My Beautiful Mess

I take pride when someone comes in our home and compliments the decor, furniture, look, etc. I take pride because so much of my home was either bought at a yard sale, bought thrifting, at goodwill, was made by a talented blogger or shop owner, found in a junk shop, made by me, or passed down to me.

The pieces in my home I don’t like are the ones we bought as a set from one of those big furniture stores. I am not bashing anyone who shops from stores like those. Like I said- I have several pieces in my home as well. I think your home should be a home that you love. The Nester spoke at Becoming conference 2 years ago and I heard her say this- “Meaningful beauty makes a home.” I absolutely loved that. So true. William Morris said this- “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

Part 1-

These canisters I got in a booth at the Maze in Americus, GA  around 4 years ago.

This frame that has little clothespins attached to it is perfect for instagram pics. I got this piece at a yard sale.

I love this secretary. It used to have a drop down door that made it a secretary but that broke last year. I added the curtain rod and the burlap curtain to it. I found this in Acworth from a woman who sold out of her home. Rethunk Junk is now sold in stores and Laura has her own line of paint. I paid 70.00 for this piece I think. Do you see the Charleston print above. I found it at a consignment store. Charleston is one of our favorite places to go. The painting is over Rainbow row. I also spy This little light of mine scripture cards. If you don’t have them-get them! You won’t regret it.

The two paintings that are hanging in my kitchen are oil paintings. I bought them at a yard sale for 1.00 each. the red spoon I got junking with my mom at Cotton depot. I paid 6.50 for it. 

The Knock, ask, and seek canvas set was made by me. I got the S from a yard sale. The turquoise piece was bought from an artist and blogger friend Angela.  We use that piece to collect anything we have in our pockets or things that need to go with us the next day. The Key holder was made by someone as well. I bought it junking with my mom years ago. I think I paid 3.00 for it.

This turquoise table is one of my favorite finds. It makes me happy because it is so cheerful. It has been in many rooms in my house. This picture was taken in Ella’s room. I recently moved it to the playroom. I got it at Chic or Shabby in Gainesville, Ga. This is one of my favorite stores.

This piece was also bought from Chic or Shabby I paid 80.00 for this one. It has held all of the books that we read on a daily basis. I love hearing these doors open each day. Literacy is such a gift.

These little chairs I got from Chic or Shabby as well. I bought the table with 2 chairs from a yard sale. I sprayed it white. The chairs that went with it were really little. I remember sitting in chairs just like these at Mission friends. (Anyone else remember these old wooden chairs?) So much cuter painted huh?

This black bookcase I got at a yard sale. I didn’t do anything to it. It was perfect for 15.00. It has been in many rooms as well. It currently is in our playroom. I love using traditional pieces of furniture in untraditional ways. If a piece of furniture can’t be versatile, I usually don’t get it.

That is just part 1. Stayed tuned to part 2 of My home was made beautiful by someone else’s junk.

I live by the Nester’s motto when decorating- “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”

We are saving for a new house. I started a smash book with ideas of things that I know I want in our next house. Matthew and I both have things that we want. We want to make sure that we know what we want when our house does sell and we have our down payment. Here are a few things that I know I want in our next home. Whenever you are saving for something, I think pictures help with motivation. I have my dream home smash book by my desk so I can look at it often. For what? Motivation. I need to take it with me when I go to Target. Believe me trips to Target have not been as frequent. Too many temptations. We are all about the needs these days. Because…..I want a

Front porch or back porch.

A walk in pantry

built-in shelves( Check out that brick floor. Isn’t that amazing.

When I set goals I like to have reminders. This one is a good reminder for us. Hard to see from far away because I went with rainbow colored chevron paper but it gets the job done. Each square represents $200 saved. Our goal is 20,000. I hope that we can do this before 2014. It would be pretty cool to say that we got out of debt and saved for our down payment within the same year. To God be the Glory!

So as a family we are setting the goal to save, save, save.

What goals do you want to achieve before the year ends? Are there dreams of yours that you have been putting off.

In our family playbook, We put this as a priority-We want to live a life of faith where each day God must show up in order for life to be meaningful.

I know that I can’t do anything absent of Christ. Living with purpose isn’t something that comes easy to me. Believe me- my motto has been and sometimes is “I live day to day, because that is all I can think about.” I have lived so many of my years that way because that was all I could handle.

So..my advice is start with the playbook. Somehow once that all got on paper it was easier to see what we wanted our life to be about in this season of life.

It is neat to see what this is teaching our daughter. A few weeks ago I explained to Ella that we were saving money for a new home. We talked about goals etc.

Last week this happened.

Ella : Mom, I don’t want to eat the rest of this sandwich. I want something else.

Me: Ella, when you waste food, you are keeping us from our goal. (She also understands that Disney World is also something we are saving for) (My kid loves some Disney) She talks about it every other day.

Ella: Oh ya….Ok. I will finish it.

Me: Thanks Ella.

So….setting goals is building character in all of us.

It is the third week of August. School has started. The calendar is filled each week. Work hours are sporadic. Breakfast is now being eaten in the car.

Summer! Where did you go? That was my thought the last few days of August. I needed structure. I needed routine. I needed Norms. I was a little shocked myself. I am going to give the left side of my brain some credit every now and then. It does work occasionally. At this particular time in my life, it must be crying out for some structure. My sister Shauna wrote a post about their family playbook. You can read it here. You can see her family playbook here.

In an effort to find purpose, add structure, create norms, and establish routines we created our on playbook.

This playbook is for the season of life we are currently in.

Strickland Playbook - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SdR28zqNtMgYaekHJmHgnQk2MMyIRXRujRv0XmhnrmE/edit?usp=sharing

Do you feel like your family needs purpose? routines? daily and weekly norms? intentional time together? budget? goals? Then these posts are going to be for you as well.

When you do a search for purposeful living, living with purpose, or anything on that topic…..you get lots of inspiring quotes, books, sermons, self help blogs, etc. There are tons of resources available because I believe Everyone wants Purpose. We want our lives to matter. We want our families lives to matter. I heard a friend say at a conference I attended- that at the end of her life She wanted to be all used up for his name. I know that I want to be able to say that. I want to say it on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.

So that is how 31 days of living out a family purpose came about. Here is how our family is learning to live on less while still giving generously. This is how we are choosing to walk in faith while intentionally loving one another.

So….Here’s to day 1 of our 31 days!