A rambling on homes and their meaning and so forth.

In which I get a little wordy and meander through some thoughts.  Read at your own interest.

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I am a girl who needs moderation.  Too much of something, I believe, is not a good thing.  In design, in decor, in style, habits, and basically in life altogether.  I've never been the kind of person to be wholly one thing, or do or love only one thing.  My dad once called it being flighty; I call it being well-rounded.

Too much vintage feels stuffy.

Too much modern feels soulless.

Too much sugar feels unhealthy.

Too much health feels boring.

Too much clutter feels heavy.

Too much clean feels overwhelming.

Right now I'm mostly thinking of this in terms of home decorating, because honestly that's what's been on my mind a lot lately.  I've been trying to decide what my style is, who I am as a designer and what I want to say about me and my family and my life through my home.  I change my mind a lot.  On different days I want to say different things - which really doesn't work well for something like a house, where it takes quite a bit of effort, time, and usually money to up and change the mood of a room for a day.  Also, that's silly.

My home is important to me.  It was even before I had one of my own.  I've always known that the concept of "home" was something I valued and I've always wanted mine to be special.  You know, at least to me.  I'm not trying to be super original for the sake of being so; I'm not looking to win blogging or decorating awards or anything like that.  I just want the place where I and the people I love most dwell - the place we all come back to at the end of the day, and the place where our best memories will be made - to be amazing for us.  To be comfortable, and peaceful, and happy, where when we walk in the door we can even let it fade into the background a little because it allows us to focus on really important things, like each other.

This might sound a little strange, but I love the fact that everyone on this earth gets to live their own life.  I love that we're not forced into someone else's formula.  For instance, I love looking at pictures of Elsie's home, but I wouldn't want to live there - it's a little too vintage-ified for my tastes.  And I love basically everything about Ashley Ann's home, but I wouldn't want to live there either.  It's beautiful, but not completely my style.  I'm not ragging on their homes; they are lovely and are, I assume, exactly as their respective residents want them to be.  And that's my point.  I just love that we get to be who we are, like what we like, and live the lives we want to live.

(Maybe I'm really late to this realization and you all are like, "we know, we get it.  What's wrong with you?")

Anyway.  I guess I'm just trying to hash out a philosophy for myself.  Something I want my home to be is balanced.  It's important to me to not get too excited or crazy about one idea or trend that I lose focus on the balance.  (I'm not always good at this - I'm sure Tony could back me up.)  I don't want people to walk into my house and feel overwhelmed by something arbitrary: "Woah, this girl must really like Star Wars."  (Or lace, or blue, or matryoshka dolls, or what have you.)  (Also, parentheses.)  I want them to walk in and think "wow, I feel really good about myself.  I feel like lounging on the couch and hanging out with friends and just being generally really comfortable."

I know I and my house have a long way to go.  But it's good to have a goal, right?  And I'm really glad, if you're reading this, to be able to share my own personal journey with you.  I admit that the whole concept of blogging is still weird and undefined to me sometimes, but I am grateful for the people I've met and friends I've made, and for the help in finding my own voice.  Plus, I like weird things.