In the first ten years of my marriage I read quite a bit about home decorating and tried to implement ideas, but I could never find something that worked for me. Of course when I was first married I had go with stark decorating, but as time went on I messed around with lots of different styles until I landed on the homeschool style.
My Willow Tree Figurines on my mantle and few displayed on my
piano along with pictures of my kids.
piano along with pictures of my kids.
It wasn't until I started homeschooling that I begin to notice I had a lot of clutter in the way of small knick-knacks laying around. I discovered that I really like a 'less is more' more look, unless it is books (or paper piles)! My dining room is my school room so it has to work for both purposes and outside of getting it cleared off for dinner we pretty much like the room just as it is. It fits us. When we have parties the maps on the wall are the backdrop to the punch bowl!
My style has come down to three things:
- No knick-knacks except for my Willow Tree figurines (of which I have too many, but I can't get my husband to stop buying them).
- I love displaying pictures of my kids.
- Books. I think I have books displayed in every room of the house.
Two bookshelves in the living room. My dining/homeschool room has
my china cabinet thatwe bought off of Craigslist a couple of years
ago (if you look close you can see the edge of a white board
right next to it) and on the opposite wall are the maps.
my china cabinet thatwe bought off of Craigslist a couple of years
ago (if you look close you can see the edge of a white board
right next to it) and on the opposite wall are the maps.
Lastly, I think the big key in finding your interior decorating style is learning to be content and working with what you have, including renting a home, no furniture or hand me down furniture, size of house, money, etc., rather than focusing on what you don't have. Also, embracing your style even if it isn't the 'in' thing in interior decorating.Make the place where you live a place where you are expressing your own taste right now. p. 81I am linking up with Cindy at Ordo Amoris.
More from this series:
" homeschool style." Yes. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I love the homeschool style and my home is 'early homeschool style'.
ReplyDeleteI like that! Homeschool is a wonderful style, isn't it? Books, maps and comfy places to sit. I remember visiting a new friend's home and she had no pictures of her family anywhere. I told my husband I thought they were in the witness protection program. It just seemed fishy to me. I'm equally suspicious of folks without books anywhere in sight. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree. I had a young college foreign exchange student from Estonia who was selling books stop by house a few years back. Since the weather was bad I invited her in. She had walked a lot of our town and was floored by the books she saw in my house since a lot of the homes she had been in didn't have any.
DeleteYes, yes, yes. We decorate with books also, and I love it. We've had to move and downsize (lots), so I had to get rid of a massive 7-foot bookcase, lots of books, a world map for school, etc. I have furniture I love that has been at my parents' home for a year now. And lots of stuff in boxes in the garage that I've nearly forgotten about. God knows the plan :) I wonder -- what will your homeschool style turn into, when you're finished schooling?
ReplyDeleteI think about that often! Hopefully, it will still include the books for the grandchildren, though it may include the books being shuffled out of the house when one of my kids think they need them in their house.
ReplyDeleteOh, Beth; I've already begun earmarking books for each of the kids! (My Five in a Row books, especially, all divided up among the four of them). ;-) I don't have nearly as many books as I used to, because hubby is not a book person! Gasp!
DeleteSometimes I feel stifled; I can't really decorate how I'd like to, because most things must be done hubby's way. Ah, well... ;)
I've never thought of our style as the "homeschooling" style, but you are right. Our dining table is actually in what was designed to be the family room, and worked as the school room. It's still "decorated" in the same way, even though the needs are not the same. Rather than tell all about it here I should blog about what I am now happy to call my homeschool style. :-) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYep, 'homeschooling style' describes our home as well. That is our lifestyle, so it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago I figured out that what is 'in' today, will be 'out' tomorrow - and I don't have the energy or resources to keep up!
I am now passing on books to my grown children for my grandchildren, helping them build up their own family libraries. I'm so happy I help onto them all these years.
I'm late on reading some of the book club entries; sorry. :)
ReplyDeleteYes! I was homeschooled and my book collection is heavily seeded by the homeschool books my parents passed on. It's probably a good thing none of my siblings have kids yet; I have a feeling they'll be demanding some of the books make it to their house when they do. :)