You know that moment in the beginning of Mary Poppins where the weathervane changes directions? The love-able Admiral Boom on top of that crazy ship house is all, KABOOM! with his friend that he likes to boss around, and Mrs. Banks has to hold all her valuables (bless her) and then all the boring looking Nannies are blown away? That’s my basic synopsis, but if you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about (and you’re dead to me) check it out here: {Sometimes, I wish I could totally do this in the Walmart checkout line}
There’s a change coming here in the South Alabama tropics of The Handmade Home. I can feel it in my bones.
I can’t quite put a finger on it, but just like Mary Poppins rides in at the end of the great Nanny Purge… and just like I’m not wishing summer away, but I have a craving for some crisp fall air … my taste is changing.
I’m drawn to new colors, juxtapositions and looks. And while I still love our home, I think that The Great Purge has been a bit of a catalyst for that. It’s the beginning.
A chance for me to clear out, regroup, and simplify. I finally have space to breathe, and really think about what I truly love in our home. About what makes it unique and makes it feel like us.
When it comes down to it, it’s more than just my taste. I’m changing.
Things I once fussed over no longer have an effect on me. I think I might be mellowing out a little more. I don’t know if it’s an age thing… or a where-I-am-in-life thing. But it’s just this overall feeling of different.
This overall craving for different. In more ways than just the way my house looks.
And so there’s a change that’s slowly happening with me. I can feel it.
It’s a process. And it should be fun.
I would like to argue that this happens to everyone, as we grow. At different points in your life, your home still looks like you, it still feels like you… but it’s different in both subtle ways, and extreme. It evolves. Or else you’ll be the lady with the plastic covered sofa that’s never been lived on.
{Betty Draper would’ve had it reupholstered circa 1959.}
Your taste is ever-changing, and growing, just like your own life and family. We don’t have to cover our lives with plastic. We should let that breeze in, right? We should live in our homes.
I can remember the last time a big cataclysmic change happened in our style world. It was probably a process of about six years ago. I was on the verge… toeing the line for a while. We’d gotten married and made rash decor decisions because we thought that the thing to do was to fill up a home with furniture. Dark, Bombay company circa 1999, leather sofa/ridiculously pricey/intricately carved nightmare furniture. {See: people pleaser. Also see: guilt ridden financial obligations to live out my life with things I hated.}
A few short years later, I loathed our hasty choices. I’d always doubted it… but now I knew what I really wanted. It was me, slowly gaining confidence to change some things. And I had to be money-savvy about it. It was me, becoming an adult. I went pretty extreme to the point of head first, no-holds-barred-overboard, and pulled Jamin with me. {Also see: burst of confidence} It changed the way I was thinking about my home and our family life. I finally stopped worrying about what other people thought. There were bigger problems in the world, after all. We were creating a haven for our family, and that’s all that mattered.
And now I can feel it again. Maybe I’m just fine tuning it all… maybe I’m ready for something completely fresh in a different way. Maybe it’s a combination of both. Who knows?
It’s exciting. It’s like the weathervane is changing again, and I can feel that breeze. Because I am not smothering it out with plastic covered sofas.
How has your taste changed in the last ten years? Do you feel a shift when you start to like different things? Is there a pivotal point, is it gradual or is it both? Do you think purging helps? We’d love to hear aaaaall about it! I know I’m not alone. ;} Spill it.
Kelsey Kronmiller says
I know this feel all too well. Considering I just moved into my very first house two months ago, however, and I’m still in the process of decorating and finding the things I love, this familiar feeling isn’t related to the home.
Instead, it’s related to my website. I know that sounds strange, but my site, which has been under construction and put on the back burner for a year now, is much to me as the style of your home is to you. What you see now was the redesign I did a year ago. With a new business that required all of my web development time, I had very little time to work on my little corner of the internet. I had succeeded in finding a full-time job right out of college and aside from the blogging aspect of the site’s purpose, I saw no rush to complete it and worked on other projects instead.
Until the other day. I discovered something cool in the midst of coding a page for work and decided I wanted to implement it on my site. I dug up the old, dusty files and got to work.
An hour or so in, I felt it. The color scheme. While I love the current colors, I have discovered so many beautiful, new color palettes on Pinterest lately. The need for a new color scheme is now full-force. The graphic designer in me is all like, “Y U NO CHANGE THE COLORS!?” while the web developer in me is all like, “I’ll cut you I swear.”
ashley @ the handmade home says
HAHA I am the same way with ALL things design. I get it! ;} And I love the Y U no guy! ;}
Laura says
I used to be all primary colors/Americana/country/golden oak. (We married 23 years ago, if that gives you a time warp decorating perspective.) I now love white slipcovers, blues/greens/aquas, beachy comfortable. And our house is totally different than it was 10 years ago. We had 2 more children. We don’t need baby stuff anymore, so our furniture has more of a long-term and grown-up feel. Our house changes according to our needs. The pivotal realization that we were no longer a house with little bitties caused a huge purge and a new way of organizing toys (LEGOS!) and designing for the flow of our lives. I don’t see an end to changes as long as we are still breathing, and I plan to continue that for as long as possible! Looking forward to seeing what changes your family embraces with the shifting wind. And we watched our VHS copy of Mary Poppins about 2 weeks ago. We can love Blu-ray and VHS here! No need to throw out all vestiges of the past!
ashley @ the handmade home says
HAHA hurray for VHS! We still have one, too. ;}
Brittany says
I can so appreciate this. When my husband and I first got married I was still operating under my mom’s ‘shabby chic’ philosophy. Nothing against that style, but after a short time I realized that it simply wasn’t my style. Here I am over ten years later and I feel like I’m still discovering what I love and the things that make me smile. I’m glad to know it’s an ever-changing process and that there’s so much to still look forward to!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Someone called us Shabby Chic the other day, and I wanted to claw out their eyeballs. ;} It is SO an ever-changing process!
