Repurposed and Re-made

Last week I went through my house and removed the decorative items from my great room. It had become too cluttered. I had what I called my "Wall of Nations" that contained all the mementos from my international travel, as well as gifts from friends who have traveled, as well as gifts from our Chinese friends. (Every time our Chinese friends go to China, they love to bring us presents - it's a blessing to be so loved!) Between my Wall of Nations and the other memories scattered around my great room area, I started to feel boxed in. There was too much stuff! Yes, the stuff is important and special to me, but at some point enough is enough. As I removed all the items, I placed them on a table then eventually moved them to a back, empty bedroom. I told myself, "That is your 'store'. You may chose from there to decide what items to pack safely away and what items to keep displayed." I later found out from my friend Delana that this is one thing interior designers teach - empty your space by putting all your decorative items on a table and decide from there where you want everything to go. She said that moving things from one room to another, or from one purpose to another is a simple and inexpensive way of redecorating. If you know me, you know I love a deal - even if that deal comes from my own stuff! Once all the clutter was gone, the creativity amped up! I saw spots that were begging for a simple expression of beauty. I went back to the bedroom with a certain pair of metal hangings in mind. I brought them out, but noticed they were "blah". I wish I'd done a "before and after" photo, but the creativity was burning a hole in my paint brush so I just jumped right in. The metal pieces are about 12" x 12" but were very "same" in their coloring. The outer rim is a dark oil-rubbed bronze color and the inner pieces were a similar tone of green - BORING! But I loved the design. So I got out my acrylic paint and got to work. These pieces evolved as I went. I started with a layer of what I'll now call my primer and went from that boring bronzy-green color to THIS!

I layered in colors a little at a time and before I knew it I had two pieces that match not only the coloring in the livingroom side of my great room, but also my basic decorating style of Arts & Crafts - don't you think?! I love these pieces!

Oh - I also redid my mantle decor after watching a free series on Becoming, The Unfolding of You. You can find that free series here WELL worth the time! And a friend is one of the guest artists - even better! As I pondered this blog post, I thought about the fact that the Lord has been re-purposing and remaking me in the past year. If you knew my story... my life looks vastly different today than it did a year ago. But it's ALL been good because the LORD is good. I've grown by leaps and bounds in every area of my life and I would do it all over again to gain what the Lord has blessed me with! I can honestly say that I rejoice in the trials of the past year. Lord, thank you for the gift of trials that you brought into my life because today I look more like You!