do want but haven't purchased because I know that they probably wouldn't last down the road if/WHEN I do have a family!
yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I feel your pain…..some things really DO keep us from decorating the way we would truly like…..I have a few myself!
Suzanne
Whoa, that is a whole lotta green! And I love it.
I do have hardwoods and I love them. They do not wear very well though. My dog has scratched them up and because we are always in our living room it definitely looks used.
Love that living room in the picture. It is great.
Ruth
I just wanted to let you know that I saw mirrored nightstands at Target the other day. May be an affordable way to get your hands on some!
I am just tuning into your series and it's ironic because I am just at the starting points of creating my dream rooms. Even before reading your post I began compiling tons of photos and magazine clippings of what I loved and started jotting down or circling aspects of why they inspired me…why I was drawn to them. I loved reading your post today because I realized I still need to address why some of these inspirations will not work for me, my family, and my home. Thank you for sharing this, it really has helped me reach the next step!