Home Envy Blog Ramblings - Do you really know what your home looks like?

Last night, while I attempted sleep I was thinking about this Blog.  I know there are thousands, maybe of millions of bloggers out there... all contributing and providing good reads and good advice to people out there with similar interests... so what can Home Envy bring to the table?  I got to thinking.... I love to share beautiful homes with you, homes that stir me when I look at them.  So I was thinking, what can I blog about, apart from drooling at pretty pictures, and then I thought, let's talk about YOUR home.  I know you love your home, but can you see your home? 

I want you to do me a favour.  Can you pick a room in your house that needs some work.. it might already be a lovely room.  It might be the main living room and it might have all the bells and whistles, it might be your bedroom, but tell me, have you really looked at it lately?  How long has it looked the way it does today?

My point to this mindless jibberish is that often we become quite blind to our surroundings.  We stop looking at them in the way that fresh eyes look at them.  We become blind to things that have been one way for so long, that we no longer notice anymore.

This thought lead me to something that I think is a really healthy thing to do.... RE-ARRANGE THINGS, CHANGE THINGS AROUND, DE-CLUTTER, STORE THINGS.... in other words... breath some fresh air into the room without leaving home!  This is healthy!  It is like opening the window and letting the breeze blow in!  I know that is very touchy feely, but it is true!

How many times do you hear a friend say.... I'd like to do something to this room, but I am not sure what... I dont really have enough money to do what I really want to do right now, I am bored with this space, but it will have to do for now.... NO NO NO NO!!!

You can alter your room and change the look in so many ways.  Now, because I haven't seen your homes, I can't be the fresh eyes for you (unless you want to send me a photo and we can discuss it in more detail and throw some ideas around - that would be fun!)  Í can however, throw some ideas around on this blog.... food for thought, if you like, and get you thinking about that room that you are bored with. Get you inspired!

Let's start with the placement of the furniture.  How long has it sat like this?  I know some times we are limited by space, but could you swap some seating around?  Could you move out that old shelving unit holding all those DVD's that you no longer really watch anyway.... they don't look very attractive there anyway!!  And the coffee table, how long have you had those things sitting on the top there?  Do you see where I am going with this?

What about those ornaments on the mantel... you've had that arrangement for too long and it is time to mix it all up!  If you dont know what to do then just reverse the order, stand back and notice the difference, slight, but subtle...

Now tell me, how many things in this room were gifts, or passed down from long lost relatives?  I completely understand holding on to some things for sentimental reasons, but, tell me this, if you saw some of those things in a shop.. would you buy it and bring it home? My point here is... maybe it is time to store some things.... just store them for a while. Get some boxes and wrap up those special things that mean alot, but that you would like a break from for a while.... it is perfectly OK to do this.. DON'T FEEL GUILTY!!  This is YOUR home, your space!

I used to be a bit of a collector.  I admit it.  I couldn't go to the mall without bringing home a little treat for my home... which was really for me... but you know what I mean!  I don't do it anymore. 

These days I buy it if I love it - and I now truly ask the question at the store... do I love this?  If I can hand on heart answer YES, then it's mine... if I am not 100% sure, then I put it back.  So easy, so much better than ending up with a house full of stuff I dont really love after all!

OK, so what are you going to do now?  Surely there's some new life to be breathed into one of those rooms you live in?  Swap some lamps around, put a big vase of flowers somewhere where you never put them before, move the fruit bowl, if you have glass doors in any kitchen cabinets, what is in there?  Can you re-arrange those cupboards, so that you are looking at your favourite things instead of those things you have in there that you don't really use anyway and that just live there because you think they have to?  Move them out! 

What about your art work... how long have you looked at that art there, hanging in the same place all this time... MOVE IT!  Swap some art work around... these things are so simple and so easy to do and will make such a difference... you will notice your house again!

OK, so this teeny little blog was to get you thinking about your rooms and to inspire you to spend some time changing some things around... de-cluttering and changing the look of a room that may have looked the way it has for too long!!  Try it and let me know if you managed to do it.  Let me know if any of this makes sense or send me photos! 

Watch this space, Home Envy will be back
Love Mel xx