Journey of a Thousand Steps

I know, I know, I'm a couple of months late for making a "goals" post. But I've been thinking about goals a lot over the past couple months. So here are some of my "Domestic Adventure" goals

1. Reduce my paper stash. I have quite a lot of papers, mostly bought for scrapbooking, but I haven't done any physical scrapbooking for the past couple years, and I doubt I'm likely to do much in the near future. I want to make cards, gifts, and whatever else I can to reduce the amount of paper I have and open that space up for other storage (or just neater storage of the things I already have).

2. Reduce my bead stash. I have several baggies made up with all the supplies I need to make specific projects. Some will take under an hour, while some will probably take me a few weeks. Right now, my bead storage boxes are full to bursting, so I need to finish the projects I've already separated out, and find things to do with some of the other beads I have. I may have to purchase some additional beads in order to do that, but I need to be sure that each project I do uses at least some beads from my stash.

3. Reduce my fabric stash. Again, just like with my beads, I have fabrics and patterns set aside for projects, and I need to finish them. I also need to find uses for other pieces of fabric I have, and perhaps even just get rid of some. I used to try to make quilts, so I would save even rather small bits of fabric, but I have come to accept the fact that I am not a quilter, and many of those little bits of fabric will never get used.

4. Begin packing healthy lunches. My diet definitely has been lacking in the fruits-and-veggies end of things, so I need to begin packing some lunches that involve those two food groups.

5. Stock the freezer over the summer. Again, if I have healthy things to grab from the freezer on no-time-to-cook days, I'm less likely to go the pita-and-hummus or peanut-butter-on-a-tortilla route for supper.

6. Put some bushes and perennials into my landscape. I have planted things over the last few years, but many of them have died due to lack of water during our hot Florida summers. Last summer I finally had a well dug and an irrigation system put in, so I don't have to pay through the nose to have green grass. Now that I can actually keep plants alive over the summer, I'd like to do some actual landscaping! I have a Pinterest board that's quickly filling up with plant ideas, and firepit ideas, and ways to incorporate vegetable gardening into the general landscape. So let's do this!

Distressing Distress

I've been reading a lot of crafting and decorating blogs lately, and I've been seeing LOTS of heavily distressed finishes.  Now, I love a distressed piece here and there, and I love old things.  My decorating style is informed somewhat by my trip to Italy a few years back (especially Florence).  And many of these items are things I would love to have in my garden, if I didn't live in a climate where they would rot or rust away within a year.  But to me, having a heavily-distressed urn sitting on a heavily-distressed table next to a heavily-distressed chair is a bit much.  Having the exact same thing outside would shout loveliness and sophistication to me.  But having it inside shouts something more along the lines of "dirt."

These are some random photos I found, but picture this lamp on this table in front of this armoire.  All are cool pieces of furniture.  I especially like the lamp.  But, to me, each one would look best with some contrasting furniture and accessories.  For example, put the lamp on a dark-wood table, with a lush velvet reading chair nearby.  Put the armoire in a bedroom with thick comforters and glass or porcelain lamps.  Put the table in an otherwise modern kitchen. 

Perhaps my style is too...eclectic...to have that much of one finish all together.  But I think, too, that too much distressing gives something of the same feel that too many slick, modern finishes give.  Don't we distress things to give something of an authentic feel, the sense of age, about something?  I like that something slightly distressed already has that "first scratch" in it--I don't have to be worried about messing it up so much.  But really, how much "authenticity" is there to something that was given an appearance of age in two days?  If everything is hugely distressed, in a way that would only happen if you left it out in the weather for half a century, but you know you (or someone else) did all that weathering, to me that feels the same as having a room full of plastic, metal and glass that's all shiny and new-looking. 

Perhaps I'm coming at this from the wrong angle, and perhaps I'll change my mind later on.  But for now, I'll let things age naturally--with perhaps just the tiniest bit of help on occasion.