I remember when I started reading blogs. All Things Thrifty was my first and favorite, I totally used to wonder what it would be like if I ever met Brooke, and if she would let me walk through her house (now she is my best friend and her house is WAY more awesome in real life FYI).
I KNOW you know what I am talking about. Even if you wont admit it for fear of sounding like a stalker who might need to be committed or arrested depending on the level of stalkerdom…(its ok, I wont judge you!)
So I want to share something with you guys. For me decorating is not about the finished product. I mean, its AWESOME when a room is the way that you want. But what happens when you get a NEW idea? My house will NEVER be finished. I enjoy the process so much more than the final result. So although you may see beautiful pictures on my blog you can rest assured that if you came into my house today it does not look like that.
Why?
When I create a room I picture the feeling that I want from it and decide on a few key elements and then everything else just falls into place. Its very strange and really cool. I can see the room through a feeling, and I might be psychic. Just saying.
So when I have an awesome new room design and that is how I see the room in my mind everything that is in there at that point is unimportant to me.
Right now you would walk into my living room and see a very empty space. Very few things that were in the original room are moving on to the Southwest Modern design that I have pictured. SOOOO, I want them out! That way when I find new things I can put them in. Its sort of like starting with a blank slate all over again. The stenciled walls that I spent days and days on are being painted over. The super cool faux fireplace that sort of put my blog on the map is being taken out (if anyone in St. George wants the cabinet doors from it email me!) Vicki is being stripped and stained.
![DSCN4780[3][1]](https://lh4.ggpht.com/-iGeVFr7amfI/Tx4d5Km9X0I/AAAAAAAAFys/9nt7ddDXNrI/DSCN4780314.jpg?imgmax=800 "DSCN4780[3][1]")
Some might find this wasteful and time consuming, to decorate and then change everything a year later. But for me decorating is my creative outlet, it calms me down when I am stressed, it makes me excited when I need some motivation, its something that I am so passionate about I could do it all the time. (What? I don’t do it ALL the time….just some of the time!)
When I started my blog I didn’t know what I was doing. AT ALL. A lot of the inspiration in blogland and trends that I saw influenced me. And that is GOOD! It gave me a starting point.
Now after a year and a half of projects I FINALLY feel like I have found my own voice and my own style. Its colorful, modern, thrifted, a little gilded, with natural elements in a clean way. Its lots of funky tchotchkes and random junk that makes me smile. Its all about bold patterns and using elements that scare me a little with their awesomeness. Its happy and random, somewhere that makes you comfortable and at the same time feel compelled to know more. Hopefully just like me.
And now I am really ready to decorate my house.
And now for a bit of Mandilicious motivation for you guys. When I am famous and people quote me all the time you can totally say that you saw the post that gave birth of this quote.
So I want to know, do you decorate for the final room, or do you decorate for the process? Do you feel like you have found your true style?
great post!!
I can identify…never completely done and once an idea pops into my head it’s dunnzo with the current! Can’t wait to see your living room, Mandi!
Love that quote! So very well said!
I never feel like I have found my true style, but sometimes, when I am really lucky, I feel like I find what’s right for one room. Then I do something totally different in the next room. I guess my style would be ‘schizophrenic. ‘ haha. I love this post, and thanks for totally justifying the one year decor turnaround 🙂
Schizophrenic = Awesome.
I like to get the big pieces down, then switch out accessories as my tastes change. Classic, neutral furniture is a great starting point, no matter where your style may go!
I don’t know. I really do love the process, but then I look around my house at all that’s unfinished and all the placeholders that I have until I can afford what I really want, and I think it would be nice to already have the finished product! So…both, maybe?
And also, I think I HAVE found my true style in that I’ve accepted that fact that my style is constantly evolving. I don’t like the way I decorated my home 5 years ago! And 5 years from now I’ll probably hate what I’m so psyched about right now. But I’m okay with it. It keeps things interesting 🙂
I’ve found my true stlye.
~Mrs. Delightful
ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com
I’ll let you know if I ever actually do finish a room! Great post. Love your style. I’m working on being more of a risk taker with decorating. You know what? It feels good when I do!
