Recently my husband and I were on a walk and I was talking about our master bedroom and how it’s been the same for four years. Now people who maybe don’t know me very well or think they know me would be shocked that I’ve kept our room the same for so long. I am not. When you design a room or buy clothing or decor and you it’s something you really love, you don’t want to replace it. You use it, wear it or just keep it the same because it brings you joy. You walk into the room or your closet and you smile because you know, this is what I love.

Sure, I’ve replaced the lamps on my bedside table, because one broke and we couldn’t find one like it. The duvet isn’t the exact same, because dogs puked on it and the stain wouldn’t come out. But overall, our bedroom is the same as it was four years ago. And I still love it.

When we moved into our home eight years ago, I painted rooms, moved furniture around and tried to make things work. It was a process but I eventually was able to slowly work on rooms and put time and money into creating spaces we love.

Did I buy curtains on clearance from target when we first moved in and use those? Of course, they were placeholders until I found what I really loved.
I now have curtains in my home that I absolutely love and they work in many different rooms in my home but it took a while. We’ve done this with rooms in our home.

We’ve painted, moved furniture and decor around to make it work until we were able to put money into what we really wanted. Sometimes it’s years of making do with it and it’s worth it to spend a little bit of time and money in a room so you don’t hate it. The photo above is our front living room and so is the photo below.

One of the things I’ve learned from doing the One Room Challenge a few times, is that creating a pinterest board or instagram board where you can save rooms/ideas that you love really helps. You can begin to look through what you’ve saved and find common themes. Taking time to really figure out what you love, what draws you to certain styles will help you make wise design decisions.

I have wanted a planked ceiling in our fireplace room for eight years. This year we were finally able to bring that vision to life. Slow design and decorating takes time. Case in point, our family room. We started this as the spring one room challenge. And we’re not done. I mean, the room is mostly done but we still need to install shelves on either side of the fireplace and find a piece of art for above the sofa table. We “finished” this room in May but it may be months before I find just the right art for above that table and some more pillows. Then we’ll need some decor for the shelves. It’s a process.

Finding the right pieces to fit together and that you love, won’t happen overnight. It’s ok to purchase some things to act as placeholders until you find just the right thing but don’t run out and expect that you”re going to find everything to finish your room in one day. When you design with what you love, chances are it will never be out of style! And even if it is, as long as you love it that’s all that matters.