Tips and Tricks for Creating Calm at Home

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So, how do we take our home from just someplace we stay while we aren’t at work? To someplace we want to be, that soothes us rather than stresses us out? You imprint your home with your personal style. I’ll be honest, my personal style more closely resembles an antiquated forest witch’s cottage, all books crammed on bookshelves, bottles on the pantry shelves, tables strewn with dried flowers, and herbs. That’s me. But everyone has their own style, for some it’s bare bones minimalist, only the necessities, for others it’s over the top elegance to the point of being gauche. Now, personally, I like wood, so my furniture is wood, solid wood, you won’t find any fiberboard in this house. To be honest, it wasn’t expensive.

First and foremost, get over the “this is used” attitude. So, what if it’s used? That just means someone loved it before, and now you're going to love it too. I’ll give you an example. I owned an antique library table for years. It was huge, seated everyone as a dining room table, and I mistakenly sold it during a moving sale a few years ago. Broke my heart. When I moved into our current home, the space would have been perfect for it, but alas, I no longer owned it. Instead, I used a plastic fold-out table until I found my current polished cedar table at a 2nd-hand store, and bought it for 60.00. Sixty dollars is far cheaper than it would have cost me to buy it new, and on top of that, it probably wouldn’t have been as well made as this solid wood table that now graces my dining room. I did the same with the chairs, used what I had, until I ran across the perfect matching set at the same 2nd-hand store for 10.00 each, solid wood caned seats and back, even the right color. For 100.00, I now own a solid wood dining table and 4 matching chairs, of a quality that is seldom found in today’s mass-produced furniture. They will last for years and at a fraction of the price.

Use your financial smarts wisely, and maybe get over the “everything has to be new” attitude. Those weathered pieces have a story of their own to tell, and might be the perfect addition to your home.

So where can you find such peices-2nd-hand stores, thrift stores, garage sales, moving sales, auctions, marketplace, classifieds (if you still get a paper), it never hurts to look and many sites now have pictures, even clearance stores are an option.

You can do the same not only with furniture, but decor, outdoor furniture, and some appliances, it all depends on what you want and need- Now GO SHOP! But, remember-one piece in one piece out, no duplicating!

On a Slow Boat to Nowhere

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That’s where I want to be, on a slow boat to nowhere. Why? because there’s no mission, no rush, no agenda. I have no list sitting in front of me, requiring me to accomplish tasks and mark them off. Some people prefer busy lives, while others prefer slow lives. I very much resemble the latter. I’d rather be on a kayak in 100-degree weather, floating down a river with a jug of lemonade, than just about anything, except maybe lying on the beach on some forgotten island.

For the last two years, I have worked to change how I live. I’m still not completely there. But I’m working on it. That’s half the battle.

So what did I change? Well, a few things. The first thing I worked on was where I spent most of my time, at home. I’m not a fan of total minimalism, but I can see its appeal. And, I’m not above stealing some ideas. I certainly wasn’t going to go out and totally redo the house, or my wardrobe for that matter-10 piece wardrobe my ass. Not gonna happen. We have seasons for heavens sake, which means 4 different wardrobes with some interchangeable pieces, but I digress, let’s get back to the house.

My house is small, about 1800 sq. ft., 2 bedrooms, a bath, and a central living area, which we remodeled when we bought it, into the large open concept kitchen, dining, and living room that it now resembles. The best part about it is that it sits on a dead-end road, and my neighbors are cows. So no sirens, traffic (except local farm workers), or highway sounds. So it’s quiet, which is good. The worst part about it is that it’s about an hour from work. Some people may say that’s not a bad commute, but where I live, 30 minutes is about tops. The house itself is pretty old, and not what I would have chosen, but with what we could afford at the time, it works. Some new paint, baseboards, carpet, and fixtures, and it’s nice. There’s room for me, my spouse, our two cats, and the fish; it’s all good.

As a person on a limited budget, I have always bought 2nd hand, so nearly everything in the house came from a thrift store. The couch, recliner, coffee table, and other accoutrements, bookshelves, etc. I have just recently started to refurbish the furniture, by replacing it with the things I REALLY want. If a new piece comes in, an old one goes out. If I have something that I simply don’t like the look of, but it functions, I refinish it. It’s that simple when you're trying not to spend thousands of dollars on couches and dining room tables.

But, back to the slow boat. My life has been a bit crazy the last 5 years. Covid, of course, moving up at work, and then changing departments completely, a bout with breast cancer, and potential diabetes, my daughter getting divorced after a physical altercation with her spouse. To be honest, I’ve been a wreck. As always, we try to take small vacations, because let’s be honest, most people can’t afford big ones, like Greece or something like that. Instead, we go camping, or take a week and go out of state, someplace close, but not too close. To be totally clear, I’m greedy, I want to feel that relaxation all the time, but it’s hard to compartmentalize the everyday when you can’t afford to get away.

The alternative is to turn your home into someplace you actually want to be, which you can do pretty cheaply and easily. Check my next post for tips.