This post was initially supposed to be a tongue in cheek tour of my not exactly Pinterest worthy house. I realized that it could be taken as a) Jealousy towards bloggers who have posted their lovely home tours or b) Humblebragging. I decided I was going to make this a learning experience for myself and try to look at our home in a different way. Seeing the good, the memories & the humor instead of the bad. I ended up learning more than I’d planned. The most surprising thing? Looking at the photos I took, I don’t see the dust, the sticky fingerprints, the dings on the floor, and the mess doesn’t seem as bad. So either the camera makes everything look nicer (in which case I don’t feel as terrible about these Pinterest homes) or I am really being too critical of my home.
We are very blessed. I know we are. 15 years ago I was living in a hotel room sized efficiency apartment, in a bad part part of town, and driving my rickety car to my $8/hr job. I eventually saved for a used couch, but sat on a folding chair & used cardboard boxes as tables for quite a while. If you’d dropped me into my current life then, I wouldn’t have believed it. Back then I had very little but I couldn’t have been happier and I don’t remember comparing myself to others or lamenting what I didn’t have. Today, I see these gorgeous, beautifully decorated homes on Pinterest and blogs, and I can’t help but feel down about my own. Old, ratty furniture, sweat on my brow just keeping up with the laundry, dishes, toys and junk, let alone deep cleaning. Why would it take me a full day of cleaning & re-arranging to even consider photographing my home? Well I didn’t (clean) and I did (photograph.)