Deb
Great Post! I am so relieved to know that it has taken you a year and a half to find your ‘true style’ because you are such a trendsetter and decor icon!! That way I don’t feel so bad about not being sure what I like. I definitely like things with frenchy curved legs, and I like ornate frames, but that is all I’m sure of! I LOVE pictures online of all the beautiful homes decorated in white and grays and neutrals, but when I did it in my home it was SO BLAH to me I couldn’t stand it. I’m discovering that I need to live with COLOR and PATTERN, so I’ll just admire the neutral homes in blogword!
Love your quote! We’ve all got to start somewhere & That’s what we all want: Grinning guts! 🙂
I love the quote!
I still struggle with my own style…I want to be daring in one room but then I think I have to do my entire house. then I get overwhelmed. My garage is getting rediculously full of stuff that I’m dying to use but I lack the all around idea and maybe some guts to get me going. I truly need someone’s push. How on earth do you decide? I guess trial and error? over and over?
I do agree Brooke’s house is as awesome in person as you say. I go there and wish I lived in a home that represented ME as well as hers does.
I like the process more than the finished product…although you do feel very proud when you are finished, but nothing beats that “ah-ha” feeling you get when you envision how you want it to look!
xo
Oh my gosh, great post. Totally get it, from new blog, stalker-dom (haha) to NEVER being done. I love the process, no question about it! My ideas totally scare me once I start doing it but I guess that’s the thrill of it. This blog newby is having a blast with it. I find that it has inspired me to keep going with creative ideas (as if I needed to think about my home more, my brain never stops).
Sonya @ So Simple
I haven’t been on for awhile and just saw the bicycle on the boards. Do you have a tutorial for that? fabulous!
I just recently discovered your blog a couple of months ago. I didn’t care much to decorate my home at the time.. It was full of neutrals, and I was being safe. Since finding your blog, I’ve finally found that I need COLOR in my home. Thanks for inspiring me.. I’m still trying to find my ‘true style’, but I feel I’m almost there. Love that quote!
I feel like I’m still in the process of finding my style. Lately I have been much too focused on the end result, the grand reveal and the color scheme. I’ve been wanting to get to the “finished room”. And yet I know I’m like you and will never really have a finished room. The dichotomy of it all has been making me crazy lately – wanting the change but also wanting the finished room. I sometimes forget that creating is what I really want, not decorated rooms. Thank you so much for this post. I TOTALLY needed to hear it today.
That is great advice. Neat to know your ‘process’ and very fun to watch your visions come to life! 🙂
It’s interesting when you come to a point and realize you’re not really creating a home that reflects your style but reflects the online world, Pinterest, blogs, att that inspiration. Are we being creative or copying?
Lately I’m worrying less about what others might think of my home and making things because I like them. After all, isn’t that what individual style really is?
I’m still finding my style but realizing quickly it’s not what I thought it was! I’m craving bold color and lots of fun thrown into the mix. GREAT post my dear, just the kick we all needed!
My style is evolving so quickly that as soon as I ‘finish’ a room, I realize it needs to be different! 🙂 Your post is so well said…and I love watching you find your niche! 🙂
Love that quote and I do tend to want to changes things all too often:)! Good to know I’m not the only one. Can’t wait to see what you have up your sleeve next.
Kim http://www.plumberrypie.blogspot.com
This is so me, too! I don’t ever consider things “finished” in my house. There are some pieces I’ve created that I’ll never part with, some rooms get touched up (meaning I keep the flavor of my original design, but freshen it with new ideas or pieces), and some rooms get a complete overhaul (our downstairs family room for example). I have a feeling though, that eventually I’ll need to start selling or giving away some of my creations, because I’ll be running out of room! LOL
Kristy
https://shonaskye.blogspot.com
Mandi, this was such an awesome post! I love your quote…it gave me some food for thought today. 🙂
I love searching around for the inspiration for my next project…when I find it, it’s kind of like winning the lottery. The pieces that are going into my next bedroom redo have been in the works for about a month now! However, it thrills me to step back at the end of the project and see how much progress I’ve made. I’m finally figuring out my style and doing what I want to, rather than what I think other people might like, or how it’s going to affect the resale value of the house (although let’s face it, it’s all an improvement over what it was!).
It’s so good to hear that it took you a while to find your true style. I feel like I’m in the phase where I’m super influenced by what I see around blogland but struggle to find what is truly ‘me.’ Like you said, it’s a great starting point, but can’t wait to continue learning and developing my own style!
