Humble Beginnings When Decorating Your Home and Why It’s Okay
Decorating your own home can be very overwhelming at times, and it’s tempting to feel discouraged when a space isn’t coming together as quickly as you’d like. I hope today’s post encourages you, because today I’m sharing all about humble beginnings when decorating your home and why it’s okay.
Recently a follower reached out to me on Instagram and shared her frustrations and road blocks she is experiencing while trying to decorate her home. I instantly related with her because I have been there so many times.
Today I want to share with you what my home looked like when we first moved in. We have come such a long way, and I hope these before photos will encourage and remind you that it’s okay to have humble beginnings when you first begin decorating your home.
Humble Beginnings When Decorating Your Home and Why It’s Okay – You will not spend money on decor that you aren’t even sure about
When we first moved into this house, I thought I knew what my style was. Obviously it has changed tremendously since 2012! I loved blues, teals and turquoise and had a lot of color throughout my home. There is nothing wrong with color, at the time blues and yellows were very trendy on Pinterest and I think I was just trying to recreate what I saw other bloggers doing.
I also had a lot of hand me down furniture that really didn’t necessarily go together. We didn’t have a lot starting out and it forced me to be creative with what I had which is something I am so thankful for. Because of that old furniture, I figured out what I loved and what I really didn’t like at all.
Humble Beginnings When Decorating Your Home and Why It’s Okay – You take a lot into consideration before making large purchases in your home
I can still remember when we finally had enough money to purchase our own couch. This would be the first large piece of furniture that wasn’t a hand me down and it was a huge deal for us. Since this was such a large purchase, I didn’t just pick out the first thing that I thought looked good. I studied and studied the styles I liked and we took our time at the furniture store. We didn’t even purchase one that day, I wanted to sleep on my decision because it was so serious to me!
If we had more money at the beginning and I could purchase whatever I wanted, I can’t imagine how many items I would have purchased that I wouldn’t even still be using. It would have been such a waste!
Humble Beginnings When Decorating Your Home and Why It’s Okay – It forces creativity
When you are starting out with humble beginnings, it forces you to learn things that you never thought in a million years you would learn how to do.
As you know, Mike and I do all of our own work on our home. DIY furniture, tile work, paint, plumbing, you name it, we have tried to tackle it. When we moved in, I had no idea how our tight budget would force us to learn all of these things, and for that I am so thankful. If I wanted a certain look in my home, we had to learn how to do it ourselves.
Learning and DIY takes a lot of motivation, and there is also a fear of failure. But it is so satisfying and empowering to look at a room, garden, or piece of furniture that we tackled ourselves and accomplished on our own, and it just continues to motivate us when I dream up another idea!
I could go on and on in this area and give you so many examples of all the different projects we have done in our home. I am so thankful for my husband’s willingness to learn. From our built-ins in our living room, to our hidden dishwasher, he has really gone above and beyond to help bring our dreams to life in our home.
Humble Beginnings When Decorating Your Home and Why It’s Okay – You see potential in items you normally wouldn’t have considered
Like I mentioned above, if I had a lot of money when we first started, I would have just purchased so many items in our home that would have been such a waste today. Having humble beginnings forced me to find the potential in thrift stores, side of the road items, hand me downs and Facebook marketplace finds.
There are so many places to find budget friendly decor for your home! Once you determine to see the potential in a piece, it not only saves you money, but it opens up your eyes to so many options!
Humble Beginnings When Decorating Your Home and Why It’s Okay – “The Rich Man Pays, The Poor Man Prays”
I grew up in a pastors home and this was a phrase I heard all the time from my dad growing up. We didn’t have the means to do so many things, but over and over again God would provide for us in miraculous ways and this phrase really became so real to me.
When my husband and I started off with humble means I kept falling back on this phrase and once again in my adult life God has provided so much in our home. He really does care about us, even in the smallest ways and His goodness is so real to me.
I really hope this post encouraged you today! And let me just say, I in no way feel as though I have arrived and know everything in the world of design. I am still learning each and every day! All of these principles I was forced to learn starting on humble beginnings have truly helped me and have forever changed my perspective for the better and I hope they help you too!
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You transformed “Lovely” to “Amazingly Beautiful”.
