Gifts: Self-Care
Tuesday, April 28, 2009, by Leigh Anne & Sherra
We're moving! Visit us at Find Your Sock Yarn and re-subscribe to get the latest updates. Your favorite features like Question of the Week, Words of Wisdom quotes and fun giveaways will be there. Archives will remain here for now. Thanks for visiting!
Continuing with our new column that we’ll feature from time to time…because as we’ve told you before we love to find things. Leigh Anne shared her fabulous kitchen with us last month in “Finding the Pretty” and we like to keep things even so Sherra has been forced to share a room in her home.
Leigh Anne and I decided we would each share our favorite room in our homes during the month of March because our word of the month was “home” and we’re clever like that. So it’s April and welcome to my world of procrastination. And intimidation.
Which is a little weird. Because I’m not easily intimidated. Friends know I would have their back in conflict. I’m not afraid to stand up for myself or my kids. But I have to come clean now about being intimidated. It was on the day Leigh Anne posted her pictures of her kitchen.
You know the ones I’m talking about. The professional photo shoot all gorgeous and magazine worthy. It wasn’t the kitchen itself that intimidated me – in fact, I’ve been to Leigh Anne’s house and it is as charming and wonderful as she is.
She has the gift of “finding the pretty” in everything. She is so good at surrounding herself with beautiful things.
Me – not so much. Decorating is just not my gift. As you can see from this shot of my bedroom back in 1991 when we moved into our brand new house that we’ve now been in for 18 years.
I did get wild and change the bed-in-a-bag set once or twice in the next decade or so. A $99 comforter set with shams, bed skirt and matching sheets spoke to my bargain-loving heart.
For 13 years my bedroom still had…
please stay seated and take a deep breathe…
Builder Paint.
GASP.
But then something crazy happened. While I spent that birthday week at the beach that I’m sure you’re sick of hearing about, my darling husband surprised me by painting our bedroom. Home improvement projects do not bring me joy. He has always been excellent about showing his love through “acts of service.” So whenever I travel, my husband knows that is a great time to tackle a project that I never will. He and our daughters picked out a creamy purple from one of the pillow sham flowers and painted.
I’ve heard that painting a room can inspire you. I loved the new paint but our room had become a repository for every random thing from closing a business to storing the vacuum cleaner.
Not so pretty. (Not funny either so please stop laughing at my mess.) I would sit on the bed that overlooked what was once a sitting area with a rocking chair and bookshelves and it really created stress.
So Mr. Handy said “Let’s go to Home Depot and talk to those designers and I will install cabinets and whatever you want to make the bedroom the way you want it to be.”
The next thing I knew he was installing a new floor. With helpers. I think there is a loophole in the child labor laws if they are your children. I’ll have to get back to you on that.
He worked himself silly and made the room exactly how I wanted it. With plenty of bookshelves. Storage with doors to hide the piles and messes is something that makes me very happy.
I never thought that five years later I’d have to stage my own photo shoot. Because of Leigh Anne and her dang kitchen. But I pulled myself together and remembered that this is not a competition.
So without further ado here is my master bedroom…
BIG REVEAL
He even installed recessed lighting above the cabinets. Framed photos, favorite books, candles and poems and quotes are all around me.
And he added an electric fireplace.
The desk area displays things from friends that are important, meaningful and make me smile. The wooden valet was my Dad’s. Favorite cards from friends. The card box with the “S” holds all our iLash WOW quotes. It should come as no surprise that Leigh Anne made the box in my favorite colors and sent it to me for Christmas!
We moved the bed to the sitting area space and it fits perfectly.
Bed-in-a-bag…Target. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. The colors were perfect and so was the price.
He hung a TV and one of my most favorite inventions…Tivo. (Yes, I know what *they* say about TVs in bedrooms and I don’t care because I’m a rebel.)
He figured out a way to install a wireless controller so I can flip on the fireplace without getting out of bed.
I have repeatedly asked my dear husband to cut a slot in the door so they could all slide food in to me so I never have to leave my private retreat space. He refuses which forces me to come out from time to time.
Oh yes – he created a sanctuary just for me. A place like I had read about in magazines and understood the value of but was too busy raising four kids to actually give myself that gift.
My bedroom represents the gift of self-care in every way that is important to me. I am surrounded by color and texture and things that I love every day.
Full disclosure: It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t confess all and show you what I had to clean up before the photo shoot without the professional photographer so I could fake you out right up to the end.
An interior decorator friend said we had too many books five years ago when we finished the room. Too many books? We ignored her advice until the photo shoot and then I made him box up a few of his.
And I might have had a few piles here and there that I needed to clean up hide on the floor and then stash in a big box to tend to later.
Yeah, I’ll get right on that after I start dusting.
If you like my bedroom, leave a comment and maybe I’ll get wild and show you how we updated the master bathroom next time. 
Popularity: 5% [?]
Categories: Finding the Funny
