We’ve been married for 8 years come October and lived in five different homes. One apartment, one townhouse, two rental houses and finally buying our own house in the spring of 2023. In each house, I’ve stood in the doorway of any given room, looked around and wondered how I’m going to decorate it.
When we were renting, decorating was wanted but not necessarily a priority.
It was more about arranging furniture than drilling holes for picture frames. But now, it’s time to live out my Pinterest dreams. It is time to decorate a home! I’ve complied boards by room, took existing decor into mind and pulled out the hammer and nails to do… close to nothing. I’ve placed things on the fireplace mantle and hung up cute pictures in the girls’ room, but everywhere else is full of blank walls.
I’ve tried. I’ve made gallery walls before, stood back and felt like it wasn’t good enough. My throw pillows didn’t look effortless, my rugs mostly all worked together, but it’s never right. And then I remember what a few people told me a couple houses back, “I like the way you decorate, it’s cozy.” I didn’t take it as a compliment. Cozy to me meant homely. It meant that they could tell I tried but obviously don’t have the eye to perfectly arrange a bookshelf.
Cozy was disappointing.
Now, as we prepare to host a third group of people in a month’s time, I’m hoping that cozy is the adjective they use. Even with all the blank walls. As I’ve gotten more confident in my style and as I’ve collected inspiration from homes of friends and family, I hope cozy is the perfect way to describe our home. My thrift store finds, random travel trinkets, and hand-me-down furniture have helped make a home. I won’t have those Pinterest feels or Instagram perfect vibes, it’s simply not how I operate. It’s not who I am. But I’ve been taught how to host well, and with the spirit of hospitality comes a want for friend and family to feel like they can snuggle in and relax.
I want a cozy home, and even without the right decorations, I think I’m making that a reality. I’ve begun to pride myself on the hodgepodgeness of it all. As long as you feel like you can toss your shoes in the corner and pull up a chair to the green tile table, I’ve accomplished a great deal.
But I’m also not opposed to a little help figuring out where to put this framed mirror I painted…
