necessity, a mother

Sometimes people have perfect situations for creating their ideal interior designs.  An endless budget, access to any resource, an unerring eye for design, a perfectly square and plumb space or the ability to make it so. 

Most of us, though, learn to master the art of compromise.

Personally, I think the best ideas come from figuring out how to work with what you have.  Necessity, after all, is the mother of invention.  If you embrace the constraints of your budget or your space, you might come up with incredibly creative solutions that you otherwise wouldn’t have been challenged to develop.

I have never had a design project without its roadblocks, and I am so grateful for that.  One of the major ways I’ve had to compromise with my design is by moving in with my husband.  This was after five years of living by myself, where I got to arrange my decor however I wanted it.  My husband is not one of those men who doesn’t care about what his space looks like.  He has opinions.  Lots of them.  Most of them much different from mine.   

At first, I found it so frustrating.  We bought our first house together, and I thought, this is my chance!  I was going to make all of my visions come to life.  My husband had other ideas.  I was so disappointed when, one after another, my suggestions were shot down.  We had a very limited budget with our first house, so it did make sense.  He was basically terrified I was going to start a project that turned into a huge expense that we wouldn’t be able to afford.  And, to be honest, he had a point. 

So, we kept all our hand-me-down furniture and thrift store finds.  We got a couple things at Ikea, and then the fun began.  I love taking a piece and making it change.  And then I bought a lot of paint.  Like, a lot of paint.  I painted anything I could get my hands on.  The fireplace brick, the kitchen cabinets, the walls, the furniture.  It didn’t turn out exactly like my dream, but that’s the beauty of it.  You wind up with something you never could have perfectly predicted.  I think it’s a lot more fun that way.