It was so interesting seeing how your home as evolved. Our cottage was stuck in the 70’s when we bought it and five years later, we’re just getting ready to work on rooms located on the second floor. Five years of indecision, tight finances, and being overly cautious of”making a mistake.” I’m glad though that I didn’t rush into anything. Working on the house slowly has allowed us to live in the space and really see what needs we had and applying that to an aesthetic that honors the house. Wonderful read Andrea!
Isn’t it? It has really changed so so much, and yes rushing is not the way to go, working slowly has so many benefits! Thank you for your sweet words!
This was truly a beautiful post and your raw honesty was inspiring for me and I know whoever reads this post. You shared how much you really love your home. I feel honored to have had you share. Be Well and Blessings to you and your. XO Patricia
Thank you so much Patricia, your kind words are an encouragement to me!
What you’ve said is so true. When one starts building a home take your time before making furniture decisions. I’m older and wish I hadn’t wasted money on items that I thought were something I’d keep forever. My tastes have changed so much from the cluttered overdone to simple. You are my style go to!
Hi Andrea
You have created such a beautiful home! I loved your Dad’s saying, “the rich man pays, the poor man prays.” Keeping God at the forefront of our lives will carry us through every time. It doesn’t mean we won’t have hardships, He will just be there to carry us through! I love that you show us your love of God/Jesus in your blog and Youtube channel!
Love this and so true. My style keeps evolving and now with 4 kids 5-11 I don’t want to have a lot of super fancy things – I rather prefer my free dining room table that can get paint on it and I don’t worry about a water stain. One of my favorite pieces is our metal bed frame we got out of a farmers junk pile. Got it when we first got married and I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of it.
Love this post Andrea…most especially your last point of “the rich man pays and the poor man prays”!! Being a mother of four and now a grandmother of three we too had humble beginnings. What it taught me was to trust the Lord deeply. It causes us to depend on His provision and ultimately it grows our faith when we see how He answers our prayers! Remembering, too, those answered prayers were sometimes no or not yet!
Yes! I am so thankful that I was raised that way, it has truly changed my perspective so much and taught me to seriously pray about everything, even something that seems so small.
That was a beautiful post. It’s almost like we need someone to tell us it’s okay to “change” our style or switch items out. You’re a great encouragement to those of us on tight decorating budgets.
I think it makes a huge difference when Jesus is Lord of our homes, too. He provided a dining table for me that is my favorite furniture item in the house. I love the little table so much. It was and is so special to me and it represents to me family and a welcome table for Jesus. And the symbolism of his table for us, a place for all welcome in family. I pray there and have loved the Thanksgivings there and Christmases. It is so special to me, and my fiance and I look forward to Sunday breakfasts there together as husband and wife, and I love when my dog sleeps under it in the sunshine. It isn’t perfect, it isn’t new, it is small, it has nicks on top…..it is my all time favorite thing in the house!
Oh my goodness, I love this story so much! Thank you for sharing it with me!
Oh my..Thank you SO much.I was really what I needed. I live on the other side of the world but we all have the problem. I only buy second hand and I have changed style so many times, because of my uncertainty. For a long time I had big brown old antique furnitures. But in a small city flat or latter on a city house, so I changed. I thought I wanted something totally new and fresh, ikea Scandinavia style. Small furniture in white was a great idea with 4 kids in a small place. Everyone said how beautiful it looks and how the new style was much more suitable.
But I was not happy and I didn’t had the feeling of being home and had no cosyness.
Then we moved, out of the city, out of the stress and nose, to an old farmhouse with lots of air and space. But the money was low but I love the space and our children could grow up with fresh air in a small community. It was a good choice but my home stands still now. I have lots my feeling of what I like and what to do. We have lived here for almost a year and I have just found your blog. I hope that will makes me, find my self. My husband are working a lot from home and I am home mom. ( in my country we get paid to take care of our children at home and not sending them to daycare the first 3 years)
Thanks for sharing and giving me the help I absolutely need. Bles you and your family. Tina 🙏❤️
Thank you so much for sharing this Tina, I am so glad to read it was an encouragement to you! Your farmhouse sounds so so beautiful, I hope my blog is helpful for you as you and your husband renovate!