celiza's Profile

Alysha, since you truly do seem to be looking for ways to cope with the stress of slow decorating, I would love to give you a few tips that I have learned/come up with over the past year in my (first-ever) rental.
Needless to say, I fall under the forced-to-be-a-slow-decorator category.

1. Remember, you have control:
Not having the budget to furnish an entire house with Anthropologie in a weekend can make me feel helpless. After all, there's not much one can DO to acquire more money or a bigger salary. That said, remind yourself that you are ultimately taking your time by choice. If you wanted, if you REALLY wanted, you could hit up a few thrift stores and be done with all the necessities of a functioning household for no more than few hundred dollars. Yet you (and I) choose not to do this. Remind yourself that because homemaking is something you value, you are the one subjecting yourself to this tedious process, not the other way around.

2. Clean, a lot:
I have learned that envisioning future furniture in an empty corner is a far more peaceful experience than trying to envision it in a full-of-junk-because-I-don't-have-anything-nice-to-put-there corner. Whenever I am yearning for that next awesome Craigslist find, I try to do the dishes instead of dwell on it. Cleaning up the space helps remind me of what I do have going for me here and now.

3. NO ONE, NOT EVEN YOUR MOTHER, cares as much as you do:
People come into my home and remark, "you have such a beautiful space" and it's all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes at them. I say, "thank you so very much; it's a work in progress." I only see what isn't done, rather than focusing on what is. Only I am hearing the "caching" of money spent in the past, present, and future. Only I am tearing my hair out over replacement couch legs and vintage radio consoles. To an outsider, the house looks at least pretty okay, or better.

4. Progress in other ways:
Often my boyfriend remarks that I'm stressing too much about furniture. I tell him, "Tyler, you KNOW this house is my masterpiece." Like any artist or musician, I love working towards a goal or a finished product. Knowing that the house will not be a finished product in any sense of the phrase for quite some time, I find smaller projects to complete in the meantime. Knitting a scarf is something I'm currently working on. Tasks like this let me exert homemaker energy without spending money I don't have.

Finally...
Increase your credit card limit:
Kidding.

All my best, Chelsea