Agree 100%. I’ll finally “finish” a room, vignette, table setting, shelf arrangement, sewing project, or thrifted revival, enjoy it for a few days/weeks, but then decide that I MUST redo the entire thing because I want to showcase a new style, item, etc. It’s a fine line to walk between being content and grateful for what I do have, and a yearning to express my creativity through a new outlet. At least I almost never spend more than like $10 on any one project!
I’m so happy for you! I totally agree that it takes a good long time to figure out what you like and don’t like and develop a style that really speaks to you. Though I am not as much of a furniture revolver as you, I am always trying to change things around so that they reflect my current lifestyle. Awesome post!
Ok I would have to say both. I know that is kind of cheating, but I love the final product. It makes me just go…Holy Crap I did that. But I love to change it up as well. My husband always makes me promise that I will give the room a year or two before I change it again. But I always find something to do. I love it.
I had to laugh at this post because I can so relate!! Yes I do have a blog and it is completely pathetic but I’m more or less fine with that. At least at the moment… because it would take over too much of my life (i’m a bit obsessive right now so i know putting my all into the blog right NOW just wouldn’t work.) but I am definitely a finished product type girl! But we have moved a few times over the years and each house speaks to me. This house, well it has low ceilings (7.5 feet versus traditional 8 foot) in some rooms and slightly vaulted ceilings in other rooms. It demands a certain coziness, a cottagy feel but with a french farmhouse (no fleur de lis here) with a touch of tuscany and italian countryside thrown in. It took some doing but I am finally getting over the how will affect the resale value of the home… For NOW it is MY home and I WiLL decorate it to meet OUR needs!!
I’m totally with you, I get it, I have been finding my gut and setting my own style since I decorated my bedroom around age 14. But here is where we part. I LOVE my home, or parts of it and I can’t bare to let some things go in such a short time. (I was just discussing this with someone last night about bloggers.) How is that you let go of some of the awesomeness in your house so quickly? I mean to think in a year you may not want that bike picture you made, I don’t get it. Not everything in my house is a keeper, although I have started buying things I truly love and that might be the difference. My home doesn’t look like grandma’s house that hasn’t been touched in 20+ years but when I decorate I usually keep a look for 5-7 years until I tire of it. And when I do that I usually find a way to keep some of the things that I love in a new way. I realize you do too, but just much faster than I do. I’m rambling but my point is that sometimes the things that I love are dear to me and I can’t let go of them every year and I wonder how you can. I’m not judging there are many who join you, just curious! And you know I love your McGuyver guts Mandy, I’ve been following since the beginning!
Laura,
Being quite young and not having anything of major value before we moved into our house there arent a lot of things that I am COMMITTED to. Now there are pieces that I probably wont ever get rid of (like Vicki who is being refinished back to wood) but for the majority of things that are thrifted they are just things. Like chairs and stuff. I figure if I spent $25.00 on it and find something else that I like better then its not a huge deal to replace it. If it was something that I spent $400 on I would have a harder time just getting rid of it. When I started blogging I really loved glazed furniture like the credenza that was in my entryway. Now I prefer a cleaner finish and am slowly phasing glazed things out. I think that there are people that do stuff to try and keep up with the trends in blogland but I dont think I am one, seeing as how I would much rather set them…:)
Growing up my parents had the same everything until I went to college. Like from when I was BORN. So obviously this works for some people, I like the thrill of the hunt too much to let the design marinate for 5-7 years. If that makes sense!
Love your guts
mandi
Awesome! I’m just starting my journey and I’m almost 53 years old! Not that there’s anything wrong with that – what I’m sayin’ is it’s never too late :o)
I love this post, you sound so much like me. I am a little bit of both I love the process, coming up with the idea being hands on and it is definitely all about the feeling. But I love the finished product too. Like you that doesn’t mean it will stay like that forever because we all change and so therefore I feel that my space needs to change too. I have re-done my kids rooms numerous times, as they grow their rooms need to change. I am glad that I am not the only one out there my husband thinks I am a little weird for always changing things, lol.