Nester says
chills. this post gives me chills. you have perfectly described it, friend. traveling with you, and hoping my weather vane continues to turn every so often for the rest of my life!
ashley @ the handmade home says
You just gave me the mental image of us both dressed like Mary, holding an umbrella floating in the air with our carpet bags. ;} Hurray for weird images as giant metaphors in mah brain!
Robyn says
I am forever moving around furniture(inset hubs saying ‘where is fill in the blank.’)
But lately things re rearranging in my head… New business, blog on the mind…
Robyn says
I am forever moving around furniture(inset hubs saying ‘where is fill in the blank.’)
But lately things re rearranging in my head… New business, blog on the mind…
Carol Johnson says
I am sitting on my couch this morning feeling a bit antsy and ready to make some changes. Then I read this blog and know that it must be a “where-I-am-in-life thing.” I absolutely love the Mary Poppins scene and its very visual fisplay of emotions I, no we are feeling. Now to get up and go make those changes!
Cindy says
I absolutely, one hundred percent agree that the purging has everything to do with this change-in-the-wind. It’s like artists who clear their studios and then hit a burst of creativity. Or, it’s like when you fast (from anything: food, electronics, etc.) for spiritual reasons: when you remove an element from your life, other things become so much clearer. The fast isn’t the point; revelation is the point. What an exciting time!
Tanya says
I could not agree more! The last ten years have been an evolution of modern, french country/shabby, the dark years: post-partum not-caring or having the energy to decorate, and the season we are in now which I love. Great post!!
xo, Tanya
twelveOeight
Sara says
I’m really chafing at the bit to do something new – I’m constantly purging, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. May be we should downsize and not be tied to a high house payment. How do I get that look of all your baby pictures lined up in 3 rows next to the table?
ashley @ the handmade home says
Amen to the purging. We’re on our way there for sure. ;} We have a full out tutorial in our book! https://www.thehandmadehome.net/handmadewalls/
oyce says
You made my day with the Mary Poppins clip and the “mirror turned chalkboard”. Thanks, Joyce
cassie says
YAY! i love change! we have been in our house 2 years this october and i have started to feel that wind shift, too…..
Jennifer says
OH honey it’s always windy up in my world. 😉 Almost feels like a curse at times, but I’m so smitten with so many styles…there is just TOO MUCH GOOD out there!! Makes me crazy at times, but I love it too!
ashley @ the handmade home says
HAHA sometimes I feel like my life is a tornado. ;}
Amber says
I am right there with you. We are remodeling a foreclosure and as we start to move, I continue to declutter and I am on a mission to simplify. Not only in my home but in life, as well. Thanks for your words today. Just what I needed.
Erin Nelson says
“How has your taste changed in the last ten years?” made me laugh a little… primarily because 10 years ago I was 15 and thinking I was pretty rad for painting my bedroom half black/half white, getting a hot pink comforter and hanging old records on my walls. Oh how the times have changed!
I really do love this post; we moved into our home just over a year ago, and my confidence in making decisions I love has really come about. Along with that confidence, however, we are tossing/donating stuff we bought when we moved in just to fill up the space.
Amalia says
You should run with this feeling — new things, new colours, they breathe new life! I have a boring white walled apartment. We aren’t allowed to paint, and Manfriend insists we have to do things TOGETHER… of course we never have any time. Soon, I’m just going to start making things and he’s going to have to deal with it 🙂
Judy H. says
Every few years or so, I do get that restless feeling; the one that says I feel something stirring or I NEED something to stir. The last two times those breezes blew, I ignored them. I said to myself if I just hung on long enough they would die down and I would again become more complacent. Well, they did pass, and nothing changed. Then came the period where I started to not like my house, my things or even myself very much. I was choking on all that I had tamped down within myself for the past several years. Now, I’m listening to myself and my needs and being much more subtle and deliberate. I’m “mulling” change and I like it this way and I like the choices I’m making more than any others I have before. I have realized that I don’t want a “style”; not in my home and not in me . I like too many things to compartmentalize. It is very freeing and I’m discovering what I like in a different way. I think it took those several years to come to this point, I had to be at the point where I could hardly breathe to figure out a better way to exhale…and slowly inhale. I hope this is a journey and not a means to an end, because I’m enjoying my home, my decorating choices, my family and myself in fresh new way.
Shelly says
I completely understand! My family and I recently moved into a new home and I can’t wait to decorate! One problem, everything from our former home is brown, iron, Kirkland’s, Bombay…so 10+ years ago. I regularly check your site for inspiration! Thank you for the lively, colorful photos of your home. They bring a smile to my face! 😉
ashley @ the handmade home says
Thank you so much, Shelly! And congratulations on your new home! ;}
Andrea says
Ash, Shelly is my neighbor! 😉
Cecilia says
Oh my goodness, yes! I know exactly what you mean. My style is becoming less fussy, more comfortable and simple. I just want to get rid of clutter and fancy. I guess it is a becoming comfortable with who I am; not trying to be someone else. Looking forward to your “new”. Have fun!
Christie says
I think… hope, my first real coming into my style is about to happen. Trying to gain confidence and motivation to do stuff in my house full of small children. Can’t wait to see what happens with you!
Maggie says
Are these pictures of your home? If so, where did you get the large frame in the photo of the couch…
ashley @ the handmade home says
Hey Maggie! You can read all about it here! https://www.thehandmadehome.net/2011/09/how-to-make-a-gigantic-polaroid-frame/ ;}