Seeing Our Positive Accomplishments: Home Decor

I have been feeling discouraged with the progress (or lack of progress) on making our home look lovely. I am highly motivated to have a home that is comfortable and welcoming and we have been struggling. That means I really struggle because having this feels so vital to my soul. While ruminating about this over the past couple of days, it came to me that things are getting prettier around here, I just haven't let myself see that.

Last week I finally FINALLY got a plant and pot that I bought last summer out on the front porch of our house. You may remember I had planned to make a wood plant stand to put the pot it. Well just didn't have time for that. So here we are 10 months later and I found this wonderful stick table I bought 18 months ago and put the pot and plant on top of that and suddenly I have a front porch look that I like. It goes well with the basket I bought last winter for the door that I can update for holidays and seasons with a cute little sign on the front and rotating flowers or plants inside.

I happened to pick up these patriotic fan decorations at Target last week and they were sitting on my desk and I thought, hey I know what I can put in that basket for the summer. Since the front door is well protected and shaded they should be fine there for the entire summer. If not I have another set I can replace them with. The doormat I bought last fall some time and I love it and it all works and speaks my style. Needed that! Okay, progress is happening!

Even if the house hasn't been painted a color I actually like and I'm a little unthrilled with the turquoise front door (some days I like it, but I would love to get rid of that middle section with all the scrolly stuff!) I can still be happy with things done the best they can for now. Wanting everything done right this second isn't really very realistic and why make myself miserable. It may not be magazine worthy but it's the best it's ever been and I can be happy with that for now.

Before I updated the front door basket I took a small whisk broom and swept down the entire door. Then I used a really great squirt bottle that has a good strong sprayer on it and squirted down the front door really well with just plain water, getting into all those nooks and crannies. It was like a mini-power wash for the door. I dried it off and wow did it look a million times better without all the silt and dirt deposits on every edge!

That entire front door update was not that hard and in fact took just a little over 30 minutes. The Man had stacked some small boxes of wood near that door which was making it look a little messy and they had been there for a while. Making those go away was just three simple trips to move those boxes where they needed to be.  None of this was as overwhelming as it feels sometimes.

Next I realized that I'd made some valuable improvements on our "curb appeal" by hanging the silk lanterns together in a tree, adding the new chairs and a little "As-is" IKEA table I picked up just before we left California that has been waiting for a home. Now when people come up to our home they don't see dry ground, scraggly juniper trees and sagebrush. Hopefully they see a welcoming patio! Plans are to add an outdoor table here shortly with some chairs for outside meals, newspaper or magazine reading, journal writing and early morning tea. Can't wait.

On the back patio we still have work to do, but just adding my pretty white and terra cotta pots of vegetable and herbs has cheered up that space quite a bit! Progress!

It sure helped to turn my attitude and perspective around when I started really seeing the good things that are happening around here instead of feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by the mass entirety of the project. Life really is constantly about baby steps and when we get overwhelmed and discouraged it's usually because we're looking beyond the mark a bit and forgetting those baby steps that are what really get us to our goals, hopes and dreams. So today I am going to again take baby steps towards my home and life goals. Recognizing my small successes has been a major source of encouragement to keep taking small steps forward!