Hi friends! Yesterday we chatted about the HGTV Dream Home tour that I took last week, and today I wanted to share with you the biggest life lesson that I learned. Its a good one!
Ready? Even the HGTV Dream Home isn’t perfect.
It is SO easy to get discouraged and frustrated with ourselves. Because most of us are just learning and so there is a learning curve that has to happen. I think that one of the biggest reasons that people don’t start (at least the reason I didn’t for such a long time) is because they are worried that their house wont turn out perfectly. I talk about this all the time but, its so easy to look at houses on TV or in magazines or online that look like absolute perfection. A level of perfection that us a mere mortals will never be able to achieve.
I have been debating on even sharing this because I would hate it if someone walked into my house and shared everything that I’d missed, but honestly that’s not what I’m doing (notice that there aren’t any offending pictures). The whole purpose of this post is to say THANK GOODNESS HGTV! I will say though, that even their level of imperfection is pretty perfect. But still, I’ll take what I can get.
So what were the offenses? Things like paint touchups that didn’t match, gapping in the caulking on the trim, and bits of paint on the door hinges. Things that no normal person would ever notice (we all know that I don’t fit into that category) but things that make me feel ok about the fact that I don’t always catch everything either.
Perfect isn’t real, even for HGTV. The idea that something can only be perfect is what keeps us from learning new things and pushing outside our comfort zone. The whole reason for talking about this is to say, its ok guys. Its ok if every project that we do isn’t flawless. Its ok to mess up a little. It’s ok to be a human. And most of all, its ok to love your home anyways
My mind was blown when Emily Henderson showed how every single home feature in every magazine has been photoshopped to some extent. I now look at everything wondering what was changed and realizing nothing is as perfect as it looks. Thanks for sharing the reality check!
Yes I immediately thought the same thing!
Great wake up call. We are all too concerned with getting things perfect. However, if we focus on a more attainable goal then we will not only be happier with the final result, but with ourselves. It really relieves so much stress!
I love that you shared this. As an extreme perfectionist, I often put things off forever because they are not perfect. I can’t wait to share my current home, that we completely remodeled over a year ago, but I feel like it’s just not perfect or done quite yet. Time to get on it! xo
I have managed to make myself totally blind to so many little issues in our house; over time it’s just hard to see them anymore! Then I have a guest over, and every single scuff or dent stands out to me like crazy. It’s a good reminder that we all have those things!
Love this
bits of pain on the door hinges
*paint
Do you have Grammarly? It is a lovely browser add-on that will check your spelling and grammar and would have caught that one…
Sorry to be nitpicky on your post about not always needing to be perfect 😉
So loving this post and it’s so so true.
yay!
I don’t normally leave comments but I had to say something after this post. I am the diy-er in my family and have tackled most of the projects around the house that need doing, either out of necessity or just because I want it pretty. BUT there are a few things I have felt crippled from starting because I’m terrified it won’t be perfect!! Thank you SO much for this reminder! I’m going to just go for it!!
As somebody who worked in television in design, I can assure you the only reason u saw things like that is called DEADLINE!!! Lol most every important shoot I was on that would be going to camera, had unfinished details because we were under such short time crunches (or had already been up all night for 24 hours- I can’t tell you how many commercials I’ve done that had wet paint when they were shot! )…and thank God the big boss didn’t catch them or there would’ve been hell to pay Haha.
Oh! Forgot this part…. And yes people should be less concerned with making things perfect !! What’s important is the doing and the more you do, the quicker and the better your creative skills will be …I was hired because of my perfectionism and skill w “faking” beautiful, It’s no different than photo shopped and airbrushed people in Hollywood and celebrities. Beautiful things are treated the same way and glamorized for us to hope and dream about- even in the representations we’re hiding little mistakes and hoping people don’t see them !
Mandi you are exactly right on!! Sometimes the idea of even writing a blog post I question myself about every detail, like did I mention this, or refer to that correctly? It can be intimidating but I have realized that this is a fear I’m letting rule over me. So I’m pressing on and taking myself a little less seriously because I want my blog post to be good but I know that they all do not have to be great. Connie
This is so true! Sometimes it is the imperfections that make a house a home.
Well done to all but all in all mistakes are simply that a (mistake) maybe you’ve learned that imperfection is granite to all even you nomatter race,creed,or color or college or none too never judge handywork, with all your suditties even (you) need to understand your eyes are not perfect.
The “Quakers”, hand made quilts with imperfections on purpose to show how our lives can all have beautiful flaws.
This year we moved into a new apartment, and I did a LOT of funky wall pattern paintings and DIYs. I work full time and volunteer and have to small children, so I had no time to spend on this. I barely measured, I didn’t tape off, I didn’t use a level, I didn’t credit card my tape so my paint lines would be perfect.
Sure, my paint lines are somewhat splotchy and my 3D cube design is not exactly 3D and my maze lines are crooked… But you know what? I couldn’t care less. I think it looks charming. The time I would have spent is just not worth it.
Yes! I love to see little things in peoples homes that I truly admire. It’s never a “ha, look at that!” it’s a “oh, thank goodness, it’s not just me!” Love how real you keep things. 😉