It’s been hard for me to break out of the neutral rut because I’ve always decorated with an eye toward resale value since we’ve had a tendency to move every 2 years. We’ve now been in one spot for 3 years and I’m just starting to decorate with an eye more towards a reflection of my personal style. I love all of the inspiration out there, but it is hard sometimes to decide what actually reflects me vs. current design trends. Thanks for the great post!
Heather there is NOTHING wrong with using current trends if that is what you like! And resale is hard for sure. I am sure I am going to need to invest in Sherwin-Willams before we move so I can buy lots of neutral paint!! BUT that doesnt mean that while I am here I am going to live for something that is 6 years in the future.
Love your guts
mandi
I love this post thanks so much for sharing!
AMAZING quote!!! If you looked around my house right now, you would think my design style is called CHAOS. But I truly believe my style is granny’s attic. Not the rooster and chicken kind, but old painted, flaked furniture, pie safes, quilts here and there, lovely handmade pottery, my addiction to raggedy dolls…..all of it spells out old country to me. And although we aren’t young anymore we still have some early marriage finds to weed out. But I think you’re right….make you’re guts smile as much and as often as you can!
Thanks so much for this post!
Lynn AKA Scrapity Anne
https://www.scrapityanne.com
We are kindred spirits, as I read the post it sounded like I was writing it! When we owned our first home, living in it for 14 years i think I changed things nearly as much…people loved my yard sales! When we moved to Texas for three years, the same thing happened and back in CA the very same….now in an apartment the last two years the decor has changed three times, at least what I have power to change…I am excited to hopefully be a home owner again in the near future and I will begin again with my ever changing decor.
As a military family, we move often. You HAVE to redecorate every time you PCS. I start as soon as I see the new floor plan. I can feel how we will live in that space and start envisioning it in my head (obsessing is more like it!). My hubby and I are all about making each house feel like a home for us and especially our children. There are art pieces that are familiar and comforting to the kids, so they stay. Sometimes they are in a different room, just as long as they are giving us their vibe, it doesn’t matter what room they end up in. Each floor plan is different, some larger, many smaller than the the one before. You evolve and your furnishings evolve with you. I love your quote and your blog because you are always evolving and inspiring me along the way. Thanks for another great post!
I was just about to post that I have “no style,” but wait, that’s not true! Just take a look around…what are you buying? THAT is your style. In that case, my style is “thrifty, unfinished emptiness.” LOL.
We moved into this house last year and I have been documenting our progress of turning our house into a home (thus, the focus of my blog). What that means for me is walking into a home and breathing a sigh of comfort and coziness. We just didn’t have that upon moving in. We moved from a 2-BR condo into a 4-BR single family home, so bare rooms, empty space, stared back at us. (LOL, it still is!!).
Your quote really spoke to me because the more I read these DIY blogs, the more I wonder how I can pull together my spot so….cohesively…when everything still feels a bit disjointed and messy (well, um, I’ve got 3 kids under age five!). Although I doubt I have the same decorating and styling ability as some of these DIY bloggers, but I do have is the ability to find good thrift deals and with time, I know I can make this house a home! 🙂
I definitely decorate for the finished product. My ideas evolve like molasses in January……very, very slow. A lot of thought and sentimentality go into the things I do and it literally takes FOREVER for everything to fall into place. But once it does, it totally, 100% reflects who I am and what is important to me. I feel like I’m always 10 steps behind everyone else’s trendy style, but I’ve never been one to be trendy. Maybe an element or two, but that’s as far as I go. I see how everyone is going stark white right now with a lot of stuff and I’m running in the completely oppostie direction! I want cozy and warm, with a little splash of bright. I wonder what that says about me. 😉
Could you please come to my house in Glasgow, Kentucky and explain this post to my husband face-to-face? I could just squeeze your cheeks right now! My house perpetually changes too. My husband thinks I’m crazy and my mother is convinced that I am depressed. The hubs will come home and exclaim “you JUST painted that!!!! what are you doing NOW?!!!” and my mother laments daily “but when will you be FINISHED with the house?” I told her if I ever call and say I’m finished with the house she better come over pronto because she’s got 15 minutes tops before I change it! 😉
I really needed to read this post. I am redecorating my house. I decorated it when I just moved to Delaware from Miami (yeah!), and you can see all over my place that I was just in shock…LOL! So, I am changing pretty much everything, but I am so afraid to make mistakes again. So, I will keep reading this post over and over again to remind myself that it is an ongoing process. Thank you!
