Decorating and my style

I've been trying to figure out what I really like. For too often I just sort of got used to making the things that I have work. I'd recover or paint them, but they didn't really reflect what I really like. So now (while I'm still not spending much money) I want to focus on which things I truly do appreciate with colors and styles. I was borrowing a rocking chair and needed to get my own eventually. I found this little gem at a thrift store. The comfort level is pretty good and I LOVE the style of the arms and rockers.. it just hits me right when I sit on it. Cost? $24.24. (Why don't they just say $25?) Anyway, I'd originally only wanted to spend 20 on it and you don't know how I stressed over the 4.24 "over".... when I talk about "spending a lot" my perspective is probably quite different than most of you out there.
So, I FINALLY decided to go and get it. I was already thinking that I'd recover it since the fabric colors weren't my favorite. Well, I already had this red fabric. It was an impulse purchase off a fabric clearance rack. I almost NEVER do that. You only buy something that you have a plan for, right? Well, this red fabric was going to be a project. Every time I looked at it I just melted with it's beauty. I've decided recently that rather than stress over things that "match" I need to just go for what I absolutely LOVE and THEN figure out how to make it all "go together".. right.. so I stayed up late last night and put this new fabric over the chair. (Also tightening in some screws and so on.)
It's actually quite a few layers. Some extra padding and a red under the top fabric (which is a netting sort of fabric and is see through.) I sewed it all on by hand because that was the easiest way for me to do it. Took 4 hours... just a couple movies. No big deal. :}
I love red for an accent!
Speaking of style and stressing out. I've always LOVED cobalt blue fancy glassware of all kinds. I found these glasses at the "Dollar Tree" and at first didn't get them. I loved them, but worried that they didn't go with my glasses or the colors that I already had. You know what I realized? I like a few random colors thrown into the mix! The blue feels so festive and fancy! It's perfect for special occasions and that's what they are for. :}
I got this highchair for a shower gift, but it's just so awesome that I had to post a picture. :}
I found this red vase at a thrift store for under $2! I will use it as a vase of course, but it's pretty just as decoration as well.
A fan that I got at the fair this year for like.. $4 I think... it's not real wood (plastic) but is fabric and not paper! I love love LOVE fans. I actually got this to keep in my purse and use, but it's been cool enough here now that I didn't think I'd need it till next year. Oh, and notice something in my mirror there? .....
TWIGS! I've been watching a lot of episodes of "clean house" and getting design and organizing ideas and they use sticks a lot. I thought it looked neat and I found that cobalt blue vase at a thrift store for $2.50 or so and the sticks were from the Dollar Tree! (My two favorite stores apparently.) ;] It took 7 bundles to fill this large vase.. I probably would have been fine with 5 or 6 but I like how it turned out! I see it in the corner there every time I come up our stairs.
I've been working on a crazy quilt for about a year now (from the fabrics that I got at the bridal shop back in the day when I was a seamstress there.) I was trying to decide what color sashing I'd like around the blocks. Black? Red? Cobalt blue? Aqua? hmm.. how about ALL of them! Don't worry, it will be awesome! I'm excited now and want to finish it, but at the same time I don't want to finish it because I LOVE embroidering on it! I've decided that when I'm done with this I'll just have to start on pillows and throws and purses or something since I enjoy doing it so much. :}
Oh, the last thing about "style and decorating" is my $5 rug. You have no idea how much I can stress about spending $5. The rug I had in here before was so old that Lily said she wouldn't walk on it, but now I wash my dishes and make dinner in my tiny little kitchen and look down at my rainbow rug and it just makes me happy!

The point of all this for me is.... to be able to enjoy what I have and what God has given to us. I know I'm talking about getting "new" things, but none of them are high priced things by any means. I was so used to just figuring out what I "could" do with something to make it look good that I forgot to choose things that I liked already. I've learned that in the long run it costs less to choose things that I really will like. Add that to my "making things work" attitude and it's easy to not spend a lot yet still get a fabulously decorated house (well... a real designer might not like it, but as long as WE do then it's all good.) :}

Anyway, it's been fun to figure this out. Organizing and decorating is like an intricate puzzle to me. I like to figure it out and put all the pieces in the right spots to function and look the best. Being in a small place is a challenge, but I keep going back to the thought that it CAN all work great... I just need to figure out how to do it. :}