Side tables. Complete. {week 31}

 31 weeks into Complete or just shy of 8 months and I'm figuring out bits of just why I'm following through with my word for this year, complete. This understanding came this week as I was rearranging side tables throughout our house. Sometimes one side table wouldn't work in a room because the scale was off. Other times it was the look of the piece, either being too distressed or too formal for its setting. Sometimes the side table just wasn't functional where I placed it.

the white ottoman our youngest thought needed a hot wheels track drawn atop this past winter

 But by the end of the week it was all worked out where each one was to be. Then came the hard part [for me] and the realization of why I'm doing what I'm doing. Deciding what to place on each took me through that process- For most of our past years with children I haven't put many 'pretties' on the side tables and or completed many house goals because I was allowing the children to use every area of the house for their own complete enjoyment. (kinda close to montessori thinking) But really there has to be some boundaries.

  In my mind I rationalized it was easier to dust and simple. However, not always welcoming and lovely.
In reality I had created a whole 'child friendly' home. In that process though I lost my love of decorating and making our house a home. (not a sterile day care facility; I know that is extreme but I was feeling that way)

 Pulling down some of my favorite things from off of the hard to see bookshelves (like that little rock our middle son painted for me a couple of summers ago now, and the glass dish my husband gave to me) allows me to enjoy them more. It allows our family to enjoy them more.

 Keeping an empty vase on the side table in the kitchen ready for fresh picked flowers from outside (instead of a huge stack of papers to sort through) add to the prettiness and structure. (but the vase really isn't going to be available for fireflies!)

And providing side tables for the children to use and keep their own things on with a few toys 'hidden' behind the couch helps them to have their own space. And hopefully will teach them to work within those spaces during their play time so the 'pretty' spaces stay pretty. And now that I've worked through my side table issue maybe I'm that much closer to buying lamps to put out through our house now or maybe it's the toys I need to sort through next... moving forward one small week at a time.

Complete.

Kisses,

Hershey's Moma