House and Barn, Literally

I was reflecting yesterday on how differently I used to shop for things when I lived in our last location.  I always loved decorating our home and making it cozy, but everything I wanted was so expensive.  I wasn't entirely foolish, I would wait for the sales, especially the 50% off sale that would happen after Christmas when all the store's decor would be marked down.  I loved the rustic decor, but for some reason rustic is expensive!  I was able to acquire a few things over the years, but usually just had to stay away from those stores.

Recently, since we moved here I realized I haven't been in a home decor store in years. Now I shop in my barn, the shed, the pig barn or the vineyard.  Somehow as I look around, I'm surrounded by things I love and amazingly enough, hasn't cost me a dime.  I still get to decorate and make things cozy and rustic, but without driving all the way to my favourite stores.  I like that my new favourite stores are at the end of the driveway.   A friend came over and noticed some of the things I had out and she said, "Hey, I was just at an antique market and I saw that and that and that (as she pointed to a couple of wine crates and a ladder."  "Cool!"  I thought.  Then she told me the prices.....that was when I was super happy.  

Is it possible that God cares about decor?  That He knows I long to be surrounded by beautiful things yet want so badly to be wise with our money?  I believe He does care about beautiful things.  Just look at creation.  He has surrounded us with beauty everywhere, so no question there.  I also think He has put it in the heart of a woman, a wife, a mother, that she wants her "nest" to be cozy, maybe not with feathers, but feather-like things, such as pictures, candles, flowers....anything that makes the family realize, "My mom is happy here."  I don't think they realize that's what it signifies, but it does. The more I make our house a cozy nest, the more I love being in my home and I don't want to leave it!  And that makes sense, doesn't it?  This is where I am supposed to be and when I am surrounded by things I love, I am much happier to stay.  

Proverbs 31:27 says, "She looks well to the ways of her household."  There are many "ways" in my household and this is definitely one of the ways that I like to "look well" to.  I find it very fun and very rewarding.  I also change things up on a regular basis.  I get bored looking at the same thing in the same place all the time.  So what do I do?  Move the exact same things I own to a different location.  My kids will leave to go on a short errand and the entire kitchen can be redecorated by the time they come back.  I love doing that.  I've done it with my Barbie furniture since I was a kid.  I also used to do that with our furniture when I was growing up.  I don't even remember asking my mom, I would just start moving couches and chairs so I could make the living room look "new".  I think the kids like it, having a "new house" every so often.  That is also free.

We are far from being completely done over here.  It is a long process, but it is coming along slowly but surely and it isn't costing me very much in the process.  My favourite piece of free decor? Roadside wild flowers.....another gift from the Lord.  I daily send my girls out to pick a new bouquet. So pretty! God didn't have to put those weeds there!  But He did, so I'm using them (maybe that's why my kids are sneezing so much.....)   

I think I thought getting out of debt would be this awful onerous process where you can't enjoy anything, spend anything and you have to live in abject ugliness.  In fact, it has been quite the opposite.  It has made me more resourceful and has taught me to think outside the box.  Where I used to jump in the car, go shopping and spend money I didn't have, now I walk out the door and into the barn.  So this process hasn't been miserable at all, but instead has showed me I can still do what I enjoy doing without spending anything!  My home will not make it into any magazines, but I am happy and that spreads out into every room of the house.