Hello Sweet Friends,
After I was first married, my father took me aside and gave me this piece of advice, “Don’t be a slave to your house.” I had no idea what he meant. How was I being a slave to my house? So I asked my mother what in the world he meant. While my mother was a bright, intelligent person, she never had anything other than her family that she treasured. She always made do with the minimal aspects of life. Her furniture was always modest and minimal, art was almost non-existent, except for what I gave to her or a piece that she had won for something special at church. So what did my dad mean?
She told me that they thought that I might have some “eye issues” because I wanted everything shiny. I had to have everything dusted, every faucet in whatever room shine like it was brand new, and so on and so on. Consequently, he thought it took too much time to take care of our first one-bedroom apartment and subsequent homes we purchased. My dad thought I was too worried about what people would say if my house were a mess or it didn’t look like it came out looking like one out of a magazine.
And as I look back on it now, there may have been a little bit of truth to his concerns. But now that I am much older and, hopefully, wiser, I just wanted to share a little bit of wisdom with you. You should never be a slave to what someone else thinks about your decorating skills, or for that matter, anything else. Many times I’ve had women tell me that they have had a decorator come into their home and redecorate for them and they end up not liking it. So they do it all over again themselves and it ends up being “them.” That’s not to say that in my business that I have not had that happen to clients. That’s why I usually tell them you need to tell me what YOU want. And I have “gotten it wrong” before. What I feel is my responsibility is to give them ideas and let them choose the course to take.
That’s why I love to help people in the store with decorating problems they have. What I suggest is merely a suggestion. I want them to be the real decorator. I can’t believe the sense of accomplishment that many women who talk with me feel after they have gone with my suggestion or they’ve even brought the product home and thought of their own ideas. I love it! Especially when I see the joy it brings to their soul to have something beautiful in their home. A decorator does not live in your home, YOU DO!
One rule that everyone repeats to me over and over again is that you ALWAYS decorate in odd numbers. I really laugh to myself and want to say all rules are made to be broken. And I do it all the time. As a matter of fact, I almost look for rules to break.
So I guess, the big take-away that I want to bring to you is “Don’t be a slave to what other people think about anything.” Even if you’ve asked them for advice, you don’t have to follow it unless you know in your heart that it is true. Be true to who you are and learn to love it. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather live with myself and who I really am than try to become what others might want me to be. Remember, most famous artists were afraid to show their artwork to anyone at first. They never thought it was good enough. Now it’s worth millions.
Be brave and don’t be a slave to anyone’s ideas. BE YOU! And don’t be afraid to take risks. You’ll learn from your mistakes. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Believe me, being who you are will be worth it to your soul!
Blessings,
Debbie
Love your story. Good advice. Do you have a schedule yet for 2022. I am ready for some spring ideas and decorating.