I wish I could find my true style so I wouldn’t be so scared when I do attempt to decorate. My current house has been the same for so long mostly because I’m scared to death to do something and have it look awful. One of my resolutions this year is to take chances and I’m starting with my house trying really hard to figure out what I LOVE and go with it no matter what other people think. For some reason that is SOOO hard for me–I think partly because there are so many different styles that I like when I see the finished product, but I have no idea how to get from A to B… sigh. I guess I’ll have to figure it out. I don’t have the patience for thrifting so decorating seems like such an investment to make if I hate it…maybe I just need to go thrifting with a pro. 🙂 Although I did find some chairs for free in front of someones house that I’m gonna try my hand at re-doing! Sorry for the ramble! Wish me luck!
I feel your pain, Jen! I am redecorating my house, and I am afraid of it because I feel that I did not get it right the first time around. As you, though, I have made this year “they year of decorating chances”. If I do not like it, I will change it again. Thank God for blogs like this that give you ideas to do it on a budget 🙂 Best of luck!
So true. Digging those tree branches on the wall. I don’t have a lot of time to redecorate, but I do it every time I can. And, while I draw inspiration from blogs, I usually do what I want. It’s very freeing.
I always decorate for the final room….even though I never quite seem to get to reach the end……
Love your house, love your style…..love you tons!
Great post! I agree that design is a never-ending process. I can’t imagine that my house will ever be “done” either. Ummm…don’t tell my husband that! I’m excited to be a beginner blogger because in one short month I’m already learning more about myself, my design style, and COMPUTERS! than I ever thought I would. For me though, I enjoy the plotting and planning of design, discussing it and thinking about it. I do strive for some sense of completion in rooms, even if only temporary because I go through personal “design fads” like everyone does. I am willing to make changes cosmetically, but there are things I am sentimental to, like my quirky little cat statue collection, even though they have about zero value.haha. I just don’t have a lot of room to move to many things around and the more I drag in here, the harder it gets!! To me, that challenge is as fun as finding the decor. This blogoshere is a whole new world to me:)People and their ideas have always inspired me and so does your blog! I am enjoying every minute of this, and my house more than ever now as well.
Okay…confession time….how you were with Brooke….that is me with you! You know when Twilight first came out and people were flocking to Forks to see where that book was written about?? that is how I feel about you and if I were to see your house I think that would be like a GINORMOUS thing in my life. Okay…so now you are a little freaked out….don’t worry….I am not one to physically stalk someone….just blog stalk and admire from afar (on the computer). If you have ever seen the old movie with Doris Day called Pillow Talk I would insert your name in the song he writes….”You are my inspiration…MANDI!” LOL Okay….this is getting creepy….promise I’m not a creeper….I just think you are one of the most fabulous designer/junk finder/transformer persons ever! And are a real person to boot! Good on ya MATE!! hee hee
man, I have had so many ideas…. but for me its all a matter of SAVING up in order to do them! What I love about so much DIY is that it can be done on the cheap, but there is still some investment. I have lived in a half painted bedroom with no comforter or decor for almost a year and a half, just collecting things here and there, waiting for the day i can bring it all together! i don’t know my style, but i have visions of what it would be like!
Make your guts grin! …love YOUR guts! 🙂
I can’t wait for the Mandi Show. My tivo is ready for it. 🙂
I love that it has taken me 30 years, to find what it is that I love. Design is a process for me. I tried different styles and realized so many were not for me. They didn’t allow me to be who I really was. I love the process of design and the end result (can I have both?). It’s exciting and theraputic for me. I love how it makes me feel and no…my home will never be completely finished. It’s what I love about design!
Mandi, I’ve always said (and firmly believed) that everyONE and everyTHING is a work in progress. Our ‘decorating” will never truly be finished!
Also, thanks for not making me feel like a creepy stalker – ha! -L
This is a tough one for me. Interior design is so different than landscape design (I am a pro landscape designer). When I finish a landscape, it’s only just begun. There are no hard and fast unchanging elements. I totally get your need to not be ‘finished’ as that is my exterior modus operandi.
I know my design style as a landscape designer perfectly- and I’ve been paid good money to leave that style in other’s yards.
HOWEVER, your blog post has inspired me to consider how I might merge my outdoor style with my indoor aesthetic. Oooohhh! What a fun thing to consider!!!?? Right now both are nice but don’t really relate to each other. No seamless transition or elements that appear in both places. Thanks for getting my creative juices moving in that direction. I will enjoy exploring this!
I’m exactly like you…I’ll never be “finished”… It’s a blessing and a curse. My husband would say curse!
Stacy
At the moment I’ve done very little so I can’t say which I am. I do know that I LOVE the process! I think, for now at least, I am about the end result though, simply because I’ve done so little. Once I get a few basics done, once I get to a general plateau, I am hoping I will have some peace, however temporary! I am am just starting out, a decorating (and blogging- my blog isn’t even 2 weeks old!) baby, especially compared to some of you guys! My style? Transitional. LOTS of color. I have a soft spot for impasto art. The rest I’m still learning!
I have found my style… I think. But I will never be finished with a room/ my home. I love to decorate and hVe since I was young. I live in St George also and chatted with for a second when you spoke in my ward a few months back. AND if you get rid of that super cute standing black lamp in your livingroom I want first dibs to buy it ;).. Sherrie
Hey mandi, it’s funny because I’m realizing my style is evolving. It’s a little scary actually, to know exactly what you like, and then over time start to really like a whole new set of things also. I fear that I’ll want to redecorate my whole house, bc that’s a big undertaking. I’m more of a final product girl, but I definitely like to always be doing something. So it’s not like i just want it finished, bc otherwise I guess I wouldn’t start the next project. and I think we are probably similar I moved into our house 2 years ago and the whole thing was decorated immediately. Over the last 2 years rooms have organically changed and grown and evolved. And then I moved all our bedrooms around so they are all getting makeovers right now. I’m covered in wood putty as I type this! Lol
I actually just started to really focus on decorating my house. It’s weird because the style I THOUGHT I had is still there, but it doesn’t really feel like my style. It is comforting to know that you have decorated and re-decorated to just now be finding your real style. I guess it just takes some trial and error and TIME!
Shirley said:
I just started reading blogs because I’m a crafter and I sew, so the blogs were very interesting to me. I remember when I first read your blog was when you were puting the bike up. So don’t stop, I enjoy your site very much.
Mandi, would mind sharing where you shop in St. George ? I live here also and I am running put of stores..well, mine are getting hot hard and boring. Any secret spots you are willing to share… You tell me yours, I will tell you mine. 😉
Sherrie in St George
I am in the same ward as Jill so I am not a stalker! Lol
Thanks for posting this! I think I also love the process, and recently, I had an interior design friend come over and she’s kind of scaring me about the “finished product”! 🙂 I’m glad I’m not the only one who loves the actual act of decorating and change! 🙂
I can relate to the “decorating is a process” idea so much. Esp. because the home we are in used to be my parents…it’s the one I grew up in, and after my mom passed away, we moved in to. Now I’m trying to make it my own, but it’s been such a process moving from what I’m used to, and what is trendy, to what makes it my happy home…still working on finding my style. But I find so much inspiration from you and LOVE your style. Glad you started this blog!
you are fab. thanks for coming and saying hi and reminding me of how much i love you and your blog! it gives me butterflies! that’s how much i love thrifting. ha!
kelli
For me it is not about the individual things I put into the rooms in my house it is about the feelings I want to create in my home. I live in Canada now – I used to live in California. Needless to say I loved being in Southern Cali… I love the people, everybody is so layed back. The weather does something to your mood…it is nice and warm everybody is in a good mood… and the BEACH – oh, the beach. I want to recreate the feeling I had when I lived there. Listening to Jack Johnson, sitting outside at drinking coffee in December. Now I live in Canada with -35 degrees celsius. This is my inspiration… and yes, I am never finished either. My husband complains about it though. He says I move thing around too much… whatever lol!!! I love you, I love reading your blog and it makes me happy to see I am not the only crazy blogger out there ….stay the way you are!
I totally understand where you are coming from! And I an in LOVE with your new-found style! Keep up the great work, and I look forward to your future decor!
I totally get what you are saying. A room is never complete, is a representation of you at that moment. I feel the need to change my house decor as I go thru stages in my life. My surroundings need to propel me forward, to inspire!! your blog definitely inspires me. Thanks.